How to Recycle Plastic Safely

There are seven categories of plastics. Most plastic items should have the category number stamped on them. The number will usually be printed inside a triangle made out of arrows. Each town or city has its own recycling policies, so contact your local waste and recycling department and your local recycling center to find out specifics. With a little bit of effort, you should be able to safely recycle most items. According to "Earth 911," 80 percent of Americans have access to a plastics recycling program.

Things You'll Need

• Recycling bin

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Instructions

• 1

  Take plastics that are labeled #1 -- water or soda bottles or peanut butter or salad dressing containers -- and rinse the inside and outside of all the bottles to get rid of any residue from food or sticky drinks. Remove any bottle caps. You don't need to remove bottle labels. Crush bottles with your foot if possible to make them smaller. Place these bottles in your recycling bin and put the bin at the curb on your neighborhood's designated recycling day.

• 2

  Add any plastics labeled #2 to your personal recycling bin. Items in this category include milk jugs and some kinds of water and drink bottles. Most #2 plastics can be put in the curbside bin, but plastic bags like the kind grocery stores use cannot. Many grocery stores have bins for recycling these bags, so bring them with you to the store and deposit them in the bins provided.

• 3

  Take any plastic items labeled with a #3 to your local recycling center (because many areas don't allow these items to be put in the curbside bin). Items included in this category are vinyls and PVC tubing as well as certain bottles, like those that contain shampoo or cleaning liquids.

• 4

  Add items labeled with a #4 to your pile to be taken to the recycling center. Category #4 plastics are found in packaging for food, like bags that hold produce or bread. Bags that dry-cleaners use may also be in this category. Although these bags seem similar to the kind that stores give out, they actually need to be recycled differently.

• 5

  Take any plastics from category #5 -- which include electronic items like printers, cell phones or computer mice -- to the recycling center. Not all centers can accept these kinds of materials; however, if your local center doesn't, contact the manufacturer that made the items to see if they have a take-back program. You may be able to send the items back to them for proper recycling.

• 6

  Get creative on category #6 plastics, which are polystyrene items like Styrofoam or packing peanuts. Most recycling centers won't accept these materials. The Earth 911 website suggests holding onto these items and reusing them yourself for packing or shipping. You can also ask local craft stores or shipping centers if you can donate these items for their customers to use.

• 7

  Search online for a company that will accept plastic in category #7, which includes hard-plastic items like mixing bowls, toothbrushes or anything else that doesn't fit into another category. These items can't be recycled at a local center. Earth 911 suggests a company such as GreenDisk that allows you to mail in these items for recycling. You may have to pay a fee for this service, so try first to find new uses for these old items before sending them away.