Plastic? Glass? Cardboard? Electronics? Yeah, those are all recyclable items. Aluminum? Metal? Wood? Yup, those too.
But there’s really a fine line between items that you can recycle and those that you really shouldn’t, or even can’t. Do you know what not to throw into the recycling bin?
Here are 6 things you probably always thought you could recycle, but actually can’t.
Food Containers
Whether it’s an old pizza box, an empty rice container from the Chinese place or their plastic containers even, you can’t recycle any plastic or cardboard that has had food, especially anything greasy, in it.
Why, you may ask? The reasoning is simple – the grease from the food has sunk into the cardboard, which can lead to contamination at a recycling plant. The wax coating on food boxes is also a problem for the recycling plants – the machines have a hard time processing the wax and it just gets all kinds of messy.
Instead, try cutting down your big pizza boxes into smaller pieces that will fit into the regular garbage can.
Plastic Bags
Tons of people recycle bags within their own homes, which is a great option, because they are, in fact, reusable. They are not, however, recyclable.
The problem with plastic bags is that people working in recycling plants can’t see what is inside them when they are sorting through the piles of recyclables. It’s too time consuming to unwrap and open all of them up to make sure nothing harmful is hiding inside them so they end up getting tossed anyway.
They’re also so lightweight that they tend to stick to other recyclable products, making it a pain to process each one individually. So, either bring your pile of plastic shopping bags back to the store for reuse, or find ways to reuse them around your own home. Or even switch to cloth shopping bags.
Plastic Bottle Caps
Sure, the plastic bottles you drink water from are very much recyclable, but the caps that are on the bottles – not so much.
In fact, the caps on plastic bottles are made from a different plastic altogether – polypropylene – which isn’t accepted at recycling plants. Why? Because polypropylene is seen as less valuable in the recycling world, so most plants don’t even waste their time or resources on them.
Either shop around for bottles that are packaged with recyclable caps (they’ll be labeled as such) or simply be sure to separate out the caps from the bottles when you take out your recycling.
Styrofoam
All of those little packing peanuts that come with packages in the mail, as well as the actually blocks of styrofoam that often protect products in the mail, do not belong in your recycling bin.
Styrofoam is actually a petroleum product, which isn’t accepted at recycling centers. Plus, it can’t ever decompose, so it’s a threat to the environment. And on top of that, it’s highly flammable, so it’s considered a dangerous material at the plants.
So what are your options? Well, look around online to see if you can find a place that does accept your unwanted styrofoam, or just throw it in the trash. Better still order your products from companies that care enough to use environmentally friendly packaging and keep it to a minimum.
Napkins and Paper Towels
You may think your table napkins and used paper towels are harmless because they are paper products, and paper products are, in fact, recyclable.
Well, your used napkins and paper towels are not. Again, these are products that are used to pick up food and gross things, and they get contaminated with the grease and oil that you pick up with them. When they’re combined at the plant with other recycled paper products, the oils can put a hole in the finished product, ruining a perfectly good entire batch of recycled paper.
Don’t feel bad about throwing these in the trash. You’re using them to pick up trash off of your countertops and other surfaces, so they belong in the garbage. Better still why not start a wormery. The worms will love your greasy napkins and soon convert them into some fabulous compost for your plants.
Certain Papers
While paper itself is a very much recyclable product, there are certain types of paper that really just belong in the garbage.
Wet paper, for example, should not be recycled because the paper fibers are deteriorated and shrunk by the water, making them less valuable to recycle plants. The same is true for tissue paper – the fibers are just too small to be of any value in the recycling process.
Heavily dyed paper is another non-recyclable. The dyes used to color the paper (like cardstock or construction paper, for example) have a similar effect to the dyes in clothes that bleed when you run them through the wash. The colors will run into other recycled paper when it’s all processed together, and most paper mills won’t accept the results.
If you’re ever unsure of what you can and cannot recycle, be sure to check with Earth911, an excellent online resource that tells you which local recycling centers around you will or will not accept your items. A lot of times the “mainstream” centers won’t take certain items, but a speciality recycling center will. It’s worth doing the research before throwing something in the garbage when it could be recycled!
Jackie Ryan is a freelance writer and green activist. Her house is practically stacked to the ceiling with plastic Rubbermaid recycling bins because she is so cautious of separating out her recyclables. She encourages everyone to take a second look at what they are or are not recycling!