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Can you recycle wet paper?
A couple drops won't ruin your efforts, but it's definitely best to keep paper dry.
Sat, Nov 15 2008 at 3:25 PM
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POINTLESS PAPER: Be careful where you leave your paper recyclables. (Photo: heather/Flickr)
This question was originally answered in Plenty magazine.
Q. I just read your response to "Can I recycle newspaper with art supply paint on it?" You said that once paper gets wet it is no good to the mills. Does that mean that all those bags/bundles of paper that people put out for recycling the night before pickup are no good for recycling if they got wet? Should we put out our recycling in plastic bags?
– Susan Meles, N.J.
A. Although we at Plenty are never, ever grouchy — not even when election day stress has all but put us over the edge and we’re about ready to take a sledgehammer to that car whose alarm has been blaring outside our NYC window for the past hour — we do have one thing in common with Oscar the Grouch. We love trash. We love treating it lovingly, and doing all sorts of loving and creative things with it — things like recycling, composting and repurposing. And, yes, protecting it from the elements.
It’s true that wet paper is tricky for recyclers, so do take a little care to make sure that what you send them is dry, says Trey Granger of Earth 911. The best thing to do is simply keep an eye on the weather forecast and hold off putting your bundled paper out too early if rain looks likely.
Don’t go overboard, though — you shouldn’t put your paper waste in a plastic bag unless your particular curbside program asks you to. Paper set out in plastic bags is likely to be confused with trash and sent to the landfill, which will totally negate all of your careful efforts to keep it dry. Anyway, a little morning dew won’t ruin the whole bundle. Your friendly recycler will probably just remove the wet outer layer in order to get to the remaining dry part.
Story by Sarah Schmidt. This article originally appeared in Plenty in November 2008. The story was added to MNN.com in August 2009.
Copyright Environ Press 2008
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I have often put out my recycling at home and not given it a thought whether the paper got wet or not but knowing that it does make a difference whether wet or dry. i have often done paper shredding with sensitive information and left it in a carrier outside to get wet. i will look into alternatives.
Interesting to know that wet paper would need more effort to recycle. All of us need to contribute to the environment. hence by keeping papers dry we should be helping a in our own small way in preserving our mother earth. Thank you for this informative article.
I work at a shredding paper fort lauderdale business and i had no clue of this issue you presented here.
Wow! I never even knew wet paper was an issue! At my office we just use http://www.opsus.com for our paper shredding and recycling so I've never even thought about it. Good to know.