There is some confusion out there about what can actually go in the recycle bin on trash day. A former neighbor of mine and I once had a long conversation in front of our trash receptacles and went through a number of items asking the age old question: blue or black? I’d like to help clear up any confusion, at least for those of in the City of L.A.  So, when you’ve rethought and reduced and reused and you’ve got some stuff left over, here’s what CAN be recycled:

PAPER. That’s clean, dry paper that runs the gamut: wax paper sans food waste, newspaper, magazines, junk mail, and my favorite new addition: Post-It notes.

CARDBOARD. Cardboard boxes of all kinds can be recycled from moving to cereal to corrugated to toilet rolls, which aren’t boxes but are cardboard nonetheless. And, if you flatten them, you get a gold star.

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METALS LIKE ALUMINUM AND TIN. Soup cans, tuna cans, cleanish aluminum foil, and paint or aerosol cans (tops off) all go straight to the blue bin. And now, we can even put wire hangers in there, too.

GLASS. Glass bottles all can be recycled whether they were filled with spaghetti sauce baby food, or pickles. You get another gold star if you rinse them. Though if you implement the reuse principle just think of all the bulk bin shopping and push pin storing you can do with those.

PLASTIC. All clean plastic can be recycled in L.A., including pesky plastic bags (of which we use 600 per second in CA). And, as for those numbers on the bottom of containers, they do tell us which are easier to process, but now it doesn’t really matter as they can all get recycled. What does matter is which are more toxic to store food in so you may want to check out this resource from CHEC (Children’s Health Environmental Coalition) on avoiding the baddies, #3, #6, and #7.

Plastics are petroleum products and they can’t be recycled into more plastic like glass or paper; they’re always reincarnated into something else-a bag or a bench or a walkway. So, avoid plastic at all costs, but if you find yourself with plastic containers, Styrofoam, plastic bags, plastic coat hangers, plastic non-electric toys, or plastic laundry baskets you can’t find a use for, toss them in the blue can and vow to avoid getting another item made of that in the future.

Get yourself a poster for easy recycling reference (what can and CANNOT go in the blue bin) here.

Or check with your local sanitation bureau.

Other Miscellany You Can Recycle

*Old Towels: Donate linens to a local animal shelter.

*Cosmetics Containers: Origins recently launched a recycling program: bring a used, empty cosmetic tube, bottle, jar (any brand!) into an Origins store and they’ll see that it’s recycled or put to good use.

*Household Hazardous Waste and E-Waste (e.g. batteries, motor oil, car batteries, paint, pesticide, electronics, harsh cleaners-yuck): The County of L.A. has various HHW and E-waste collections throughout our area. And check the CIWMB for more electronics recycling resources.

*Metal jewelry: Liza Shtromberg Jewelry on Hillhurst in Los Feliz now accepts unplated platinum, gold and sterling silver to be melted and made new again. (The precious metal now in circulation could last for decades, so recycling is certainly better than mining.)

*Athletic shoes: Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program collects sneaks of any brand to be transformed into playgrounds.

Happy Earth Day!

Are you celebrating Earth Day?  How are you doing it?  What events are you attending?  Are you making your own event? Share with us how you’ve chosen to celebrate the Earth.

Tags: blue bin, city of la recycling, city of la sanitation, Green LA, green living los angeles, recycle los angeles, recycling los angeles, what to recycle