Environment Magazine

Can You Recycle Razor Blades? (And Blade Cartridges)

Posted on the 04 December 2020 by Rinkesh @ThinkDevGrow

Can You Recycle Razor Blades?

One of the common home items is a razor blade. Though considered dangerous, many people cannot do without them. For men, it is a necessary accessory. For instance, shaving your beards would require the use of razor blades.

Aside from this, we constantly use razor blades to shave many parts of our body. From our armpit to our pubic hair below, just name it. Once we have a razor, it simply glides through and does the job for us. This shows that a razor blade is necessary for personal hygiene. The problem, however, is in use.

razor-blades

One thing to note is that, like other personal items, you can’t share your razor blade. The implication of this is that there are millions of razor blades in different homes. If you consider that many people have more than one razor blade for personal hygiene, then you would understand the concern.

What aggravates the problem is that many of these razor blades don’t remain sharp after a few uses. The explains why there are a nonstop production and sale of razor blades.

The concern for us here, however, in the aftermath of using them. Where do they end up? Can you recycle razor blades?

Those were some of the questions that posed some difficulties for us. But trust us to do our research. The good news is that we now have answers to all these questions and many more related questions.

We don’t want you to searching endlessly for these answers, so we have gathered everything in this post. All you have to do is relax, read on, and open the doors of quality information.

Let’s go.

Are Razor Blades Recyclable?

This is an important question to find answers to. Whether you like it or not, razor blades are fast filling up the landfill. Yearly, manufacturers churn out razor blades in millions. The same razor blades get into people’s homes and come out used.

Due to this, there is an important environmental concern. And that embodies the question of whether we can recycle razor blades.

The answer to this is in the affirmative. Yes, you can recycle your razor blade. But there are many things you must take care of before this can happen. Read on to find out.

First, you must understand that your razor blades are metal materials. This means that you can send your razor blades to every recycling center with an arrangement for recycling metals.

However, unlike other recyclables, you can’t toss your blade in the recycling bin. The reason for this is safety. Remember that when your local recyclers collect your recyclables, they will have to sort them out. This is where the problem is.

If you toss your razor blade in the recycling bin during sorting, it can injure the recycler. Due to this, you shouldn’t put your razor blades bare in the recycling bin. Here’s what to do.

Get your used razor blades and get a paper. You can use newspaper or paper towel; the choice is yours. Use the paper you have to wrap up the razor blade. Make sure that the folds of the paper are thick enough on both sides. This would ensure that the razor blade doesn’t cut through the paper.

Next, you can get a paper tape. Use this to hold the paper together so that the blade won’t fall off in any way.  After you have done this, you can then toss the razor blade in the recycling bin.

To make it better, you can tag the wrapped razor blade. Use a pen or marker to indicate that what’s in the wrapped paper are razor blades. This would inform the recyclers. And they would be more careful when dealing with the recyclable.

That is the proper way to dispose of your razor blades for recycling. Always remember that safety comes first.

Are Razor Blade Cartridges Recyclable?

Advancement has met the manufacturing of razor blades. What we used to have are razor blades with both sharp ends. Though these types of razor blades are still very much around, they are not as common as before.

What we now have in many places is razor blades with cartridges. These types of razor blades are particularly safer. With the cartridges, you can glide through your skin easily.

Another thing is that you can always replace them with a new one. This makes more people prefer razor blades with cartridges.

However, just like the ordinary razor blade, we ask the same question for this. Are razor blade cartridges recyclable?

Sadly, unlike the ordinary razor blade, the answer to this is in the negative. The Razor blade cartridges are Not recyclable. Let’s explain the reason for this.

The Razor blade cartridges have two different materials. The cartridge is a plastic material. The razor blade is a metal material. The issue is that both the razor blade and the cartridges are inseparable.

This state of a thing is what raises the difficulty of recycling. In recycling materials, recyclers put each material in the machine according to their type. And since you can’t easily separate the razor blade from the cartridges, it would be impossible to recycle both together.

Due to this, many recyclers exclude the razor blade cartridges from recyclables.

Now, the position is that you can’t recycle razor blade cartridges. But how do you dispose of them?

Due to their nature, you have to apply the same method you used in disposing of ordinary blades. Hence, you will need to get a large piece of paper and tape.

With the paper, wrap the razor blade cartridges very thick and tape it. After this, place the cartridges in your recycling bin.

This way, you are making it safer for everyone.

Are Gillette’s Razor Blades Recyclable?

Gillette razor blades are one of the most common razor blades you will find around. The way Americans use the brand is raising a concern on how possible recycling is.

Well, the good news is that recycling razor blades from Gillette is possible. The brand, in a bid to pursue a greener environment, has taken steps to fast-track this.

One of the steps is to enter a partnership with TerraCycle. This partnership would see to the collection of used Gillette’s razor blades and send them over to TerraCycle for recycling.

On its website, the brand explains the process this recycling partnership program would follow. This process includes

1. Registration: You will register and send a request to get one of Gillette’s bin for razor blades. Your request would be granted, and you will get a bin for your razor blades.

2. Collect The Used Razor Blades: The next thing is for you to begin collecting all the used Gillette’s razor blades. The fun part of this is that Gillette doesn’t limit the razor blades to only its brand. You can collect other brands too. The purpose of the recycling partnership program is to recycle as many razor blades as possible.

3. Send Back: Once you have gathered enough razor blades, you can send the bin back to Gillette. From there, the recycling process begins through TerraCycle.

So, that’s pretty much everything. Gillette’s razor blades are recyclable.

Are Harry’s Razor Blades Recyclable?

One problem many of America’s recycling centers face is the difficulty of separating the materials of razor blade cartridges. For manufacturers, this has been the problem too.

Harry’s razor blade being with both plastic and metal material, may be difficult to recycle. This is owned to the difficulty of separating the materials.

Except Harry has a partnership with some external organizations that repurposes its razor blades, the situation remains the same. Harry’s razor blade is not recyclable.

Do Razor Blades Decompose?

This question is very important if we must move ahead in our fight for a greener environment. You would recall that earlier; we pointed out that Americans are using razor blades at an alarming rate.

Whether or not we like it, not all these blades end up in the recycling center. A large part of it goes to the garbage and finally ends up in the landfills. When this happens, we might want to ask what next?

Do blades in the landfill or anywhere else decompose? Let’s explain what we know about this.

Yes, razor blades can decompose. Almost everyone knows that razor blades are metal materials. And one thing about metal materials is that after some time, rust sets in, and they fall apart.

Due to this, we can say that razor blades would decompose. But the situation is more complex than this.

Unlike wood materials, metals don’t finally disappear. When rust sets in and break down, they tend to remain in the soil. This reduces the nutrient of the soil.

Aside from this, the more recent razor blades with cartridges pose a lot of environmental danger. The problem lies in the conjoined nature of the metal and plastic material.

While the metal material would decompose on the landfill after some years, the plastic material would not. Plastic materials are notorious for taking hundreds of years before they break down. Even after they break down, they only reduce to microplastic in the soil, posing another round of environmental risk.

Before the metal or plastic materials break down, different things could occur. For instance, if it rains, the flood could wash these materials in different places. If they end up in the ocean, this is another problem for the sea animals, who might end up consuming them.

In all, it seems that the environmental impact of these razor blades hits us from all angles. Even though they may end up breaking down, a lot of this could happen before this occurs.

Due to these, manufacturers would have to consider a more sustainable and eco-friendlier razor blade.

What Can You Do With Old Razor Blades?

In today’s world, nothing has to go to waste. If we all have the right information, we can put things to great use. In this segment, we tell you what you can do with your old razor blades.

1. Use As Pans Scrapper: You know the difficulties that come with washing pans with burnt foods. It can be tiring. To get ahead of this, all you have to do is use your old razor blades to scrape through it. This would remove excess food.

2. Make A camera Tripods: By getting three razor blade sticks and glue, you can make a stand for your phone. All you have to do is glue the three razor blade sticks to a small flat tray that can hold your phone.

3. Use It To Remove Excess Dirt: You can use a razor blade to remove excess dirt from flat surfaces. All you have to do is glide the razor blade over the surface.

Conclusion

Razor blades are a necessary part of our lives, but we shouldn’t hesitate to get rid of them when they lose their usefulness. As you have read, there are many ways to handle your razor blades. Always adopt the right choice.

References:

https://shareably.net/uses-old-razors/

https://getrockwell.com/blogs/journal/a-guide-to-eco-friendly-shaving-plastic-free-razors

https://help.harrys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043717373-Can-I-recycle-my-Harry-s-

razor-blades

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