All About Trash in Rhode Island
How we can reduce, reuse, recycle and rot our way to a cleaner, more sustainable Ocean State.
RIRRC/Instagram and Getty Images.
Code of Plastics
Turns out, the numbers and letters on the bottom of your plastic products — resin codes, for the uninitiated — are useless in Rhode Island. Neither 1 PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) nor 6 PS (polystyrene) will save you when it comes to our single-stream recycling program, which sorts items by density and only accepts plastic containers — say it with us: plastic containers! — like cups, jugs, cartons and bottles. Also worth noting: Small plastic items, like utensils, bottlecaps and containers with fewer than 1.5 fluid ounces, are sifted out and head to the landfill, anyway, so cut the recycling folks a break and trash them yourself. –C.N.
Bottled Away
Rhode Island lawmakers have long attempted to pass statewide bottle deposit bills, which help keep containers out of the landfill by offering 5- or 10-cent refunds on those returned to redemption centers, reverse vending machines and retail stores. But industry groups oppose the legislation — the latest version in 2020 — and all have failed. Rhode Island and New Hampshire are the only New England states without bottle deposit bills.
