City Releases App To Make Recycling Easier

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Recycling seems to have gotten a bit more complicated over the years, so the city of Sacramento has released a new tool to help make it easier.

"If it's made of cardboard I guess it composts, but I don't know if the grease will change that and you have to put it in the garbage.  I don't know," said Dalton Simpson.

You can find the answer in this new app, Sac Recycle, just released by the city. The goal is to get more material into blue bins and cut down on the amount of stuff sent to landfills. But with recycling getting more complicated, some people have opted for the easy solution.

"We're hearing anecdotally people saying, you know, 'It's just too much bother. I'm not going to think about it. I'm just going to throw everything in the garbage,'" said Erin Treadwell with the City of Sacramento.

READ ALSO: Recycling Plants Looking Toward Stricter Recycling Standards

The app helps avoid that problem. You simply type in an item like "pizza box" and it tells you where it goes, garbage or recycle. We showed a young man how the app works.

He said he'd recycle a greasy pizza box, but the app told him to trash it. One woman was certain you'd throw away a juice box.

"Okay juice box. That's a drink container. Put this item in your garbage container. I am surprised. Because you would think you could recycle it," said Edina Davis.

You can also learn through gameplay, making a potentially boring subject fun.

"It's actually kind of cool because I thought things that go into recycling don't go into recycling, so I found out new things. It was actually pretty interesting to play," said Marisol Diaz.

To find the app, just search "Sac Recycle" in the app store.