The most accepted are aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles and jugs, cardboard and newspapers. It's important to only recycle what your program accepts. We have been independently researching and testing products for more than 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.
Learn more about our review process. Mobile phones contain vital materials that can be recycled. It has plastic, metal, aluminum, etc. Newspapers that include inserts are accepted for recycling.
Magazines and catalogs are recyclable, as is unwanted junk mail, including envelopes with plastic windows. Telephone books and books with paper covers are accepted. Hardcover books can be recycled if the hardcover is removed. Even if his city has no way of recycling certain material, he says there's still a chance that they'll collect it anyway and store or dispose of it.
Colored plastics are less versatile for recyclers and therefore may have a lower price in the recycling market. Aluminum can be recycled in many different products, such as tractor trailers and car bodies, however, aluminum cans are often converted into new aluminum cans. In addition, some products made from the same type of plastic cannot be recycled together because they are produced through different processes. In addition, there are times when your recycling program can change what you collect, says Mike Brown of Brown and Wilmanns Environmental, one of Good Housekeeping's environmental consultants.
Materials that can be recycled are glass, aluminum, plastic water bottles, scrap metal, different types of paper, electronic products (computers, mobile phones, keyboards, batteries and other small electronic equipment), textiles, wood, wires, cables, plastic products, rubber, etc. With all the different rules and symbols, it can be confusing for consumers to figure out exactly what each plastic recycling symbol means and how to recycle it. For example, specialists have evaluated that a lot of energy would be saved by recycling aluminum items. Recycled magazines are important in the recycling process, since their high clay content is used to remove inks from paper before converting it into new paper products.
It's important to remember that every municipal recycling program is different, so not all of these materials are necessarily accepted where you live. You would agree that all old things would go to the trash if there weren't anything called recyclable materials. With a constant demand for aluminum cans, manufacturers can once again have an aluminum can on store shelves as a new can in as little as 60 days after it has been recycled. For example, when you recycle a few heaps of old magazines, you are implicitly reducing stress on trees.
Every town and city has different recycling programs, so you'll often need to check your local regulations to find out exactly what you can recycle.
