By WKTV Staff and Kent County Department of Public Works

ken@wktv.org

What can and cannot be recycled in Kent County, and how do it. And what happens to everything else? WKTV Journal, working with Kent County Department of Public Works Resource Recovery Specialist Lauren Westerman, are working to look at specific consumer products and other items and give you the answers.

In this post, we look at those at-home COVID-19 rest kits — part plastic, part cardboard packaging and paper instructions, part that nasty stick you stuck up your nose and other medical materials. Maybe you want to just toss everything in the nearest trash can, but should you? Here is the lowdown from an expert:

(If you received the kit in the mail, remember to look for a recycling label on the mailer.)

Remove the test supplies from the paperboard box. Flatten the box and place it into your curbside recycling cart. The paper instructions can also go into your curbside recycling cart. The box and paper will head to the Recycling Center where it is sorted out from non-paper items, baled, and transported to a local paper mill to be processed into a new paper product that can be used again.

After performing your COVID-19 at home test, throw away the swab, the wrapper from around the swab, the test card, the test card’s soft plastic pouch, and the empty plastic dropper bottle.

The only piece remaining is the hard plastic piece that (possibly) held all the various test pieces. If this hard piece of plastic has a recycling symbol on it, then it may be placed into your curbside recycling cart. The plastic will be sorted with similar rigid plastics at the Recycling Center, shipped to a facility where the plastic is flaked or pelletized, and eventually remolded into a new plastic item.

Do you have a question about a specific consumer product or other item? Contact WKTV at ken@wktv.org. Please send a photo of the product and the recycling label if available.

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