Hey all my MadTown friends I am sure you all recycle like me but there may be some information you are missing. It has been brought to my attention that some of us are putting the wrong items in our recycling bins. This may not seem like a big deal at first but on average 8.3% of the materials put in the green recycling carts cannot be recycled. These misplaced items are then removed at the recycling plant and sent to a landfill. In 2006 this small mistake cost Madison taxpayers $89,000 to fix.

The Streets Division recently went through the local recycling bins to identify some of the common mistakes made by Madison recyclers. Here are the most common items that residents are putting in their recycling bins that should have been put elsewhere:

–         Glass: Broken glass of any kind should be put in your tan refused cart.

–         Metal: Please bring all metal to a drop off site for recycling.

–         Styrofoam: Styrofoam should not be in your recycling cart. A common mistake! Any Styrofoam to be thrown away should be placed in your tan refuse cart.

–         Plastic Packaging: Now when you by a toy for your child it comes wrapped in three different plastic bags and a plastic box. These items do not belong in the recyclable container but should be placed in your tan refuse cart.

–         Rigid Plastics: Hard plastic can recycled by bring it to one of the local drop off sites.

–         Cups: All cups: whether it’s paper or plastic cannot be put in the green recyclable cart. They need to be put in your tan refuse cart.

To find out more about recycling click here.