What can I place in my recycle bin?

Through advances in recycling technology, you have more options than ever. And it's a good thing because we need to conserve as much of our resources as possible. In this section, you'll learn about which materials you can and can't put in your bin.

Paper & Cardboard

Most of us use a product made of paper every day. Paper production represents about 1.2% of the world's total economic output and makes up more than 40% of the composition of landfills. The good news is, more and more Americans are recycling paper. In 2007, more than 54.3 million tons of paper were recovered for recycling in this country. That's about 56% of the paper we used – or about 360 pounds for every man, woman, and child.

Corrugated Cardboard

Americans are doing great at recycling corrugated boxes, but we can do even better.

More than 90% of products are shipped in cardboard boxes, and about 70% of those boxes are recovered for recycling.

Many of the boxes are themselves made of recycled materials or lumber industry byproducts like sawdust and wood chips.

When recycled, cardboard is used to make chipboard like cereal boxes, paperboard, paper towels, tissues and printing or writing paper.

It's also made into more corrugated cardboard.

How It's Recycled:

The cardboard is re-pulped and the fibers are separated and bleached. This is a chemical process involving hydrogen peroxide, sodium silicate, and sodium hydroxide.
The fibers are screened and cleaned to eliminate contaminants.
The fibers are washed to remove leftover ink.
Fibers are pressed and rolled into paper.
The rolls of paper are then converted into boxes or made into new products.

Magazines

Did you know it's perfectly fine to recycle magazines, catalogs, and other "glossy" publications?

Magazines are made from paper that's been buffed and coated to achieve a glossy appearance. Next, the paper is covered with a white clay that makes color photographs look more brilliant. The shiny appearance does not contaminate the paper at all.

About 20% of magazines are being recycled today.

Recycled magazines are used to make newspaper, tissues, writing paper and paperboard.

Recycled paper requires only 60% of the energy needed to make new paper. So don't be afraid to recycle your old magazines. It's the right thing to do.

A Common Misconception

Some consumers think glossy paper can't be recycled. That may have been true in the early days of recycling, but no longer. With today's recycling technology, nearly all community recycling programs accept glossy magazines and catalogs for recycling.

Office Paper

On average, an office worker generates a pound and a half of waste paper every day. Almost all of it can be recycled.

Just over 48% of office paper is recovered for recycling today.

High-grade papers, such as white computer paper, bond, and letterhead, can be turned back into office paper if it's kept separate from other waste paper. It can also be used to produce tissue paper, paperboard, stationery, magazines and other paper products.

Lower-grade papers, such as newsprint, colored paper, file stock and ground wood papers, are made into cardboard, tissues, newspaper and toilet paper.

Office Tip

If your company generates a large amount of waste paper, consider talking to your local recycling company about whether or not you should sort high-grade papers from lower-grade.

Newspapers

Did you know the newspaper you read today can be recycled up to seven times?

More than 73% of all newspapers in the United States are collected and recycled.

The average newspaper today is made of about 30% recycled fiber. Twenty years ago, newsprint contained only about 10% recycled fiber.

Recycled newspapers can be made into cereal boxes, egg cartons, pencil barrels, grocery bags, tissue paper and many other products, including new newspapers.

Newspaper is a fine insulator. Using recycled newspapers to produce cellulose insulation is widespread.

Newspapers, Wilderness Restoration and Roadside Planting

Every year natural disasters destroy countless acres of wilderness. The United States Forest Service uses "hydromulching," also called "hydroseeding," to help restore damaged areas. It's a planting process that's been practiced in the United States since the 1950s – and it all starts with newspapers.

Recycled newspapers are made into a fiber mulch and mixed with grass seed, fertilizer, green dye, and water to create a "slurry" that can be pumped over broad areas by pressure sprayers, airplanes or helicopters. This process is called "hydromulching." It stabilizes roadside dirt for erosion control and is used to reseed grass over broad areas. Highway departments also use it to beautify roadsides by planting wildflower, tree, and shrub seeds.

Paperboard

Once used mainly for products such as breakfast cereal boxes, paperboard is now being used for many other kinds of packaging.

Recycled paperboard is made from 100 percent recovered fiber, which may include newspaper, magazines, corrugated boxboard, paperboard folding cartons, and telephone books.

One side of the recycled paperboard is usually gray in color.

Like glossy magazines, recycled paperboard often includes a coating to improve its printing surface and provide protection from fingerprints. It's still perfectly recyclable.

There are more than 80 recycled-paper mills in North America.

Recycle Clean Paperboard.

Be sure the paperboard you have is clean and free of food waste. Then recycle it.

Paper Cardboard Dairy and Juice Cartons

Also called "gable-top cartons," these are the non-plastic milk and juice cartons you see in the refrigerated section of the supermarket.

Known in the industry as "poly-coated paperboard containers," the cartons are made of about 80% high-quality paper fiber, a renewable resource, and 20% polyethylene, a type of plastic that keeps the paper from getting wet.

America consumes enormous quantities of milk and juice, requiring tremendous outlays of energy to produce, ship and landfill the cartons. Only a fraction of these are recycled.

Waste Management, Tropicana Products, Dean Foods and select carton manufacturers have launched a program in which residents can recycle these containers in regular recycling bins at no additional charge. This program began in Florida and has been expanded to communities across the country.

After Pick-Up, What Happens?

Poly-coated paperboard containers undergo a process known as "hydropulping."

Bales of containers are first reduced to pulp, which separates the polyethylene from the paper fiber.
The fiber is used to make other paper products such as tissue and paper towels.
The polyethylene is used in furniture, to generate energy, or reduced even further into paraffin, which "blends" the cartons so the non-paper and paper layers separate. The recovered paper fibers can be recycled into items such as tissue and paper towels.
Sometimes dairy and juice cartons are recycled as "mixed paper," a process that does not use hydropulping but instead follows the regular paper-making process.

Unsolicited Direct Mail

You may think of it as "junk mail," or you may welcome the flyers, catalogs, and coupons that appear in your mailbox. Either way, it's important to recycle them.

"Mixed paper" is the term used to define the many kinds of paper products that can be collected and recycled from our daily mail.

While Americans are recycling more paper each year, our recycle rate for direct mail remains low.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, direct mail accounts for 2.2 percent (by weight) of the total municipal solid waste generated in this country each year.

Who Reads Advertising Mail?

According to the U.S. Postal Service 2005 Household Diary Study, 85% of U.S. households usually read some or all of the advertising mail they receive. Many advertisers are now placing a "Recycle Please" reminder on the direct mail pieces they create.

Phone Books

Every year, new phone books and business directories arrive at your door. Are you careful to recycle your old ones?

The pages in a phone book are 100% recyclable and are often used to make new phone books.

There are enough phone books created each year to measure 106,700 miles when lined up end to end. This means they would circle around the earth about 4.28 times!

By recycling just 500 books, we could save between 17 and 31 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy according to the American Forest & Paper Association.

How To Recycle Phone Books

In many places, you can simply drop the phone book into your recycling bin and leave it curbside for pickup. Call your municipality for more information.

Metals

Do you think of your empty soda cans and food cans as a natural resource? They are. The scrap value of the 36 billion aluminum cans Americans discarded in one year alone was about $600 million. Apart from the economic impact, the environmental savings of recycling metal are enormous. Recycling steel and tin cans, for example, saves 74% of the energy used to produce them. A steel mill that uses recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution and mining wastes by about 70%.

Aluminum Cans

On average, Americans drink one beverage from an aluminum can every day. But we recycle just over 50% of the cans we use.

Aluminum-can manufacturers have recently upped the ante and are setting out to recycle 75% of the cans by 2012.

Since the cans are 100% recyclable, we could drastically reduce the energy needed to produce brand new cans simply by recycling our empties.

An aluminum can is able to be returned to the shelf, as a new can, as quickly as 60 days after it's put into your recycling container.

Coast-to-coast, there are about 10,000 locations that buy aluminum, making it easy for Americans to redeem their used beverage cans for cash. In fact, recycling aluminum cans is a $1 billion/year industry in this country.

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours or to burn a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.

A Day in the Life of a Recycled Can

Customer takes can to a recycling center or puts it into a recycling bin.
The can is transported to a processing facility.
A giant magnet lifts out cans that are made of metals such steel. Since aluminum cans aren't magnetic, they drop down to a conveyor belt and are gathered.
The aluminum is shredded, washed and turned into aluminum chips.
The chips are melted in a large furnace.
The melted aluminum is poured into molds called "ingots."
The ingots are taken to a factory where they're melted into rolls of thin, flat sheets.
From the sheets, manufacturers make new products, including new beverage cans, pie pans, license plate frames, and aluminum foil.
Beverage companies fill the cans and deliver them to grocery stores for customers to purchase.
Customers take used cans to a recycling center and the process starts all over again.

Aluminum Foil and Bakeware

During World War II, Americans saved aluminum foil and even peeled off the silver wrapping from chewing gum wrappers to contribute to the war effort.

Today, we recycle the foil to conserve energy and protect the environment – two other patriotic causes.

There are thousands of products made from aluminum. From food wrap to disposable cookware, to the disposable burner bibs you use to keep your stovetop clean, the list goes on and on.

Aluminum can be recycled almost infinitely. The process involves simply re-melting the metal, a process far less costly and energy-intensive than mining the minerals necessary to create new aluminum.

Americans discarded an average of almost three pounds of foil per person in 2006.

Americans are far more likely to recycle aluminum soda cans than aluminum foil. In fact, we throw away enough foil to create an entire fleet of commercial airliners every year.

Household Hints

Unlike aluminum cans, foil may have food particles attached, making it harder for recycling facilities to accept. But foil is easy to wipe clean. So reuse it as much as you can, and clean it off before putting it in the recycling bin.
Consider buying 100% recycled aluminum foil. You'll be supporting a process that uses five percent less energy than the traditional aluminum foil manufacturing process.

Steel Cans and Tin Cans (soup cans, veggie cans, coffee cans, etc.)

Most people call them "tin cans," but the containers your green beans come in are mostly made of steel.

The term "tin" comes from the fact that these cans have a micro-thin coating of tin inside, to protect the flavor and prevent the can from corroding.

How can you tell a steel or tin can from an aluminum one? See if a magnet attaches to it. Steel is magnetic, and aluminum is not.

Steel cans make up about 90% of the U.S. food can market.

Americans use about 100 million steel cans every day. That's 36.5 billion cans a year.

Around 63% of steel cans are recycled, making them the most recycled packaging product in America.

Steel cans contain at least 25% recycled steel, but many are made almost entirely of recycled steel.

Where does this recycled steel come from? Mainly from scrap metal.

Recycling steel saves at least 75% of the energy it would take to create steel from raw materials. That's enough energy to power 18 million homes.

During the recycling process, steel cans (in bales or loose) are fed into the furnaces of a steel mill or foundry. They may be mixed with new steel.

Some of the new "mini" steel mills manufacture their products from 100% recycled steel.

Steel, tin, and the California Gold Rush.

When you think of the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, your first thought may not be of canned goods. But it was the need to supply the gold miners with fruit, meat, and vegetables that gave rise to the demand for canned foods. By the start of the Civil War, around 30 million cans were being produced annually in the United States.

Glass

Glass is endlessly recyclable, and most glass bottles and jars produced in the United States now contain at least 25% recycled glass – which also requires 75% less energy to produce than glass made from new materials. One important thing to keep in mind as you recycle glass is that even small amounts of some materials mixed in can contaminate entire loads. Find out what types of glass can and cannot be recycled. Click on the topics below for details.

Clear (Flint) Glass

About 61% of glass containers produced in this country are clear.

Clear glass is made of a combination of silica (sand), soda ash, and limestone.

Marketing professionals often prefer clear glass containers because they make the product inside visible.

However, clear glass may cause some products to degrade because of light exposure. That's why about 39% of the glass produced is colored.

Clear glass is sometimes used for beverages. More often, it's used to package solids or thick liquids, such as pasta sauce, that may not be sensitive to light.

Brown (Amber) Glass

About 31% of glass containers produced in this country are brown in color.

To produce brown glass, the manufacturer adds nickel, sulfur and carbon to molten glass.

The "brown" in the glass cannot be removed. Thus, brown bottles can be used only to make other brown bottles.

Brown glass protects the container's contents from direct sunlight, thus preserving freshness and flavor.

It is the most common color used for beer bottles.

Green (Emerald) Glass

About 7% of glass containers produced in this country are green in color.

To produce green glass, the manufacturer adds iron, chromium or copper to molten glass.

Green glass comes in a variety of shades. The "green" cannot be removed. Thus, green bottles can be used only to make other green bottles.

Green glass helps keep sunlight and temperature from affecting the contents, which explains why it is often used in the manufacture of wine bottles.

More About Recycling Glass

Did you know a glass bottle can take up to a million years to decompose?

Some curbside programs and recycling centers take only certain colors of glass. That's because manufacturers who buy the glass have to maintain the integrity of the color when producing new glass.

How Is Glass Recycled?

The glass is taken to a manufacturing or recycling plant where it is broken up into smaller pieces known as "cullet."
The cullet is crushed, sorted, cleaned, and prepared to be mixed with other raw materials.
When glass is produced from virgin materials, it requires high temperatures to melt and combine all the ingredients. Since cullet melts at a lower temperature, the more of it you add to a batch of raw materials, the less energy needed to melt it.
Ceramics such as coffee cups and plates present a problem in the glass-making process because they can weaken the glass. Even a small amount of ceramics can contaminate a whole batch of glass and cost the glassmaker millions of dollars.

What Not To Recycle

Not all glass can be recycled.

Any glass contaminated with stones, dirt, and food waste
Ceramics, such as dishware, ovenware, and decorative items
Heat-resistant glass, such as Pyrex
Mixed colors of broken glass
Mirror or window glass
Metal or plastic caps and lids
Crystal
Light bulbs: Find out how to recycle here.
Cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) found in some televisions and computer monitors. Find out how to recycle here.

Plastics

Did you know that every year we produce enough plastic film in this country to shrink-wrap Texas? Or that Americans discard 38 billion plastic water bottles every year? While plastic offers the advantages of being flexible and lightweight, it also consumes fossil resources for its manufacture and contributes waste in our environment.

Make Sure It's Clean!

Does that plastic lunch container still have yesterday's pizza in it? Don't recycle it until it's clean!

One dirty product, or one with food waste still in it, can contaminate an entire bale, containing thousands of pounds of collected plastics.
This can cause thousands of recyclable items to go to a landfill instead of being recycled.
Cleanliness is essential.

The Resin Indentification Code

How can you tell what kinds of plastic to put into your recycling bin?

There's no simple answer. The equipment at processing facilities varies, so the only sure way is to check with your municipality to see which plastic items it accepts.

There are, however, general guidelines. Turn the product over and look for the recycling symbol, a triangle with a number from 1 to 7 inside. That number is the "resin identification code," or RIC. Each number represents a different type of plastic, and some numbers are easier to recycle than others.

Some municipalities accept all types of plastic. Others accept only containers with certain code numbers stamped on them.

Others may accept certain code numbers generally, but not specific items. For example, a municipality may accept many items coded 1. But food take-out containers, microwaveable trays, and plastic cups may carry that code and still not be acceptable.

Still other municipalities accept only products with specific resin codes that are bottles (having a neck that's narrower than the body).

Note that the same type of product may be packaged in different types of plastic. Shampoo, for example, is commonly packaged in bottles made of Code 2 and Code 3 plastic, depending on the brand.

If you have questions about whether a plastic item is recyclable, call your municipality or local recycling center.

What's Widely Accepted?

Products labeled Code 1 and Code 2 are widely accepted at recycling facilities. Please be sure they're clean.

Code 1 (PET or PETE)

Examples: Soft drink and water bottles. Containers for salad dressing, vegetable oil, and peanut butter. Oven-ready meal trays.
Recyclability: Widely accepted by curbside recycling programs. Please remove caps.
Note: Black microwave trays are Code 1 but may not be mixed with other Code 1s such as clear or green soda, water, or salad dressing bottles. Check with your municipality to find out if black microwave trays are accepted for recycling.
Used to make polar fleece, fiber, tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, and new containers.
It takes 700 years before a plastic bottle begins to decompose in a landfill.

Code 2 (HDPE)

Examples: Milk jugs. Juice bottles. Bottles for bleach, laundry detergent, some household cleansers. Motor oil bottles. Butter, oleomargarine, and yogurt tubs. Cereal box liners.
Recyclability: Picked up through most curbside recycling programs, although most allow only those containers with necks. Please remove caps.
Used to make laundry detergent bottles, oil bottles, recycling containers, floor tile, drainage pipe, lumber, benches, doghouses, picnic tables, fencing.

What's Less Commonly Accepted?

Municipalities often differ on whether to accept products labeled with Code 4 and Code 5.

Code 4 (LDPE)

Examples: Squeezable bottles. Bread wrappers. Frozen food bags. Dry cleaning bags. Tote bags. Clothing. Furniture. Carpeting.
Recyclability: Not often recycled through curbside programs. Call your local recycler.
Can be used to make trash-can liners and cans, compost bins, shipping envelopes, paneling, lumber, landscaping ties, floor tile.
LDPE is a flexible plastic with many applications. Historically it has not been accepted through most American curbside recycling programs, but more and more communities are starting to accept it. Check with your local community recycling program.

Code 5 (PP)

Examples: Yogurt containers. Syrup bottles. Catsup bottles. Some straws. Some prescription medicine bottles.
Recyclability: May be accepted by your curbside recycling programs. Call your local recycler.
Used to make signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, auto battery cases, ice scrapers, landscape borders, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, trays.
Polypropylene has a high melting point, so it is often chosen for containers that must accept hot liquid.

What's Almost Never Accepted?

Products labeled with Code 3, 6, or 7 are less often accepted for recycling. Check with your local recycler.

Code 3 (V or PVC)

Examples: Window cleaner and dishwashing detergent bottles. Some shampoo bottles. Cooking oil bottles. Clear food packaging. Siding. Windows. Piping, used in most blister packs.
Recyclability: Although not usually recycled at municipal facilities, Code 3 may be accepted by some plastic lumber makers.
Used to make: Decks, paneling, mud flaps, roadway gutters, flooring, cables, speed bumps, mats.
PVC is tough and weathers well, so it is commonly used for piping, siding and similar applications.

Code 6 (PS)

Examples of polystyrene: Some over-the-counter medicine bottles. Compact disk cases. Expanded polystyrene examples include clamshell take-out containers, coffee cups, plates, and egg cartons. These are commonly referred to by the brand name Styrofoam®.
Recyclability: Polystyrene is rarely accepted in most curbside recycling programs. Please check with your municipality for specifics.
Used to make insulation, light-switch plates, egg cartons, vents, rulers, foam packing, carry-out containers.
Polystyrene can be made into rigid or foam products usually called "expanded polystyrene." It is popularly known by the trademark Styrofoam®, which should not be placed in your recycling bin. Instead, there are a number of drop-off locations for expanded polystyrene, and they can be found at http://www.epspackaging.org/info.html.
Each year, Americans throw away 25 billion polystyrene cups, enough to circle the Earth 436 times.

Code 7 (OTHER)

Code 7 plastics may be found in three- and five-gallon water bottles. Bullet-proof materials. Sunglasses. DVDs. iPod® and computer cases. Signs and displays. Certain food containers. Nylon®.
Code 7 means that the product in question is made with a resin other than the six "coded" resins; or that it is made of more than one type of plastic.
There is very little recycling potential for most Code 7 plastics at this time.
One exception: Polyactide, made from plants, and also known as PLA, is a biodegradable packaging material derived from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugar cane. Place polyactide packaging into a municipal composter or your own backyard compost pile.

Learn More About Recycling Plastics.

Plastics come in a variety of colors and chemical formulations – all with different recycling needs.

The code number does not mean the plastic can be recycled. It is simply a way to identify the resin, or plastic, type.

Different types of plastic must not be mixed for recycling. One reason is that the different resins have different melting points.

Even a small amount of the wrong type of plastic can ruin an entire container or bale of recyclable plastic. Example: Most clear bottles are made of a Code 1 plastic, but some are made of Code 3 plastics. A single Code 3 item can ruin an entire bale of Code 1 recycling.

The only way most people can tell the difference is by checking the code number on the bottom of the bottle.

Remember to keep dirty containers out of your recycling bin. One partly-eaten pizza or leftover hamburger in a bale of plastic can spoil the whole load.

Plastic grocery and produce sacks are commonly, but not always, made from plastic types 2 or 4. These bags are often collected in barrels at grocery stores, and usually end up as plastic lumber.

PET plastic is the most common material used for single-use bottled beverages, because it is inexpensive, lightweight, unbreakable and easy to recycle.

It takes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce a year's supply of water bottles. That's enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.

Some plastics cannot easily be made into other products, or doing so is not economically feasible. If your local recycler doesn't accept a particular type of plastic, it's probably because the market for that resin is small or non-existent.