By Liz Moyer
People are pretty good about discerning what's appropriate to put in their recycling bins, but of course junk ends up where it doesn't belong, too.
Barron's recently visited two giant facilities operated by companies that sort the recycled materials collected from residential communities and businesses in their areas, one operated by WM in Pembroke Pines, Fla., and the other operated by Circular Services in New York City.
Generally speaking, these curbside recycling programs run by local governments accept clean plastic bottles and containers, food and beverage cans, paper, cardboard, and glass containers. Often residents are given recycling bins to store these items until collection day. Sometimes, as in the case of New York City, cardboard and paper get their own bin separate from the bin for plastic, glass, and aluminum cans.
A whole bunch of potentially hazardous stuff ends up at the recycling center anyway, as Barron's observed on its tours. There was a pile of empty helium canisters -- the kind that people buy off Amazon.com to fill party balloons. They had to be pulled out of the mix of materials being sorted at WM's facility. Batteries are another huge hazard, and can start fires. Barron's observed piles of them that had to be removed from the mix at both facilities.
Barron's also observed coils of wire, a pillow (fabric is recycled in a separate process), a basketball, cast iron pans, a car tire, an electronic toy (still flashing a light), and a giant plastic curbside recycling bin that somehow made it into the recycling.
If you're in doubt about whether you can recycle something, it might be best not to. A lot of people put their recycling in plastic bags into the bin. This is against advice. The sorting equipment in a typical plant doesn't handle that type of plastic well.
There are three types of plastic containers that are generally accepted, and you'll know which one you have in your hand by looking at the bottom to find a tiny triangle with a number in it and sometimes a series of letters under it.
Plastic 1 is called PETE, or polyethylene terephthalate. That's soft drink, water bottles, and fruit juice containers. It is highly recyclable. Plastic 2 is HDPE, which stands for high-density polyethylene. The clear version is used for milk jugs or cleaning fluid containers, while the colored version is used for laundry detergent, shampoo bottles, and the like.
Think of it this way: containers with a narrow neck and bigger body are the plastic containers commonly accepted in curbside recycling programs.
Plastic 5, or polypropylene or PP, is also increasingly accepted. It is used to make things like yogurt cups, butter tubs, and those clamshell deli or takeout containers. But they should be cleaned before being discarded in the bin.
Rules for recycling beverage cartons vary by location. Most paper and cardboard (hello, Amazon shipping boxes) are accepted, and even pizza boxes if they can be flattened and aren't soaked with grease.
Curbside collection doesn't take stuff like Styrofoam or packing peanuts, and by all means don't put in stuff like medical waste, dirty diapers, or stuff like hoses or holiday light strands that can tangle the sorting equipment.
On the tour of Circular Services' facility in Brooklyn, the guide reminisced about his first day on the job, when he saw a prosthetic limb pass by on the conveyor belt.
Write to Liz Moyer at liz.moyer@barrons.com
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June 19, 2026 12:01 ET (16:01 GMT)
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