What in the World Is a White Good? Dear Recycle Smart MA, I’ve been wondering: Why are large appliances picked up separately, and what happens to them after they are collected? Oh, and why are they called “white goods”? Sincerely,White Goods Wonderer Every now and then we get a question that hits differently. Sometimes we…

Where Is “Away” When We Throw Away? Hey Smart Recyclers,  It’s easy to forget about our stuff once we throw it away – until you see where “away” is. The Recycle Smart team thinks about “away” all the time, so we thought it was high time we showed you what it looks like. It’s a powerful…

Libraries: Making Reuse Easy Since 1790 Happy spring, Smart Recyclers!  Some of our faithful readers will know that over the years we’ve covered many different ways to reduce waste in our daily lives. Some of our favorites include:   Borrow, don’t buy. Reuse, refill, repair. Swap ‘til you drop. Share! Because when you share, you have twice…

Waste Ban Progress Report📈 Dear Smart Recyclers, Time flies, and we’re not just saying that because it’s somehow 2025! It’s been a little over two years since we reported that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) was adding two materials with huge reuse and recycling potential to its waste bans: mattresses and textiles. Our…

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza! Extra, extra! Read all about it! 📰 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza is back and coming to you the week of November 18! Pull up a chair and get ready to hear all about waste reduction efforts happening right here in Massachusetts. You don’t want to miss this edition of RRR-Palooza! This year, we are…

Closing the Loop Hey Smart Recyclers, Have you heard about the circular economy?  We’ve seen this phrase all over the place lately – in articles about fast fashion, videos on climate action, and sprinkled into the latest corporate sustainability campaigns. But what does it really mean? To put it simply, a circular economy (also called circularity) means…

All the Waste We Do Not See Welcome back, Smart Recyclers!  As many of our loyal readers will recall, our last newsletter, It Isn’t Waste Until It’s Wasted, had us thinking a lot about our stuff. To recap, we focused on what happens to our stuff “downstream,” after we put it in the trash. We explained Massachusetts’ limited…

It’s Not Waste Until It’s Wasted Happy Spring, Smart Recyclers! ☔🌱🌷 If you’re anything like us, you’ve been doing some spring decluttering this month. For our team, it’s clothes we have (finally) accepted will never fit, toys our children have outgrown, kitchen gadgets collecting dust in our cupboards, and books…so many books! We don’t know about…

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Happy February, Smart Recyclers! This month, we would like to draw your attention to our humble, yet informative, Smart Recycling Guide. If you haven’t seen it before, the Smart Recycling Guide (SRG for short) is our go-to guide to what can and cannot be put in your home…

Recycle Smart This Holiday Season! Happy holiday season, Smart Recyclers!   Did you know that Americans generate 23% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year than any other time of year? That’s a lot of extra trash! Luckily, there are things we can do to reduce the amount of trash we generate this time of year. Read on…