The 3Rs and Beyond Resources

This Morning your child participated in a Greenish Neighbor Presentation! Our passion is showing our Neighbors how to Recycle Right and reduce their landfill waste! Below you will find resources for many of the topics we discussed.

 
 

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle are just the start of how to reduce waste going to the landfill. Think BEYOND the 3Rs!

  • Reimagine - Create a sustainable lifestyle through new habits.

  • Request - Ask your favorite businesses to help prevent landfill waste by offering reusable options and recycling.

  • Remember - Bring your reusable bags, utensil roll and to-go containers with you to stores and restaurants.

  • Rebound - Don’t let missteps set you back. Just keep trying.

  • Repair - Before you toss it, try to fix it.

  • Rot - Compost your food scraps and organic waste.

  • Refuse - Kindly ask for “no single-use plastics” at restaurants. Do this before the plastic straw automatically arrives in your drink.

  • Repurpose - Think about other uses for items you don’t need anymore. Local Buy Nothing Groups are great for this.

Stay up to date on what’s going on with waste and recycling in your city:

For a ton of great information and to PRINT your own Recycle Right Guide for your home, please visit the NC Department of Environmental Quality.

Please note that gable top cartons and ascetic broth cartons are not recyclable in the Town of Cary. These can be taken to a Wake County Citizens Convenience Center for proper recycling.

Apps to Download: CARY COLLECTS, TOWF (Wale Forest) and APEX COLLECTS apps are available for download free where you get your apps.

Here’s where to take those “hard to recycle” items:

Look for these bins at Wake County Convenience Centers.

Look for these bins at Wake County Convenience Centers.

  • Plastic grocery bags, bread/bun bags, plastic film (like the type that comes on paper towels and water bottle cases) - take to your grocery store plastic collection bins. Many local grocery stores such as Harris Teeter are sending this plastic to Trex for recycling. (Tip - If it is stretchy when you try to rip it, it can go in the storefront bins.)

  • Plastics marked with the #5 on the bottom (like many To Go containers) are not recyclable in your cart but are recyclable at some local Whole Foods stores (call before you go to make sure your favorite store is participating).

  • Chip bags (single serving or family sized), protein bars, snack wrappers – take to your local Subaru Dealer. There is a teracycle bin in the lounge area as part of Subaru Loves the Earth. They also have collection bins for k-cups .

  • Food Waste – take to Cary’s NEW Pilot Food Recycling Drop-0ff or to Wake County Convenience Center 2, 4, 7, 8 or 10. Learn more about Food Waste > 

  • Clean and dry Styrofoam and foam trays can be taken to your local Publix storefront.

Reduce Waste by Composting

Compostable waste makes up ~40% of Wake County residents’ trash*. This is material could have been turned into nutrient rich soil but instead it will go into the landfill where it will not break down properly thus generating green house gasses. Consider reducing your landfill waste by backyard composting or commercial composting.

* Source: Wake County North Carolina Waste Characterization Study 2019

Understand more about the local landfills

The Wake County Landfill is where Wake County trash goes. Visit here to learn about the landfill.

Durham sends it’s trash to a landfill 93 miles away to Sampson County. Learn about why that is a huge environmental problem.

Follow Greenish Neighbor on social media for tips on how to take simple steps to be live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Being completely GREEN can be hard to do but being GREENISH is a great way to start.