One day recently, after donning a hard hat and a yellow reflective vest, I explored the bowels of the largest recycling center west of the Mississippi. The center's Community Education Director, Rita Smith, guided me directly into the belly of the beast. Cascade Recycling Center, located in Woodinville, Washington, is an 82,000-square-foot facility that processes most of the recycling for four counties. This behemoth runs 24 hours a day, 5 ½ days a week, and churns through an average of 600 - 700 tons each day before it rests on weekends. Truck after truck dumps "fresh" material that is scooped by a front loader onto a circuitous conveyor belt traveling so fast that seasickness trumps carpel tunnel as the biggest complaint made by sorters. At the end of the line, forklifts haul huge bales of bundled recycling onto shipping containers, making room for new bales to take their place.

I was here to satisfy my curiosity about what a recycling center looks and smells like — better than expected on both counts. The anticipated dust wasn't very evident; in fact, OSHA doesn't require workers to wear masks here, although many do. Beyond that, I wanted to get answers to some of my nagging questions. Despite the fact that most of us have been recycling for a while now, there is still some confusion about what gets recycled and how. I have had many friendly arguments with family and neighbors about this very subject. What I found was that while the answers are not universal (since what's accepted depends on your city or county's contract with a recycling facility, as well as the center's capabilities), there are still more similarities than differences.

Building green: Michelle Kaufmann, a former associate of renowned architect Frank O. Gehry, has become a sort of icon in the world of sustainable building design. By incorporating ecological design principles into the production of modular, factory-built homes, Kaufmann has found a way to make the pre-fab home low on environmental impact and high on style. Both the original Glidehouse and her latest design, the Breezehouse, are built using nontoxic paints, sustainably harvested wood, bamboo flooring, Richlite countertops made from recycled paper, formaldehyde-free cabinets, dual-flush toilets and on-demand hot water.

Paper Puzzles

Shredded paper: Many of us are shredding personal papers for fear of identity theft. Unfortunately, paper mills do not want shredded paper. "If people are shredding, they may be increasing their sense of confidentiality but they are definitely decreasing the fiber value of the material. And if it's cross-cut/confetti, it really has no fiber value," says Rita. "At best, shredded paper has low value, and at worst it ends up getting in everything else except where it belongs and becomes garbage." Paper mills require long fibers to make recycled paper, so small bits of shredded paper often pass through papermaking screens and are discarded as waste.

At Cascade Recycling, long before it gets to the paper mill, shredded paper also gets into glass and has to be vacuumed out; it can contaminate other materials, as well. Rita says, "It's difficult for us here because we're highly mechanized. We collect everything together, which means we have very little time to address individual items." She says that people often put shredded paper in a brown paper grocery bag because they think they're doing a good thing by putting paper in paper. But at Cascade Recycling, the sorter doesn't know what's in the bag, so it can end up in the garbage if someone doesn't pull it off the conveyor. If your recycling center does accept shredded paper, be sure to package it as stated in their literature. At Cascade Recycling, they prefer that you bundle it in a clear plastic bag. That way the sorter can see it, pull it quickly and sort it correctly for recycling.

So it's more useful to shred only the section of paper that has critical information on it, not the whole page, and to try to avoid cross shredding. Also, rather than recycling it, consider using shredded paper as mulch for your garden. If you're worried about the inks, use it on your flower rather than your vegetable garden — although Rita says inks are less of an issue than in previous years because many printers are now using soy-based inks. Another option is to use the shredded paper as a fire starter.

Cardboard: I always thought I was being helpful by tearing up large pieces of cardboard into more manageable sizes. While it's best to flatten the boxes, don't tear them down to smaller pieces than required by your recycler; leaving larger pieces helps retain the longer fibers.

Windowed envelopes: Some of us have been so well trained that we're still pulling those little plastic windows out of envelopes. The machines take care of that now.

Wrapping paper: Rita says that shiny paper is generally clay-coated, which is OK for recycling. However, if it is foil or plastic (doesn't tear like paper), it's not recyclable.

Particular about Plastic

To market or landfill? Rita expressed concern about the consumer complacency that can occur if products are recycled when there isn't a market for them. Sometimes, when a center accepts lower-grade plastics, they will throw them out if there is no commercial market for those products. Fortunately, at least at Cascade Recycling, less than 4 percent of everything that comes into the center ends up in the garbage. Still, a well-informed recycler will consider the most marketable plastics — bottles, jugs and dairy tubs — when making purchases.

Those little chasing arrows: Didn't we all believe that life had gotten easier when plastic manufacturers added those recycling symbols to the bottom of plastic containers? Unfortunately, many companies add them regardless of whether there is a market for recycling a particular plastic. Again, follow your recycler's rules carefully. If you know that you can recycle certain numbered plastics, then do. For instance, in nearby Bellevue you can recycle plastics #1 - 7, whereas in Snohomish County, you recycle only bottles, jugs and tubs, regardless of the numbers. Also, a #1 plastic bottle is not made the same way as a #1 plastic cup, meaning they really can't be recycled together. So read your recycling company's literature and check their website occasionally to get the latest updates.

Caps and lids: While most of us know that recyclers don't want caps and lids, some still make their way into the recycling bin. Caps and lids are a different grade of plastic than containers, and they can contaminate other recyclables.

The ubiquitous plastic grocery bags: Even if your recycler accepts plastic grocery bags, Rita cautions that more are apt to be recycled if you use the recycling center at your local grocery store because the bags will stay clean and not get caught in a machine. "If [your recycler] says they do accept plastic bags, then tie them very tightly in a bundle." Better yet, Rita suggests reusing plastic bags or buying reusable ones.

More Harm than Good?

The big "friendly" mistake: Though it may seem helpful to gather aluminum cans (or anything else) in a plastic bag, it's probably counter-productive. In a mechanized center like Cascade Recycling, machines rely on the weight of an item to help identify it, so a bag of aluminum cans foils mechanized sorting.

Should you wash or not? (Your recycling, that is.) Rita says you don't need to wash most of it, except sticky stuff such as peanut butter jars. A soup can? Maybe. A soft drink container? Probably not. It's a bit of a tradeoff, though. The more residue that's left in containers, the more rodents and bees that are attracted to the plant; but you don't want to waste water, either. What about pizza boxes? "Don't discriminate against a pizza box because it's a pizza box," she says. "Ask yourself if it has food on it." Oily paper can't be used to make new paper.

Before Recycling

The best approach is to avoid buying products that will end up being recycled or discarded. While I know that I can reuse almost anything, when I have too many things — such as bags or plastic containers — my pantry gets full, and I feel forced to either recycle them or toss them out if they can't be recycled.

Reduce

• Purchase items that use less packaging, last a long time and can be recycled.
• Buy food in bulk or in large sizes.
• Use cloth napkins and towels.

Bubble wrap and Styrofoam packing peanuts:
Consider reusing them for mailing or packaging things. Mail houses in your area may take them too. Or call the Peanut hotline at 800-828-2214 or see www.loosefillpackaging.com to find the nearest business or site that accepts these items.

Rethink recycling: Rita's freedom to speak openly at Cascade Recycling about the need to reduce waste has not been curtailed by the owners, Waste Management — even though the company's revenue is tied to their volume of trash and recycling. "The fact of the matter is, for better or worse, Americans are so good at making garbage that Waste Management is not at risk of going out of business."

Witnessing firsthand the vast heaps of material to be recycled affected me more than reading statistics, but the numbers are staggering. According to the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the average King County citizen throws out 17.5 pounds of garbage per week, which equates to one-half ton of garbage per year. I know that whether I discard take-out boxes or toss a shampoo bottle in my recycling bin, I feel uneasy, especially after seeing how much waste this amounts to collectively. So I'm going to try to produce a little less waste today and not, as Rita cautions, let recycling become a panacea. And when I do have to recycle, I'll try to recycle it right. My new recycling slogan is, when in doubt, find out.

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