Recycling In Chicago Is Way More Complicated Than You'd Think
By Anthony Todd in News on Jan 25, 2016 5:40PM
Photo via Shutterstock.
We try to be conscientious recyclers, but really, it's tough—in part because of all the bad information floating around out there, and in part because the city's recycling policies are an enigma. We've been told to rip the little plastic windows out of our envelopes, throw napkins in the recycling bin if they don't have grease on them, check the numbers on our plastic bottles and more. Turns out that we've been wrong about a lot of things.
The website Recyclebycity.com, in partnership with the City of Chicago, has created a 12-question quiz. It's entirely possible we flunked. It covers everything from styrofoam to plastic to newsprint, and includes a ton of interesting tidbits. Did you know that wet paper is less valuable for recycling?
The quiz is just part of the material—there's also a complete guide to what goes in the blue recycling carts, what goes in the garbage and what you can call 311 to have picked up.
Only 8 percent of Chicagoans have gotten a perfect score on the quiz so far. Will you be in the elite, or does your recycling knowledge need a brush up?