100 Things you CANNOT recycle (in curbside pick-up)
As always when it comes to recycling, check your city, your state, your region, and so forth. Each facility takes different things. Make sure you are properly recycling so that your recycling has the best chance of being recycled and not thrown away. These rules are not gospel, they make differ depending on where you live, this is just generally not accepted items for recycling.
I wanted to make this video because most people think that everything that is made of plastic, metal, glass, and paper can be recycled. But, unfortunately, that is not the case. Most of these items are just too hard to recycle, too expensive to recycle, or too dangerous to recycle. I want to make this post to educate you all on how to best dispose of your waste and make sure your recycling doesn’t end up in landfill because that is where it goes if you don’t recycle properly and probably why our recycling rate is so low.
Keeping things out of landfill is a clear bonus, PLUS it is SO important to reuse products we already have and materials we already have before extracting new resources. This planet only has so many resources to go around, so the more we recycled, the fewer resources we run out of. Unfortunately, these items CANNOT be recycled easily. Some companies will recycle these items, but that might require you to ship them to companies like TerraCycle, which is totally fine. But, basically, these are the items you should really avoid. While it is great to ditch all single-use, if you have to use something single-use, try to find something that can at least be recycled instead of thrown away.
PLASTIC
1. Straws
2. Zipper bags
3. Plastic wrap/cling wrap
4. Bubble wrap
5. Zip ties
6. Bread/tortilla bags
7. Bottle caps
8. Can rings
9. Plastic cutlery
10. Contaminated plastic
11. Candy wrappers
12. Grocery store bags
13. Styrofoam
14. Most places don’t take plastics numbered 3-7
15. Take out containers
16. Plastic envelopes
17. Bioplastics. Yup, they can’t be recycled. I’d like to make a more in-depth video about bioplastics in the future, but really, they are only beneficial if composted correctly
18. Labels on plastic bottles have to be removed, they cannot be recycled
20. Plastic gift wrap/bows
21. Food pouches like that for babies
22. Misc food bags like chips, chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, and more
23. Bread bag little clip things
24. Animal food bags
25. Plastic shower curtains
26. Some cleaning product bottles, check your products before tossing them in the bin
27. Juice pouches
28. Beauty products like tubes of foundation and mascara
29. Brita filters
30. Lip balm tubes
31. Glitter and other small plastics
32. Solo cups
33. Tape
34. Glue sticks and glue bottles
35. Plastic cards like gift cards
PAPER
36. Receipts
37. Magazines
38. Greasy Pizza boxes
39. Other contaminated paper
40. Napkins, tissues, and paper towels
41. Paper cups
42. Stickers
43. Brightly dyed paper which would stain recycled paper
44. Tetra paks. These are things like milk cartons, juice boxes, broth boxes, etc
45. Wet paper. It is okay if it gets wet, but it must be dry when picked up. Be sure to cover paper when it rains!
46. Photo paper
47. Post-its and other sticky paper
48. The hardcover of a book. It just has to be removed, but the paper can still be recycled
49. Wax/parchment paper
50. Shredded paper
52. Cigarette butts. Though they look like paper, they contain plastic
53. Paper straws
Though the good part about most of these paper products, is the ones that don’t contain plastic linings can be composted instead of thrown away!
METAL
54. Twist ties
55. Contaminated metal
56. E-waste though most cities do have e-waste recycling, it is just not curbside pick-up. Things like phones and batteries
57. Aerosol cans (because of the propellants and chemicals)
58. Wire hangers
59. Kitchen utensils
60. Pots and pans
GLASS
61. Broken glass (as it is hazardous to the workers)
62. Contaminated glass
63. Household glass, things like windows, mirrors, light bulbs, and more
64. Nail polish bottles
65. Wine glasses that may contain lead
MISC
66. Medical supplies like syringes and things like that
67. Mixed materials like this container of oats which is part plastic part paper. Though, what you can do is separate the two to make sure the paper CAN be recycled and the plastic would just be thrown away
68. Kcups, unless they are CLEAN, and even then, they are most likely a thin plastic that is hard to recycle
69. Coffee filters
70. Tea bags
71. Things with human waste on them….I’m not going to get into that
72. Ceramics like mugs
73. Hazardous materials like chemicals
74. Clothing, again it CAN be recycled, just not curbside
75. Organic waste, things like food scraps
76. Tires
77. Treated wood
78. Mattresses
79. Medication
80. Shoes
81. Toothpaste tubes are often mixed materials
82. Pens, pencils, and markers
83. Ribbons and bows
84. String, yarn, thread, and the like
85. Razors
86. Most children's or pet’s toys
87. Pop sockets and most phone cases
88. Swiffer cleaning pads
89. Balloons
90. Art supplies like paints
91. Athletic items like sports balls
92. Automotive parts like hubcaps
93. Cooking oil
94. Corks
95. Rubber and silicone gloves
96. Face masks
97. Luggage
98. CDs/DVDs
99. Glasses
100. Make-up removal pads and wipes, though if they are 100% cotton they can be composted
Thank you so much for reading along. What else is there that you know of that cannot be recycled in the bin?
Remember that your small actions (like recycling correctly ;) ) will make a big difference in the long run!
Emma
