There are a lot of things that we use in our daily lives that get overlooked and put in the trash when, in fact, they could be recycled instead. Maybe it's laziness, maybe we just don't know any better. Either way, we need to be aware of everything that can be recycled and do our best to make sure that we aren't carelessly throwing recyclable items in the garbage. Every city's municipal department has a different way of doing things and a different list of items that they will accept in the recycling bins, so it's important to check. In addition to curbside recycling, there are places you can go to recycle some items not accepted curbside. In the Portland, OR area for example, there is Far West Fibers. They accept a huge variety of things.
1. Medicine bottles
Just throw away the lid, rip off the prescription label, and it's ready to be recycled. Its recycling number is five, so most likely it will not be accepted by many curbside programs.
2. Nuts and bolts
Metal recycling is totally a thing, and it applies to nuts, bolts, screws and nails. Even if they're a little rusty, they can still be recycled.
3. Shampoo and conditioner bottles
It's important to take off the lids and rinse the bottle free of any product, but then they can be recycled. This goes for many plastic bottles containing toiletries.
4. Milk cartons
Milk cartons need to be rinsed, as items contaminated by food cannot be recycled. Many paper cartons will have a plastic lid that needs to be ripped off. Milk jugs can also be recycled.
5. Drink containers
In a few states, glass bottles, plastic bottles and drink cans can be recycled in stores to get a 5¢ refund. If this isn't an option where you live, then they can still be recycled as long as they are rinsed out and the lids are thrown away.
6. Tin cans
Next time you make soup or open a can of tuna, wash out the can and put it in the recycling bin.
7. Yogurt containers
It's so easy to just throw this away, but it's not that much harder to rinse it out and recycle it.
8. Salad containers
These get gross but are perfectly recyclable if rinsed out.
9. Glass jars
Pasta sauce is something that commonly comes in glass jars. These are able to be recycled once rinsed.
10. Plastic grocery bags
In an ideal world, everyone would bring reusable bags to grocery stores, but not everyone is perfect. If using a plastic bag at the store is unavoidable, at least recycle it. This is another thing not commonly accepted curbside, but it would make a huge different if everyone found a way to recycle these.
If it has a recycle triangle with a number in it, look into it and see if you can recycle it. I think you'll be surprised by how many things have that triangle.
