Welcome back, Cougars! We hope you had a wonderful summer and are ready to jump into the new school year and new building! Along with the excitement of our incredible new school comes a new recycling policy, which is also pretty buzzworthy! Previously, only paper was allowed to be recycled in classroom bins, but now many different materials are acceptable for recycling. Plastic bottles, containers, aluminum cans, glass jars, and paperboard can all be recycled in classrooms starting this year. Read below for specific guidelines:

Plastic Bottles

You can recycle empty water bottles, soda bottles, hand sanitizer containers, and milk or juice jugs that are made out of plastic. Make sure the bottles are empty and screw the caps on before recycling. Additionally, do not recycle any straws or plastic cups.

Small Plastic Containers

Examples of items you can recycle include empty yogurt containers, cleansing wipe containers, and snack mix containers. Make sure that there is no food residue left inside the containers by wiping them out with a napkin before recycling. Do not recycle any microwave meal trays, take-out containers, or plastic serving trays.

Aluminum Cans

Yes, you read that correctly; you can now recycle your empty soda and beverage cans! In order to prevent stickiness, be sure to empty out as much liquid as possible before recycling.

Mixed Paper

Mixed paper recycling will follow the same procedures as normal, but as a reminder, bulletin board paper, staples, and paperclips are all okay to recycle, but no paper towels, paper cups, napkins, tissues, or art projects should be recycled.

Paperboard

Items you can now recycle include food packaging boxes (cereal/snack boxes), tissue boxes, paper towel tubes, and spiral food cans like Pringles cans. Throw away the plastic bag liner, if there is one, and flatten boxes to save room in the bins. Do not recycle any corrugated cardboard or pizza boxes.

Steel/Tin Food Cans

You can also recycle food cans such as soup cans and coffee cans. Always rinse them out and wipe off any residue with a paper towel before recycling, and do not recycle any aerosol or spray cans!

Glass Bottles/Jars

Be careful with this category because although you can recycle glass bottles like iced tea bottles and mason jars, recycling ceramic mugs, vases, and plates is not allowed. Additionally, if there’s an accident in the lab, don’t look to the recycling bin because science lab glassware is not recyclable! Once again, be sure that the bottles you’re tossing in the bin are empty.

These new recycling procedures are a great first step in keeping Apex High green and clean, especially with our brand new building. Make sure you are recycling properly, and refer to these guidelines if you are ever uncertain about the materials you can recycle!