Recycling FAQs

Recycling Worst Offenders
Do not put the following materials in your recycling bin. While many are recyclable, they need to be taken to special facilities.

• Aerosol Cans (if even slightly full)
• Automotive Fluids
• Batteries
• Chemicals and Hazardous Waste
• Electronics
• Fluorescent Light Bulbs
• Paints and Solvents
• Paper Towels, used or unused
• Pottery and Ceramics
• Styrofoam
• Tissue and Toilet Paper
• Window Glass and Incandescent Light Bulbs

Glass, plastic, and metal containers hold all sorts of edible and inedible materials that can leave all sorts of gunk inside afterward. Especially that darn peanut butter!

A quick rinse is fine for most containers, but don't worry about getting your containers sparkling clean. The main concern is actually the paper in your bin, which food and moisture can ruin.

What about peanut butter jars? Try this for peanut butter: if you have a soft spatula, scoop out what you can and use it to make one more sandwich. Then fill it about a quarter of the way up with water and add a drop of soap. Put on the top, give it a vigorous shake, and dump out the gunk.

Short answer: NO.

Longer answer: Sometimes it's better to take the top off, especially if the top is made from a different material than the jar (e.g. metal tops on a glass jar). For smaller plastic bottles and their caps, it is better to leave the cap on, even if they're a different color or plastic type.

If you have a greasy pizza box with cheese stuck on, then it should be trashed. If the container held food but doesn't have any food or oil residue remaining, please recycle it in your blue barrel.

Full or partially full aerosol cans are hazardous waste, but if the can is completely empty you can treat it like any other metal can and recycle it in your blue bin. If any contents remain, you should take the can to one of the HHW collection sites listed here.

The recycling symbol isn't regulated, so any company can put the recycling symbol on their product. There's also the problem that some materials, such as Styrofoam, are technically made from a recyclable material (polystyrene, aka #6 plastic); however, the low weight of Styrofoam means that very few places can actually recycle it.

No. Keep your recycling loose with no bags. Recyclables get sorted at the recycling facility and if they are bagged, they will likely get trashed.

Do not recycle glass with candle wax in it

No. Clothes and shoes do not belong in your blue barrels.

Items smaller than tennis ball will fall through the recycling grates at the facility. The small ones are too small to be recycled and can be donated to PACC and Primavera. The larger prescription and supplement bottles can be recycled