If you're really into recycling, you likely already know that not everything actually gets recycled, or can be recycled. Not to mention, there are many items that recycling services specifically don't want.
So where do you take those hard-to-recycle items?
One option that's recently become available in the Inland Northwest is a mail-in service for difficult plastics that local recycling facilities don't accept, from food bags to packaging materials.
Ridwell, a Seattle company, has recently started offering $30 "express" kits, which people can order online at express.ridwell.com/get-started.
In the kits, consumers receive two bags with prepaid shipping to collect two different types of packaging in. Once the bags are full of each kind of item, you can seal them up and schedule a pickup with the U.S. Postal Service or drop it off at the post office to be sent to Ridwell's warehouse for sorting. Refill bags then cost about $9 to $12.
What's now Ridwell was first conceptualized in fall 2018 by Ryan Metzger and his son Owen, who was 6 at the time. Metzger and his wife taught their two sons the value of not tossing out things that don't belong in the trash. After a bunch of clothing, old electronics, foam packaging and other items started to pile up in a room of their home, Metzger and his son started picking one category a week to research and then take to the proper recycler. Soon, they started offering pickup for their neighbors via their service "Owen's List."
"We would make posts and say, 'Hey, we found a place that takes Styrofoam,'" Metzger says, using the name people casually use for foam packaging (which is actually made of a different material called expanded polystyrene). "That got really popular quickly. We did over 1,000 pickups amongst neighbors, and had 30 categories. It became this community of over 4,000 people who shared a desire of not putting things to waste."
At the time, China had also announced it would no longer take highly polluted shipments of America's recycling, and many people around the U.S. were starting to realize that very little plastic was actually getting recycled. Metzger found places that would actually take some of the products people were concerned about, and Ridwell was born.
Now, the company offers pickups in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, the Bay Area, Austin and Atlanta, with items going to warehouses in each region for sorting into bales that are shipped to companies that turn those items into new things.
Metzger says it's important to him to be transparent about who they work with.
Plastic films are sent to Trex to be mechanically recycled and turned into plastic decking with the addition of sawdust. This category of plastics includes Amazon bubble mailers (but excludes bubble mailers that have paper on the outside), polybags used by other shippers, bubble wrap, Ziploc bags, air-filled pillows used to cushion items in packages, grocery bags, bread bags, newspaper bags, produce bags, the plastic packaging found on items like toilet paper and paper towels, and more.
It took longer to find a recycler to take multilayer plastic packaging — think chip bags, candy wrappers, plastic coffee bags, resealable food bags, frozen food bags, packaging with shiny lining, woven plastic, produce net bags and more.
For that category, Ridwell works with HydroBlox, which creates products meant to help with drainage in landscaping and construction projects.
Eastern Washington and North Idaho residents can collect both plastic films and multilayer plastics (which need to be clean and dry) for recycling through Ridwell's "express" service.
In the cities where Ridwell offers its full service, more items are picked up on set collection days, including batteries, plastic clamshell containers, clothing and textiles, lightbulbs, and flat plastic lids.
"We only expand to new areas where there's enough interest to do it efficiently," Metzger says, noting that Spokane could join the list if the express service proves popular. "We hope it is a bridge to bringing the full pickup service there."
Meanwhile, here are some options for other difficult items.
FOAMWhile Washington is working to restrict foam packaging, there are still some uses allowed, including foam coolers for meal kit services and medications, as well as compact foam used to cushion products inside a box, such as TVs. These types of foam can be dropped off at FMI-EPS, located at 9456 McGuire Road in Post Falls, between 8 am and 3 pm Monday through Friday. The foam needs to be free of any tape or glue, and the facility does not accept packing peanuts or colored foam.
VAPES/LITHIUM BATTERIES/HAZARDOUS MATERIALSDO NOT throw away disposable vapes, or any rechargeable lithium battery, such as those found in phones, computers, watches, power tools, and more. While it's OK to throw away alkaline batteries (think your typical single-use AA batteries), you shouldn't throw away lithium batteries due to the fire hazard they present. In particular, vapes also fall under the hazardous materials category. The Spokane County website state that, "0% mercury containing or alkaline batteries (regular household batteries, single use) are safe for disposal in the regular trash, but lithium and other rechargeable batteries pose significantly greater risk of fire." All types of batteries and many types of hazardous materials can be dropped off at Spokane County transfer stations, which are located at 22123 N. Elk-Chattaroy Road in Colbert, at 3941 N. Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley, and at the Waste to Energy Facility at 2900 S. Geiger Blvd. in Spokane.
OTHERCheck out the Spokane River Forum's extensive recycling and waste directory for where to take various unwanted items in Spokane and Kootenai counties: spokaneriver.net/wastedirectory. ♦