ALL ITEMS SHOULD BE CLEAN, DRY, AND SORTED
ACCEPTED METAL PRODUCTS
- aluminum cans (crushed if possible. A simple squeeze of the hand will be just fine, but only if you feel safe doing so)
- No tin foil, tin pans, cooking pots/pans, or other scrap metal please.
- corrugated cardboard- broken down and flattened, PLEASE! (pizza boxes must be free of grease and unwaxed)
- newspaper, magazines, and small catalogs (NO phonebooks or large catalogs, such as ULINE) ***Sorry, but NO packing/shipping/mailing paper, butcher paper, office/copy paper, mail, etc.
- PLASTICS #1 through #7 (i.e.: water bottles, milk and water jugs, laundry detergent bottles, dairy containers, etc.) NO number code on the bottom or label probably means it is another number and not accepted at this time.) NO STYROFOAM OR ANYTHING SMALLER THAN ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF AN ADULT FIST
- plastic grocery/retail shopping bags (receipts removed and hard plastic and string handles removed)
- Food storage and produce bags, bread bags, Ziploc® brand and other ziplock style bags (i.e.: bell pepper and apple zipper bags, but NO FREEZER zipper bags, unless there is a #4 code)(NO MESH citrus/avocado bags, unless they have a #4 code)
- plastic overwrap that encases packs of water bottles, toilet paper, napkins, diapers, etc.
- newspaper sleeves/bags
- dry cleaning bags
- 100% PLASTIC mailing/shipping envelopes (PAPER LABELS REMOVED. Cut off if necessary.)
Contaminated or soiled materials. So even if you REALLY want to recycle that greasy pizza box, we can’t accept it. It becomes unusable and processing it is nearly impossible. This also includes soiled plastic containers like peanut butter or food storage containers. We also don’t accept things like car parts, car seats, garden hoses, spray paint bottles, used oil containers, children's toys, and etc. If it doesn’t fit in FAQ #1 above, then we can not accept it.
First, all of the trash that we see on the sides of the road or found in our neighborhood just looks ugly. It’s even more ugly knowing that it is preventable. Pollution is not just unsightly, but it’s also detrimental to our environment and natural resources. Studies have shown that microplastics have been found in 83% of tap water samples from major cities, and 93% of bottled water samples from the top 11 brands. How about our oceans? It is estimated that approximately 51 trillion microscopic pieces of plastic, weighing 269,000 tons can be found in our oceans. That is about the same weight as 1,345 adult blue whales. It's also, quantity-wise, 500 times the number of stars in our galaxy.
1 in 3 fish have microplastics or WHOLE pieces of plastic found in them. It's found in the air, our soil, the deepest oceans, and on top of pristine mountain peaks. On average we consume about 50,000 particles of microplastics a year. So the question is not if we are consuming plastic, but what are its effects on the human body. In order to figure out the harmful effects on the human body, a study group would need to be completed. To do this, we would need to have people voluntarily ingest microplastics beyond what they already consume and compare them to people who haven’t ingested the same materials. Not quite something we can do. But we do know that 70% of earth’s oxygen is produced by marine plant life. I don’t know about you, but I love a good breath of fresh air, so let's keep the plastic out of our oceans.
No! If it wasn’t for plastic we wouldn’t have computers, phones, medical equipment, efficient cars, and a whole bunch of other things. However, we can, and have shown, that there is an observable correlation between the presence of plastic substances in the blood (specifically BPA and phthalates) and higher rates of certain health issues. Some of these health issues include chromosomal and reproductive abnormalities, early puberty, childhood obesity, and increased blood pressure But did you know that using one Brita® water bottle filter can save you from using 300 plastic water bottles, and filter about 40 gallons of water? That’s a significant amount of plastic being saved from our landfills and our environment. Not to mention it will save you money and your health.
According to the EPA, recycling one ton of paper is equivalent to saving 17 trees. It should be noted that recycling one ton can also save “7 thousand US gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity – enough energy to power the average American home for six months.” A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year and can use 1 one ton of carbon dioxide by the time it turns 40 years old (source). It’s really hard to say how much CO2 a tree will absorb over the course of its life, since not every tree will live to adulthood, and the life span of those that do varies widely.
The typical material recovery facility (MRF) has to shut down up to 4 times a day to untangle the plastic bags getting caught up in the separating machinery. So please make sure that all of your recyclables are loose and separated from any plastic bag unless on rare occasion you have an abundance of extra recyclables in a single pick up that needs to be contained.
I would encourage you to get yourself a reusable grocery bag at your local store. We use them here in our family, but we are not perfect either. So we reuse the ones we do end up with for other household purposes, and we also take unused ones to the grocery stores that collect them. We will take them for you if they are clean, dry, and bundled.
Once a week(weekly), or every other week (biweekly)
Bolstering Buffalo Inc. and you, the customer, keeps the costs down and our environment cleaner by pre-sorting the recyclables. In order to do this, you need to provide your own additional tote or rent one from us by a refundable deposit for $12.00. As an example, you’ll use one tote for plastics and aluminum/tin cans, and the other for glass and small cardboard/paperboard. Many of our customers even sort each individual material within the totes in plastic or paper bags. (If using paper bags, we will fold them back up and replace them in your totes for further use.) Large cardboard can be placed under your totes on windy days or next to them.
We’ll notify you via email what day of the week your residence or business will be serviced. Please have your totes out by 7AM, and place them where you would normally place your trash barrels. If the pick-up falls on the same day as your rubbish, please leave enough room for each to be safely be serviced, a few feet apart should work.
On rare occasions, the weather will get in our way. We will try to give you a fair warning if this happens via email notification and/or following our Facebook page. High winds and flooding are typically our only foes. If this happens we will service your tote on the following day.
Unfortunately, it costs money, but so does everything. At least this cost has valid reasons. It protects the environment, your natural resources, health, and keeps our planet looking gorgeous and enjoyable. Not to mention, when you partner with us, you’re supporting so much more. A portion of all profits will be donated to local charities and parks and recreation. We will also pay our employees a fair living wage that increases their livelihood and supports their families. In turn, it bolsters the local economy, our neighborhoods, and schools.
We are continually looking for ways to use recyclables to keep them out of our landfills and from being sent overseas just to be burned or thrown in a dump there, or worse, the ocean. Bolstering Buffalo Inc. will continue to look for marketable ways to keep our environment clean. We will utilize local transfer stations, paper mills, plastics recovery that can be used to make flip-flops or carpet, and other ways. We are new, but we will be growing in all these areas the best we can. You could say that we are that extra layer of defense between you and pollution.
