| Good | Bad | Notes |
| Unbroken glass containers Clear is the most valuable. Lids can go with metal. |
Tableware, ceramics, pyrex, windows, lightbulbs, mirrors. Broken glass is hard to sort. | Only bottle glass is acceptable. Ceramics contaminate glass. Glass is color sorted for recycling. |
| Clean dry newspapers & newspaper inserts |
Rubber bands, plastic bags, product samples, water, dirt, mold or other contamination. | Pack newspapers tightly in large brown grocery sacks or tie with natural twine. Keep dry. |
| Empty metal cans, caps, lids, bands and foil | Full cans, spray cans unless instructed, cans with paint or hazardous waste. | Metals can be recycled again and again. |
| Plastic stamped #1 or #2 on the bottom. Some areas only accept clear plastic or certain shapes. |
Plastic types #3, #4, #5, #6 or especially #7. Caps are usually a different type from the bottle - toss if unmarked. | Even a small amount of the wrong type of plastic can ruin a melt. Much plastic collected for recycling is actually landfilled. |
| Plastic bags marked #2 or #4 Many grocery stores take bags. | Unmarked plastic bags. (Also see notes) | Reuse bags - recycling them can have a negative net impact. |
| Mixed paper: junk mail, magazines, photocopies, computer printouts, cereal/shoe boxes, etc. (some places also take corrugated cardboard and phone books) | Stickers, napkins, tissues, waxed paper, milk cartons, carbon paper, laminated paper (fast food wraps, some food bags, drink boxes, foil), neon paper, thermal fax paper. Any wet or food stained paper. | When in doubt, throw it out. Paper fiber can be recycled about 7 times before it gets too small. Plastic window envelopes are ok. |
| Scrap aluminum such as lawn chairs, window frames and pots | Metal parts attracted to magnets. Non-metal parts. | Aluminum is not attracted to magnets. |
| There is no need to remove labels or bands from cans and bottles. Clean only enough to prevent odors. Do not recycle containers with traces of hazardous materials. Do not recycle dirty or food stained paper. | ||
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