Complete Plastic Recycling

There are some recyclable materials that aren't usually on the list for a pick up service to take. For those, you should look outside your regular recycling program to local vendors that do take those items. For example:

Plastic #1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE)

Common uses: 2 liter soda bottles, cooking oil bottles, peanut butter jars

Plastic #2: High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

Common uses: detergent bottles, milk jugs.

Plastic #3: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

Common uses: plastic pipes, outdoor furniture, shrink wrap, water bottles, salad dressing and liquid detergent containers.

Plastic #4: Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

Common uses: dry cleaning bags, produce bags, trash can liners, food storage containers.

Plastic #5: Polypropylene (PP)

Common uses: bottle caps, drinking straws. Recycling centers almost never take #5 plastic.

Plastic #6: Polystyrene (PS)

Common uses: packaging pellets or "Styrofoam peanuts," cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, to-go "clam shell" containers. Many shipping/packaging stores will accept polystyrene peanuts and other packaging materials for reuse. Cups, meat trays, and other containers that have come in contact with food are more difficult to recycle

Plastic #7: Other

Common uses: certain kinds of food containers and Tupperware. This plastic category, as its name of "other" implies, is any plastic other than the named #1-#6 plastic types. These containers can be any of the several different types of plastic polymers. Recycling centers cannot recycle plastic #7. Look for alternatives.