Author: Winneshiek Waste

Plastic Bottle Caps

In Winneshiek County, we ask that you remove bottle caps when you recycle your plastic containers. There are two reasons for this:

1. Removing the cap allows the bottles to be compressed more when they are baled. This allows more plastic to be transported in one load.
2. Plastic caps typically do not contain a number. If they do, they are usually greater than #2 which means we can’t recycle them in Winneshiek County. At this time, the county only accepts plastics stamped #1 and #2.

Metal Bottle Caps

Metal bottle caps can be recycled if you take the proper steps:

1. Separate your bottle caps into empty aluminum and steel cans. If the cap sticks to a magnet, it’s steel. If not, then it’s aluminum.
2. Place the steel caps in the steel can and aluminum caps in the aluminum can.
3. Once the containers are halfway full with caps, crimp the cans closed so the caps don’t fall out when they are processed.

Loose metal caps that are thrown into the recycling bin are less likely to be recycled because they are often too small to be identified. As a result, they fall through the screeners in the sorting process and end up going to the landfill.

Milk cartons cannot be recycled at the Winneshiek County Recycling Center. Cartons generally contain a thin layer of plastic coating on the inside. The mix of paper and plastic in this product make it difficult to recycle. Please throw milk cartons in your trash bin. Plastic gallon jugs and half gallon jugs can be recycled.

Did you know that there is a 24 hour bin at the Freeport Recycling Center for scrap metal? If you have larger amounts, you can bring it to the Freeport Recycling Center during business hours 6am-3pm and ask for assistance from one of our staff members.

When debating what to do with used clothing, think twice before throwing those items in the trash! There are local organizations that could use excess clothing. Some businesses might even offer a payout for the pieces. Visit the following websites to see what these organizations can and cannot accept:

Goodwill Industries of NE Iowa

The Getup – Decorah

The Depot Outlet – Decorah

Kadens Kloset – Decorah

The Freeport Recycling Center is happy to offer this FREE service! Confidential documents are shredded at the facility and then transported out to be recycled. Although this is a great service, we have been experiencing comingling of various paper items in this bin. These items can potentially damage the shredder. Please ensure only office paper is placed in the confidential recycling bin. Office paper is very valuable and can be recycled into many different products.

Evan Neubauer is our new Waste Reduction and Recycling Educator. He comes to us with a background in Environmental Science and has experience in helping businesses with waste monitoring and reduction. He can be reached at wildrecycling@winneshiekwild.com. You’ll be hearing more from him soon!