At Home Recycling – What You Can’t Recycle

When recycling at home, it’s smart to know what is recyclable, but just as important to know is what’s not. Sometimes placing non-recyclables in a bin can get a whole bundle of actual recycling goods tossed, because not all facilities have the time or inclination to sort.

Sorting recyclables is something you need to do at home, before your recycling bins are picked up and emptied. Following are some items you don’t want to toss in your recycling bins…

Wet cardboard can jam recycling sorting machines at recycling facilities and may mess up an entire load of recyclables. It’s better to allow wet cardboard to dry before placing it in your bin. Also, covered recycling containers or bins with slotted covers can protect your cardboard from getting wet curbside.

Plastic lids on juice containers, jelly jars, soda, and more cannot be recycled. These lids are made of a different sort of plastic than the bottle itself. Remove all lids so that your bottles don’t end up being trashed by the recycling facility.

Special items like batteries, old car parts, computers and more can’t usually just be stuck in a recycling bin and carted off. These items need to be specially handled. Most of the time facilities are available that can recycle special items, but you’ll need to look for a specific local recycling center.

Stuff you think you can’t recycle – but can: Recycled items don’t have to be soapy clean. Rinsing your jars, cans, and bottles in water is good enough. If you say add a lemon to a bottle of tea or beer, and you can’t get it out, it’s still ok to recycle. You don’t need to crush cans (as people did in the past) and you also can leave labels on.

To learn more about recycling at home read; What Can & Can’t be Recycled