A Look Behind the (Recycling) Curtain If you’re reading this, chances are you’re an above-average recycler who feels good about doing your part to reduce trash and use of natural resources.  As you should!  That said, after our recent Ask Me Anything about Recycling in MA webinars for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza, we realized a sizable part of our audience still wonder what REALLY happens to their recycling.  We have news: we can answer…

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza! Hey Smart Recyclers, In honor of America Recycles Day next month (November 15), MassDEP and the Recycle Smart MA Team are excited to bring you a series of informative and fun webinars we think you’ll enjoy, all month long! Join us for… The Second Annual Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Palooza! From the story behind…

Cardboard Is Living Its Best Life Right Now (and it can, 6 more times) 🤯 Bonnie and Clyde want your boxes – but paper recyclers do too!  📷: MassDEP You know the drill. You order something online and wait (patiently 😉) for it to arrive.  When it does, you can’t help your excitement. You cut that box open and grab your order like…

Summer Reading: Recycle Smart Style Oh, how the summer is flying by! The Recycle Smart Team is taking a “newsletter break” this summer to focus on other projects.  In the meantime, we wanted to share some of our favorite reads from the last two months. We’ll be back with our regular deep dive newsletter before…

Summer: The Season of Sharing Happy Summer, Friends! If you’ve spent all spring brushing up on your smart recycling skills and are ready for the next challenge – the Recycle Smart Team has you covered. While the primary mission of Recycle Smart MA is to promote good recycling habits here in the Commonwealth, we know…

Spring Cleaning: Recycle Smart Style Overwhelmed by your spring decluttering project? You are not alone. American homes are filled with more than 300,000 items,[1] and this only includes visible objects. It does not include everything tucked into dresser drawers and cabinets or stored away in boxes — and tuck away and store we do! House sizes…

It’s in the bag… Do you remember life before plastic grocery bags? When “produce bags” meant small brown paper bags and we wrapped sandwiches in waxed paper bags?  For most of us, these are distant memories, if that.  Plastic grocery bags first hit U.S. supermarkets in 1979 after taking European markets by storm in the 1960s. Since…

As we celebrate women in waste (and recycling!), The Recycle Smart MA team is thrilled to share this inspiring article written by Sofie Green, Maureen Hennessy, and Bethiah Peirce. These three young women are all 8th graders in Medford and part of the Medford Girl Scout Troop 68137. Girl Scouts Pledge to Recycle Smart By…

It’s Thyme to Talk Organics. Raise your hand if you know exactly what we mean when we talk about organics in the waste stream.   If you couldn’t raise your hand, don’t worry.  The term “organics” can be confusing and vague.  Depending on where you are, you might hear “leaf and yard waste” referred to as…

Can you feel the love? There’s a lot to love about aluminum cans, and not just because they contain some of our favorite beverages. The pandemic spiked a huge demand for aluminum cans as Americans bought record amounts of canned beverages to consume at home while local bars and restaurants were forced to close their doors. In…