Something in this picture cannot be recycled. Can you guess what it is? Photo: Corbis
Each local recycling facility is different, so you want to be aware of what you can and can't recycle in your area. If you sort incorrectly, your entire bag of recyclables ending up in a landfill -- the good along with the bad. For many materials, it's not a question of whether it's recyclable, but whether recycling is practical, cost-effective, or provides an environmental benefit that's greater than the environmental cost of recovery, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Here are some of the items that blur the line for a lots of people. You might think you can recycle these things, but according to the EPA, you actually can't.
Food-Contaminated Containers
Skip the pizza boxes and take-out containers, even though they're often made out of materials that are commonly recycled, like cardboard and plastic. If the container has any grease or food particles at all, it can damage the material meant to be recycled and contaminate the entire batch of recyclables.
Getty Images
Cosmetics
The containers that hold lipstick, mascara, blush, and other cosmetics are generally not collected for recycling due to the blend of materials the containers are made out of (some recyclable, some not.) Good news: Origins has its own recycling program and accepts empty cosmetic tubes, bottles, and jars (regardless of brand). Simply drop off your empties at your nearest Origins store or department store counter. All returned packaging gets sent back to a central location where products will be recycled or used for energy recovery.
Getty Images
Packaging Made of Foiled, Glossy, Glazed, Waxed, Glassine, and Lacquer Coating: Unfortunately, the coating on candy bar wrappers, pretzel bags, frozen food boxes, and juice boxes -- to name a few -- cannot be recycled due to the blend of materials and tendency for these wrappers to be made out of non-cellulosic materials (not plant-based), which makes recycling difficult. This lightweight packaging makes collection difficult, because the wrappers can stick to other recyclables and be sorted incorrectly or create litter issues when picked up by the wind. The other problem with these items: there's a lack of demand for the reuse of these materials.
Getty Images
Napkins, Paper Towels, Tissue, and Tissue Paper
This paper is often contaminated, and is typically too low-grade to be recycled. Toss it in the regular trash instead.
Corbis
Plastic Caps on Bottles
I bet most of us have made this mistake. While the plastic bottles are recyclable, the caps are usually made of a different type of plastic called polypropylene, or plastic #5, and not accepted in the recycling bin. These include flip-top and twist-top caps plus laundry detergent and peanut butter lids. But you can still recycle these caps separately. Aveda has a recycling initiative that accepts all kinds of rigid plastic bottle caps.
Getty Images
Household Hazardous Waste
This list includes batteries, light bulbs, paint cans, and aerosol cans. While you shouldn't put these items in your recycling bin, you often can recycle these items through special collection events. And it's especially good to take these items to recycling events, or have them collected, because it prevents harmful materials from entering the environment.
Getty Images
Check out Earth 911 for a few more don'ts when it comes to sorting your recycling bin. Earth 911 also includes a recycling section on its site that lists local locations for the eco-friendly disposal of special items.
Here's a surprising find that you can recycle (and you probably thought that you can't): sticky notes and envelopes. According to the EPA, most sticky notes can be recycled because the adhesive is water-based and dissolves. The same holds true for all those bill-paying envelopes with the plastic windows.
SEE ALSO:
Does This Recycle? What to Do If You're Not Sure (Lifehacker)
Recycle Your Plastic Bags at Whole Foods Markets (Apartment Therapy Boston)
Advertisement
What's Hot!
More Hot Topics The Daily Fix • DIY Warrior • Home Ec • Handmade
DIY Disaster Doctor • In the Workshop • Product Picks
Home Improvement Videos
Fire Safety at Home
Watch This Video Now
Replace a Facuet
Replace your bathroom faucet to give the room a new look.
Build a Planter
Enhance the overall appeal of your home and give your plants a great place to live.
The Editors
Sites We Love
- CasaSugar
- Crafty Nest
- eHow
- Howcast
- Instructables
- Lifehacker
- ShelterPop
- The Pioneer Woman
- TipNut
- Young House Love
- Centsational Girl
- Charles and Hudson
- Cottage on the Edge
- Design for Mankind
- Design Milk
- Dinsmore's Workshop
- Etsy
- Green Home Guide
- Holidash
- Homedit
- It's the Little Things
- Kathy's Remodeling Blog
- MyHomeIdeas
- Not Martha
- PointClickHome
- Popular Mechanics
- Primer Magazine
- ReadyMade
- Real Simple
- Rented Spaces
- Simply Mrs. Fix-It
- The Haystack Needle
- The Money Pit
- This Old House
- Tool Snob
- Trout House Diaries
- WalletPop
Reader comments (Page 1 of 2)
It might be worthwhile to mention that some areas have "green bin" recycling, in which food scraps, soiled paper items (like pizza boxes, paper towels, tissues, etc.) and small brush can be placed for area composting. Every area is different...Toronto, Ontario allows kitty litter (and all that's in it) as well as diapers...Kingston, Ontario does not. Even so, my Kingston Green Bin has cut my garbage down HUGELY.
ReplyMany places now accept the caps from bottles. They do not require you to throw them out separately.
ReplyMy city forced recycling on the citizens even though they voted against it. Thus now we have two trash containers. One for the regular trash and the other for the recycle. If the refuse is recyclable then I throw it in the recycle container. They did request that these things like food cans and such be rinsed. Well if they are going to force recycling on the citizens that voted against it then they can wash the cans themselves. Seems like some city council people need to be recycled.
ReplyDusty - you must live in a trailer-trash town if they voted against recycling. Don't be a lazy piece of trash - clean the recycling containers and do what you are supposed to. I am so sick of this country being full of ignorant and lazy people.
Have you ever seen the movie " The Day the Earth Stood Still"? I think thatis the name of it. Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, I think were in it. The premise basicaly was that we were, the human race that is, was harming Earth and the decision was made to kill off everyone so as to save the planet. We better start caring about the planet we live on, before something or someone decides for us. It certainly can't hurt, not to mention by recycling we are creating jobs for people to do the work, so there is a plus right there.
Dusty,,
Replyand your problem with trying to rescue the earth is?
Did you not bother to read the comment at all? Her problem is not with recycling, it is with local government that went against its voters and implemented policy against their will.
Besides when we make Mother Nature angry enough, she will chew us up and spit us out leaving nothing but this earth that you think needs to be rescued.
If you want our recyclables, you wash the crap out. I am not going to pay for it. Water is more precious than oil. Get a life.
Dusty is just an ignorant idiot looking for attention and we are all giving it to him/her. Either a loser adult who has nothing better to do or the kid of said loser adult. I think the more we stop feeding into people who make comments like this (REALLY HARD TO DO, I KNOW), the less they will pop up like this when people actually have productive things to say.
It's too late folks; Earth is already damned. Recycling will only prolong the inevitable. Carry on.
ReplyPaper towel and toilet paper rollers can be put into your compost bins - just rip them into a few pieces and throw into the compost. Worms love them.
ReplyRecycling is such a funny subject. People love to do what they are told to do ....the little robots that they are. So whats the problem you ask ?? The problems are, I go to the store and buy a box of cereal. The store puts it in a plastic bag. I bring it home take it out of the plastic bag, open the cardboard box, remove another plastic bag, open it and eat the cereal. The plastic bags cant be recycled but the box can as long as its clean. I open a 10 oz can of soup. I can recycle the can after I wash it with a half gallon of water,and remove the paper label. The lid goes in the garbage because the union representing the "recycling technicians", does not want their people getting cut on the sharp edges. So I do what I can the best I can and the sanitation sends police that pick thru my can looking for something wrong (and if they dont find it they make it up) and I get a $100 fine because the recycling program is loosing money because of their inefficiency, and they need revenue. The only way to solve the recycle problem is to make the manufactures of the packaging to become more responsible for the products they produce, after all they are making the money on it and the taxpayers pay to clean it up
ReplyIt's all a joke...my housemate thinks she is recycling...and I throw it all in the same bin at the dump. And why can I comment on this on AOL but not politics? Because the Magic negro has too many detractors? And AOL loves him? LOL
ReplyBob, hitting the hooch eh?
I bet you ride the special bus, don't you...
Holy crap...and I thought OUR sanitation department was anal! We don't rinse anything...we don't remove lids from cans...we don't get fines. If the wrong items are placed in the bins, they either don't pick up the bin, or they throw the item on our lawn.
ReplyAnd ours certainly does not go into the dump. We have separate trucks and a separate recycling centre for our refuse, different from the landfill. Tours for schools and interested people are available at just about any time, to try and educate the public about the process, the cost, and the benefits.
Once again, proud to be Canadian, I guess.
poor Bob.. LOL. I thouight all of you whiners were leaving anyway.. why are you all still here?
ReplyThis article is a bit misleading. It states right on the EPA website link that "Recyclables are sent to a materials recovery facility to be sorted and prepared into marketable commodities for manufacturing."
ReplyTelling people if "If you sort incorrectly, your entire bag of recyclables ending up in a landfill -" is only going to stop people from recycling because most do not want to deal with the hassle and mess of sorting. A large percentage of recycling/waste centers are "single stream" in which all items go into the same machine and are manually and mechanically sorted. The items that cannot be sorted are "sifted" out of the mix and do indeed go to the landfill. Hopefully more and more of these items will find a market for their recycled content. The best solution is to "RETHINK what you really need, including excess packaging to save a buck, REDUCE your consumption and packaging waste, REUSE the items that you can, often for a completely different purpose, and the last part of the cycle in to RECYCLE items. The ultimate goal would be to not have any items in your trash can or your recycling bin. It CAN be done and IS being done, it just requires some extra thought and a change in your habits. Challenge yourself and your family! Don't you think their future is worth it?
EPA info.
Step 1. Collection and Processing
Collecting recyclables varies from community to community, but there are four primary methods: curbside, drop-off centers, buy-back centers, and deposit/refund programs.
Regardless of the method used to collect the recyclables, the next leg of their journey is usually the same. Recyclables are sent to a materials recovery facility to be sorted and prepared into marketable commodities for manufacturing. Recyclables are bought and sold just like any other commodity, and prices for the materials change and fluctuate with the market.
Almost all the Un-recyclable items mentioned in the article can be recycled through TerraCycle. Plastic bottles are made into plant food spray bottles. Chip bags are mede into shopping bags or purses. Recycling does not always mean the blue can.
ReplyWhere is this TErra recycle you mention. I am very serious and will try to recycle anything possible. I even keep old envelopes for scrap paper. What ever I can do to contribute to recycle I find it very satisfying.