Portland Officials Encourage Residents To Keep Recycling Recycling at home has become a good habit many Portland residents have gotten into. But there is a change with statewide recycling that could have serious implications. You might not know this but most of the mixed paper and plastics that are collected for recycling are actually shipped to China for processing. But now China has decided it is going stop accepting a long list of specific items. What does this mean for your recycling? You can and should keep it up but you might have to do even more pre-sorting. It’s not just Oregon that is feeling the impact but states and countries around the world. This is creating a backlog that might force some recyclers to process disposal requests at landfills. Just what is being objected to? It would be all those things a lot of folks consider to be “wishful recyclables.” In other words, it is a lot of things folks wish could be recycled but in realty aren’t accepted in the flow. Here are some of the specific items that should be kept out of the municipal recycling bins for curbside pickup: plastic bags film plastics liquids food soiled packaging plastic clamshells garden hoses wire hangers textiles diapers electronics batteries What happens to all of those items? They should be put into the regular trash for now until a system is put in place to handle those kinds of recyclables. That takes care of most kitchen trash but what about bigger items like furniture, clothing, appliances and e-waste? Can those be recycled? Actually, they can if you work with a company like Junk King Portland. Junk King has dedicated itself to keeping as much of what they collect out of local landfills. This doesn’t automatically mean everything gets recycled. Instead, a lot of what they collect that is still useable can be dropped off at charitable organizations. A lot of those groups hire folks to fix and refurbish those items. That means creating jobs and creating items for those in need. Bottom line: We all need to be careful about recycling. When it comes to recycling the big stuff, you can always count on Junk King Portland to get that job done. Portland Officials Encourage Residents To Keep Recycling