The Real Deal on Recycling in America: What Actually Gets Recycled (And What Just Makes You Feel Good)
The Real Deal on Recycling in America: What Actually Gets Recycled (And What Just Makes You Feel Good)
By Alexander Mills
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The Real Deal on Recycling in America: What Actually Gets Recycled (And What Just Makes You Feel Good)
The Bottom Line Up Front
Here's what you need to know: There's no national recycling law in America. Every state and city makes up their own rules. And yes, your instinct about taking recycling out weekly but trash twice a week is spot-on – recyclables don't smell, trash does.
But here's the secret: glass and aluminum almost always work. Plastic? That's where it gets complicated.
The Recycling Champions: What Actually Works
Glass: The Infinite Recycler
Glass, especially glass food and beverage containers, can be recycled over and over again without losing quality. Glass jars (pasta sauce, pickles, jam) and bottles can be recycled infinitely.
No cleaning needed: Just empty them out
Any color works: Clear, brown, green – all good
What it becomes: New bottles and jars, forever
Success rate: In the United States in 2018, 12.3 million tons of glass were generated, 31.3 percent of which was recycled
Aluminum: The Money Maker
Aluminum cans are recycling gold. Making new glass from recycled glass is typically cheaper than using raw materials, and aluminum recycling is even more profitable.
No rinsing needed: Just empty out the liquid
Fast turnaround: Your can could be back on the shelf as a new can in 60 days
Economics: Aluminum has one of the highest scrap values of any recyclable material
Success rate: In 2018, 2.5 million tons of nonferrous metals (not containing iron) were generated. The recycling rate for nonferrous metals was approximately 68 percent
Paper and Cardboard: The Reliable Workhorses
What works: Newspapers, magazines, office paper, cardboard boxes
The trick: Keep them dry and clean
What kills them: Any grease or food residue makes paper unrecyclable
Pizza box rule: Clean parts can be recycled, greasy parts go in trash
An Explanation and Exploration Of Our Company Name
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State Laws: The Wild West of Recycling
The Bottle Bill States (Where You Get Money Back)
11 states pay you to recycle: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont
Most give you 5¢ back per bottle or can
Michigan gives you 10¢ (and has since 1976)
Why it works: Money talks. These states have much higher recycling rates.
The Mandatory States (Where You Can Get Fined)
Cities like Seattle and states like Connecticut will actually fine you for throwing recyclables in the trash. Some cities, such as Seattle, and states like Connecticut, have created mandatory recycling laws that may fine citizens who throw away a certain percentage of recyclable materials in their garbage waste.
The Ban States (What Can't Go to Landfills)
Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Michigan, and North Carolina have banned certain items from landfills entirely.
City Showdown: Who's Actually Doing This Right
New York City: "Zero Waste by 2030"
Goal: Cut landfill waste by 90%
Reality: They're trying, but NYC generates A LOT of trash
Los Angeles: The Overachiever
Los Angeles recycles almost 80 percent of its waste, with a goal to recycle 90 percent by 2025. Restaurants are required to compost their food waste, and companies get a break on their taxes based on how much they recycle.
Seattle: The Food Waste Pioneer
Forward-thinking Seattle adopted a mandatory food scrap recycling program in 2009 and each person only sends 0.81 pounds of trash to landfills per day.
San Francisco: The Gold Standard
San Francisco, which has set a zero waste goal for 2020, keeps 80 percent of its waste out of landfills. They use three bins: blue (recyclables), green (compost), black (trash).
The Plastic Reality Check: The Numbers Game
Here's where things get messy. Only about 29% of plastic bottles actually get recycled, and that's for the good stuff.
The Winners: Types 1 & 2 (The Only Plastics That Really Matter)
Type 1 - PET plastic bottles (water bottles, soda bottles, clear plastic food containers)
What it becomes: Your old water bottle literally becomes fleece jackets, backpacks, and carpets
Current value: 8.6 cents per pound and rising
Reality check: The recycling rate of PET bottles and jars was 29.1 percent in 2018
Type 2 - HDPE (milk jugs, shampoo bottles, detergent containers – the thicker, often opaque plastic)
What it becomes: New detergent bottles, park benches, plastic lumber
Current value: 70.25 cents per pound (the highest of all plastics)
Reality check: The rate for HDPE natural bottles was 29.3 percent in 2018
The Losers: Everything Else
Type 3 - PVC (plastic pipes, some food packaging)
Reality: PVC products CANNOT be recycled due to toxic additives
Type 4 - LDPE (plastic bags, bread bags, some squeeze bottles)
Reality: Can sometimes be recycled, but not in your home bin. Take bags back to grocery stores.
Type 5 - PP/Polypropylene (yogurt containers, bottle caps, takeout containers)
The ugly truth: Only around 1-3% is recycled in the US because it's expensive to process and often smells like whatever food was in it
Types 6 & 7 (Styrofoam and everything else)
Reality: Plastics number 6 and 7 are never recycled
Your Home Setup: How to Actually Make This Work
The Weekly Recycling, Bi-Weekly Trash Strategy (You're Right!)
Your instinct is correct. Just one dirty bottle or item can contaminate the contents of a whole recycling truck, but clean recyclables don't smell or attract pests like food waste does.
The "Clean Enough" Standard
Don't overthink it: "Spatula-clean" is clean enough to recycle! Recyclables don't have to be dishwasher clean. Empty them out, give it a quick rinse, shake off the water and voila!
Cleaning shortcuts:
Glass jars: Quick rinse with leftover dishwater
Aluminum cans: Just empty them out
Plastic containers: Scrape out food with a spatula, rinse if needed
Paper/cardboard: Keep dry and grease-free
What "Jar" Actually Means
When recycling guides say "jars," they usually mean glass jars (like pasta sauce, pickles, jam) or plastic jars (like peanut butter, mayo). Both can be recycled if clean, but:
Glass jars: Can be recycled infinitely without losing quality
Plastic jars: Usually Type 1 (PET) and recyclable, but check the number on the bottom
The Contamination Problem (Why Your Neighbor Ruins Everything)
In the U.S., food waste contaminates 25 percent of our recycling loads. Here's what happens:
Someone throws a greasy pizza box in recycling
The grease spreads to clean paper and cardboard during transport
The entire load becomes worthless
Everything goes to the landfill
The fix: If you leave a dollop of mayo in the jar or a big swig of soda at the bottom of a bottle, it might not make a huge difference. But imagine if everyone on your block did the same thing?
What NOT to Put in Your Bin (The Wishcycling Problem)
Never recycle these common mistakes:
Plastic bags (take to grocery store drop-offs instead)
Anything smaller than a credit card
Greasy pizza boxes (tear off clean parts)
Coffee cups (most have plastic linings)
Broken glass
Electronics
Batteries
The Economics: Why Some Things Get Recycled and Others Don't
It's All About Money
The short answer is usually yes when asked if recycling is profitable, but quality matters. The Grade A bales, 94 or 95% indicated plastic, get the best price and are most sought after.
In 2018, China started the National Sword Policy. It had a big effect on the global recycling impact. By refusing to take in low-quality plastic waste, the U.S. had to landfill 23% more plastic.
What this means: The US had to get way better at cleaning recyclables and finding domestic buyers.
The Real Talk: What Actually Happens
Where Your Recycling Goes
After they leave your home, your recyclables are taken to a material recovery facility (MRF – rhymes with 'smurf'). At the MRF the materials are dumped onto conveyor belts where workers try to remove items that are not recyclable.
The Success Rate
Despite 29% of PET bottles being recycled, only 21% turn into new materials due to contamination. So even when you do everything right, contamination from other people can ruin the batch.
The Future: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
What's changing: More states are making companies responsible for the waste their products create. Washington became the seventh state to enact a packaging EPR law with the signing of SB 5284 on May 17, 2025.
What this means for you: Better recycling programs and possibly higher product prices as companies build recycling costs into their pricing.
Sometimes recycle: Types 1 & 2 plastics (if clean)
Skip the rest: Most other plastics are recycling theater
Weekly recycling schedule – you had it right
The Hierarchy That Actually Matters
Reduce first – buy less stuff, especially plastic
Reuse – get multiple uses out of glass containers
Recycle – focus on glass, aluminum, and paper first
The Bottom Line
Glass and aluminum almost always work. Paper works if it's clean. Most plastic recycling makes you feel good but doesn't actually happen. Focus on the stuff that works, keep it clean enough, and don't beat yourself up about the system being broken. Your weekly recycling schedule is smart, and your skepticism about plastic recycling is well-founded.
The real win? Buying less single-use stuff in the first place, especially plastic.
Check your city's website for local rules – this stuff changes constantly and varies wildly by location.
