Many of us try to recycle as much personal trash as we possibly can. Are we doing everything correctly, however, or are we “aspirational recyclers?” Throwing items into your recycling receptacle hoping they can be recycled but not clearly knowing can hurt rather than help your local recycling program. We may also be loading our landfills with items we don’t know can be recycled. According to Does Recycling at Home Actually Make a Difference? from Real Simple, a publication in MasterFILE Complete, “If all recyclable items in the U.S. were diverted from landfills, it would cut more than 107 million metric tons of carbon emissions a year—equal to taking almost 23 million cars off the road.” To gain clarity and further learning on these issues and more, the Michigan eLibrary (MeL) eResources offer hundreds of articles about reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Plastic

In Make plastic fantastic again from the New Scientist in Applied Science & Technology Source, new facilities around the world have a shared ambition to never use crude oil to create plastic again; instead, make all plastic recyclable and reuseable forever. Until this goal is actualized, it’s imperative to pay attention to which types of plastic are to be thrown in the trash, which should be put in the recycling receptacle, and which should be taken to the local recycling center. This helpful guide in Plastic vs. The Planet from Scholastic News in Primary Search can help both children and adults get started. To understand more about different types of plastic development and reuse, read the article Designing for Recycling in American Scientist from Environment Complete.

Electronics

According to the Scholastic News article, When Toys Become Trash, from Primary Search, “In 2022, people worldwide threw out more than 7 billion e-toys.” Further, “in the U.S, people produce 7 million tons of electronic trash each year.” As noted in Recycling E-Waste Closer to Home, from Mechanical Engineering in MasterFILE Complete, separating rare-earth metals from used electronics is difficult and expensive. Both articles emphasize the necessity of separating e-trash from regular waste and finding recycling centers that will take them. A more academic understanding of e-waste and its recent development, challenges, and opportunities can be found in the International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology from Environment Complete.

For further information on recycling, including textiles and tires, explore the Michigan Recycling Directory and the EPA’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle website.

If you have any MeL eResources questions or issues, contact melerhelp@mcls.org for help.

Brought to you by Ann Kaskinen from the MeL Team. 

Supporting Michigan Libraries by Putting You First. 

Want more information on MeL?  Stay tuned for the next MeL Minute available on many Michigan library listservs, visit http://mel.org, or sign up for the MeL Minute and other Library of Michigan e-mail lists via GovDelivery. We encourage you to share MeL Minutes with your colleagues and networks. 

MeL eResources are available to Michigan residents or for Michigan library or school access only. 

The MeL project is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library of Michigan.

Ann Kaskinen

MeL Engagement Specialist, K-12

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services

517-325-5333

kaskinena@mcls.org

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