Am I Recyclable? Don't Trust The Triangles!

When Recycling Plastics: Don't Trust The Triangles!

The only acceptable curbside recycling plastic items are bottles, cups, and containers. This excludes Styrofoam, prescription medicine bottles, and motor oil bottles.

Lids and labels should be left on recyclable bottles, cups, and containers. All containers should be empty and rinsed before recycling.

Here is a full breakdown of acceptable curbside recycling materials.

Plastic bottles, cups, and containers are accepted for recycling regardless of their triangle or number code.

If your plastic is not a bottle, cup, or container – it does not belong in your curbside recycling container.

The recycling logo can be a little misleading – just about anything can be recycled, but sometimes not without major effort. It’s a little bit like extracting oil from under the ocean bed compared to extracting oil from tar sands; none of it’s really good as such, but some plastics are far, far worse than others.

The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) implemented the system in 1988 to allow recyclers to be able to tell the different types of plastics when sorting. Basically, the numbers in the triangle indicate the grade of plastic – the resin ID code. It does NOT determine whether that plastic is recyclable or not.

Source: greenlivingtips.com