Reframing the Waste Hierarchy Let’s play a quick round of trivia. Clue: This phrase is an alliteration, made up of three waste reduction strategies in order of impact. If you answered “reduce, reuse, recycle,” you’re right! The ubiquitous “Three Rs” (aka, the Waste Hierarchy) is our go-to phrase when we talk about waste reduction. While…

Recycling’s “Magic” Numbers Quick poll: You know the little numbers on the bottom of plastic containers? Which ones are okay to put in the recycling bin? If you said “1s and 2s,” we hate to break it to you. That was a trick question! Rest assured, there’s good reason for our collective confusion about those…

How Are You Celebrating Earth Month? “Every April 22 I think to myself, ‘I wish I had signed up for an Earth Day clean-up this year…’”   – Anonymous  If that sounds like you – or if you just like to plan ahead – this newsletter is for you. We’ve put together a list of activities from across…

All About Plastic We get a LOT of questions about plastics here at Recycle Smart MA, and we understand why. There’s a lot of confusion about which plastics can go in the recycling and which can’t. There’s also a fair amount of confusion about why some plastics are a yes and others are a no. And finally, there’s…

The Truth About Plastics Recycling We need to talk. We know you’ve seen the headlines that plastic recycling is a “dead end” or, even worse, “a dumpster fire,” and we know you’ve got questions. This month, we are setting the record straight. Plastics recycling is real and is happening in Massachusetts. News stories that say…

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza! Happy Fall! Don’t you love this time of year in New England?  We’ve got falling leaves, pumpkin picking, brisk mornings, and, of course, Recycle Smart MA’s annual celebration of all things waste reduction – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza! For those of you who are new here, we started this annual celebration in honor…

Waste Bans 101: Less Trash for a Cleaner Mass…achusetts In the spirit of the back-to-school season, we thought we’d get a little academic. Don’t run away – we promise it’s interesting! This month, we are focusing on one of the strategies the state uses to reduce the amount of stuff we send to incineration and…

All for Reuse, and Reuse for All! Welcome back to our Summer of Reuse series!  This month we are delighted to highlight two very impressive reuse organizations in MA.  Both are former recipients of MassDEP Waste Reduction grants, and each work to reduce waste by rescuing materials that would otherwise be thrown away and making…

Summer of Reuse Happy Summer! And welcome to the kick-off of what we’re calling the Summer of Reuse. For the next couple months, we’ll be sharing stories of trailblazing organizations and businesses in MA that are dedicated to reusing, repairing, refilling, refusing, repurposing, and more, in order to reduce the amount of waste we send…

Textile Recovery: A New Challenge Unfolds We love our clothes. But what happens when it’s time to let go? Textile recovery can sound daunting, but we promise it’s not! Read on for some fast facts about textiles in Massachusetts. Clothing and textile products amount to 6% of all material going into U.S. landfills and incinerators…that’s…