How to Recycle Glass & Plastic

Recycle symbol

Recycling glass and plastic has enormous benefits for the environment. Because of this, most states have made recycling a requirement. If you are caught not recycling, you can be charged a hefty fee. You may also incur a fee if you do not recycle your glass and plastic the proper way. It is not only important to recycle so that you are keeping with the law, but it is also important that you do your part to help the environment.

Things You'll Need

• Recycling cans

Instructions

Glass

1. Rinse out all of your glass bottles and jars when you are done with them. This is a requirement for most recycling facilities.

2. See if your state offers a cash reward for glass bottles or jars. If it does, it will say so directly on the bottles. If your state does pay per glass bottle or jar, gather them together and take them to your recycling center to collect your reward.

3. Find out if your recycling plant requires you to separate lids from glass bottles and jars. The lids can be set aside with other metals. Also ask whether color matters. Some recycling plants want different-colored glass with like colors. For example, some beer bottles are brown, and some are green. You may need to put brown glass with brown glass and green glass with green glass.

4. Place your glass jars and bottles in a recycling trash can if you cannot cash in on them. Your county will most likely provide you with the proper container, but if it doesn't, make your own. Buy a blue trash can and paint the word "glass" on the front. Then take your recycle trash can to the curb on trash day so that the trash collectors can take it to the recycling plant for you.

Plastic

1. Get a recycling container ready for your plastic items. If your county doesn't provide one, make one. Buy a trash can and spray paint the word "plastic" on the front. This makes it easily identifiable to trash collectors.

2. Rinse out all of the plastic items that you are going to recycle before you place them in your recycle trash can.

3. Add laundry detergent bottles, water bottles, milk jugs and any plastic container that has a screw-top lid to your recycle trash can. These include peanut butter containers and shampoo bottles.

4. Recycle plastic flower pots. Make sure the flower pots are made of a hard plastic and that they are larger than 4 inches wide.

5. Include any type of plastic container that is marked with the number 2 or 5. These can be sour cream tubs, butter tubs or cottage cheese containers, for example.

6. Throw in any plastic buckets as long as they are smaller than 5 gallons. It doesn't matter if they have a handle or not. These buckets can be cleaning buckets or buckets that held something, such as cat litter.

Tips & Warnings

• You do not have to remove labels from bottles or jars. Throw any plastic microwaveable meal containers in the trash can when you are done eating out of them. They are not recyclable.

• Do not recycle light bulbs, glass windows, glass drinking cups or other types of glass. Stick only to glass bottles and jars. Don't throw your plastic grocery bags in your plastic recycling bin. Drop them off at your supermarket.

References

• Recycling Glass
• Recycling Plastic