With recycling guidelines varying by geography and municipality, we understand that putting the right item in the right bin isn’t always the easiest. With a variety of labels, changing regulations and codes, and new products on the market, it’s hard to keep up. That’s why we’ve created this guide to broadly inform your recycling decisions with best practices across plastic, glass, metal, paper, and more. Check it out:

• Plastic
• Glass
• Metal
• Paper
• Easy Solutions for Difficult to Recycle Materials!

Plastic

With a little bit of information, much plastic can be recycled. Plastic recycling faces one huge problem: plastic types must not be mixed for recycling, yet it is impossible to tell one type from another by sight or touch. Even a small amount of the wrong type of plastic can ruin the process. The plastic industry has responded to this problem by developing a series of markers, commonly seen on the bottom of plastic containers:

These markers do not mean the plastic can be recycled OR that the container uses recycled plastic. Despite the confusing use of chasing arrow symbol, these markers only identify the plastictype.

Virtually everything made of plastic should be marked with a code. Not all types can be recycled. Types 1 and 2 (see above) are widely accepted in container form, and type 4 is sometimes accepted in bag form. Code 7 is mixed or layered plastic with little recycling potential. You should place in your bin only those types of plastic listed by your local recycling agency!

#5 Open Top Containers (Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Strawberry Baskets)

• For decades, the #5 cups have been the bane of the good home recycler. The cups are hard to avoid buying, and mostly useless for recycling.
• Many curbside collection programs won’t fuss if these are placed in a bin, but they won’t be able to recycle them either.

Preserve Products offers pickup of #5s at select Whole Foods locations. Simply stack your containers until you have enough to justify the trip or mail them in directly!

Grocer Sacks, Produce Bags, and Other Packaging

• Avoid using any sort of bag for your groceries other than a reusable one. Reusable bags are usually sold at grocery stores, but if you don’t want to buy one of those, dig around your home and use an old canvas bag—it works just as well. If you are unable to use these bags for any reason (or just forget them on a grocery run, paper is always better).
• Each year we consume an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. More shockingly, the estimated cost to retailers for these plastic bags is $4 billion.
• 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. Unfortunately, collection is not particularly profitable so doesn’t happen that much.
• So what are your options if you have an abundance of these bags in your home? They can be used in multiple ways ranging from litter box liners to storage units. Check out Planet Green for more innovative ways to reuse your plastic bags.