By Katrina Venhuizen

Katrina Venhuizen is the senior environmental educator for ecomaine, a nonprofit single-sort recycling and waste-to-energy facility in Portland. They currently process recycling and trash for one-third of Maine’s residents

Have you ever wondered, “What are some things I can’t or shouldn’t put in my recycling bin?”  Ask Katrina is back with some tips to answer this and all your recycling questions.

What can (and can’t) be recycled varies by municipality. If your community recycles, through ecomaine, Casella, Maine Resource Recovery Association or another organization, there are several rules of thumb for things that should never be put in the recycling bin. 

Keep these out of your recycling….

Danger danger! 

Items that are dangerous and can cause damage to machines or hurt recycling center workers should be left out of your recycling bin. Examples include propane tanks (which can explode in the baler), lithium-ion batteries (which can cause fires), saw blades and other sharp items (which can fly out), long metal pipes (which can tear our conveyor belts), heavy metal items, retractable coiled hoses and any hazardous liquids, even if they are in plastic jugs, like gasoline or oil containers. Potentially surprising items that can cause injury to workers include bocce balls and coiled garden hoses.

Ew, gross! 

Items that are icky and can spoil the recycling load around it include dirty diapers, cat litter, dog poo bags, absorbent pads from meat packaging and food scraps. This kind of stuff sometimes makes it into the recycling bin when people mix up their bins or mistakenly think that a plastic bag is recyclable. Recycling facilities cannot accept "tanglers” like clothing, ropes, cords, or strings of lights in the recycling bin because they jam up equipment, cause costly delays and unnecessary cleaning (but check ecomaine's Recyclopedia tool for where all these items and more can go!) Icky and smelly stuff has one home: the trash can (or compost bin if it is organic material). 

Nope, nada, no thanks 

Items that are just plain non-recyclable can waste precious time and taxpayer’s money. These include items like Styrofoam padding, plastic bags of all kinds (take them back to grocery stores; search plasticfilmrecycling.org for locations), and clothing/textiles. Items we’ve seen in the bins that don’t belong there include fake Christmas trees, sporting equipment, clothing, furniture, and stuffed animals. All these non-recyclable objects must be pulled out by human hands, not machines.

Great news! 

The great news is that there are so many items that CAN be recycled, from metal to rigid plastic containers, cardboard, paper and glass. However, the items that are accepted vary by community. The best way to know for sure is to give your transfer station or city/town hall a call or check their website. 

If it doesn’t belong in the recycling bin, please don’t put it there! “Wish-cycling” wastes taxpayer dollars and you could contaminate a load of recycling, cause injury to a person or damage to machinery.

Think before you throw and happy recycling!

Have a question for Katrina? Email your question to Green & Healthy Maine Homes.