Five Things I Learned About Recycling While Putting Together The Quiz

• I can recycle more than I thought I could. Over the years I've trashed a lot of stuff I should have recycled.
• I wasted time and resources getting my recycling too clean. For food containers, they have to be basically empty but not spotless.
• I erred on the side of caution too much. I would trash things that I thought were marginal or wasn't sure about; I probably should have put them in recycling and let the experts make the decision.
• Plastic films are a PITA for recyclers. They can mess up machinery and slow the process down. Throw out the clear plastic covers from microwave meals. And recycle plastic bags at the grocery store or other drop off centers. Don't put either in curbside recycling bins.
• Taking photos of things you pull from the trash or recycling for a blog post can garner dirty looks from your S.O.

Quizzes As A Tool For Informing And Engagement

Here are a few things I learned about online quizzes while working on the recycling quiz project.

• Online quizzes can be used for more than pure entertainment, and they can still be entertaining.
  
• It takes time to do it right. I spent a lot of time writing questions, taking photos and checking the answers for clarity and still see things that I wish I had done differently.
• My gut feeling is that people will retain more from taking a well-constructed quiz than stepping through a slideshow or reading a list of bullets -- if for no other reason than that they're more involved. 

Baltimore City Curbside Recycling Quiz - Results!

Over 500 Baltimoreans have taken our recycling quiz so far. If you haven't, please take it first before reading the following.

Disclaimer aside, on with the results!

Overall, 67% who started it finished it, which is pretty good for a quiz of this length according to the people at Qzzr. 

The average score was also -- interesting enough -- 67% correct.

So which questions were most difficult?

#1: How to properly recycle a wet newspaper in a plastic bag. Only 40% chose the correct answer, which was to remove the bag, recycle the newspaper curbside and put the bag with other bags for recycling at a place that accepts them, like most grocery stores.

Be A Better Recycler In Baltimore City -- Take Our Quiz!

Though Today in Jet Packs is firmly focused on the future, we're never going to get there unless we take care of past and present. A recent article in the Washington Post titled "American recycling is stalling, and the big blue bin is one reason why" caused some concern at HQ. Are we recycling what we should? Are we prepping it properly? Is what we're throwing in the recycling bin helping or hurting the recycling cause?

Today in Jet Packs spent about a month collecting and photographing things that we weren't sure about when it comes to recycling. We then showed the photos to Robert Murrow, Recycling Coordinator of the city of Baltimore (home of TiJP), and asked him questions about what we recycle and how best to do it. He offered a lot of useful advice which was incorporated into the following quiz. Take it and see how much you know about recycling in Baltimore -- and how you stack up against others.

The quiz doesn't cover everything, though. Visit the recycling section of the Department of Public Works site for a complete guide.

After you've finished the quiz, see the results.