Frequently Asked Questions

To ensure that we are not advising residents to put something in the recycling that will end up in the trash, the acceptable materials shown on the Smart Recycling Guide and listed in the Recyclopedia are vetted by recycling professionals and Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) operators. We periodically update our information to help make guidelines clearer and as new packaging types arise. For a material to be acceptable, it must meet the following criteria:

• The material must not harm workers or equipment.
• The MRF equipment must be able to handle the material.
• There must be a consistent market for the material.

Our goal is to provide a consistent message across the Commonwealth to reduce confusion and foster cleaner recycling. Cleaner recycling means that more of what’s collected can be recycled!

This is the most common question we get here at Recycle Smart MA. Our advice: Don’t worry about the numbers, focus on the shape. If it's a clean and empty plastic bottle, jar, jug, tub, or clear plastic deli/fruit container it can be recycled in Massachusetts. There are a few exceptions like clear plastic cups and egg cartons, but on the whole, this rule of thumb works!

The numbers are an industry coding system that identify the type of plastic used to make an item. Many non-recyclable items display the code, so it's NOT a good indication of whether something is recyclable.

Recycling facilities are designed to sort hard plastic containers. They cannot handle odd-shaped plastics (like toys or plastic furniture), very small items (smaller than a credit card), or flexible/stretchable plastics – like bags, wrap, and pouches.

When in doubt, check the Recyclopedia .

News coverage has cast a negative light on the recycling industry with headlines like “Recycling is a Dumpster Fire. Literally” or “Recycling is Broken.” While bad news sells – it’s not the full story.

As long as you put the right things in your recycling bin, you can rest assured they are being recycled. Not sure what the right things are? Follow the “YES” list on the Smart Recycling Guide or check the Recyclopedia. The nine material recovery facilities that take our recyclables earn revenue by selling the materials they sort and bale. For them, to send recyclables to a landfill or incinerator is not only against the law in Massachusetts, it also makes no financial sense. Your efforts are not in vain!

Want to learn more? Check out these newsletters that dig into what happens to our recyclables:

Is Recycling a Waste? (spoiler alert: the answer is no!)

Let’s Talk About Plastic

It sounds like your municipality has not synced their recycling education materials with ours. Recycle Smart MA has the most up-to-date information on what can and cannot go in the recycling bin. This information comes directly from Massachusetts’ nine material recovery facilities where the majority of our recyclables go for sorting and recycling. While our goal is to get all 351 municipalities across the Commonwealth to adopt our consistent messaging, it’s ultimately the municipality’s choice.

We would be happy to get you in touch with your city or town’s recycling staff to ask why their messaging is different – just send us an email at recyclesmartma@mass.gov. In the meantime, we recommend following the rules in your community, but know that you won’t be wrong if you follow the Smart Recycling Guide.

“What to do with caps and lids” is one of the hottest debates in the recycling field. The good news? We now have a definitive answer for you. Put a lid on it! Plastic and metal caps and lids should be reattached to empty containers before you recycle them. That goes for soda and water bottles, milk jugs, juice containers, yogurt tubs, mason jars – pretty much anything that has a cap or lid that can be reattached. This is true even if the lid and container are different types of material (e.g. a metal lid on a glass jar).

Loose lids and caps should go in the trash. When not attached to a container, they are too small to be captured and will fall through the cracks during the sorting process. For instance, metal bottle caps (often used for beer or soda) should go in the trash because they cannot be reattached securely.

Tips for metal can lids: You can either leave a bit of the lid attached and bend it into the can or plop them down into the can and give it a little pinch.

Learn more about what happens to your recycled caps and lids: #BottleCapChallenge 2.0

The bottles and containers you recycle don't need to be spotless, but they do need to be empty and free of liquid and most food residue. A quick wipe or rinse does the trick - no need to run the recyclables in the dishwasher or scrub them 100% clean with hot soapy water. The goal is to keep food and liquids from contaminating paper and cardboard, avoid attracting unwanted pests, and keep recycling workers from having to sort through sticky, moldy recyclables!

Worried about your water usage? Rinse your recyclables with dirty dishwater after cleaning a sink full of dishes or water your plants with water used to rinse recyclables. The amount of energy saved by recycling is far greater than the energy of washing recyclables (even in hot water).

Tips for peanut butter jars: use a spatula to scrape the sides of the jar to get most of the remaining peanut butter off, add a little hot water to the jar, replace the lid, and shake. Voila!

Unfortunately, no. Recovery facilities are designed to sort metal food and beverage cans, plastic bottles, jars, jugs and tubs, glass bottles and jars, and paper and cardboard. They are not designed to sort toys, broken laundry baskets, patio furniture, pots and pans, and other over-sized items. Search the Beyond the Bin directory to find options for reusing or recycling these items. Or check your local transfer station for scrap metal and “bulky rigid plastic” bins.

If an item is two inches or smaller in diameter, whether plastic, paper or metal, it should NOT go in the recycling; it will slip through the cracks at a sorting facility and end up in the trash.

That depends on whether you recycle at the curb or at a transfer station. Curbside recyclables go to sorting facilities known as Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) where everything is sorted into marketable commodities (metal, paper, plastic, etc.). At the MRF, recyclables are sorted by a combination of manual labor and highly specialized equipment including magnets, screens and optical sorters. After sorting, the MRF produces compressed cubes of metal, plastic and paper (called bales) which are loaded onto trucks and moved to a recycling mill or a secondary processor, in the case of plastics. Glass is crushed and shipped loose to end-markets.

Here in the Northeast, nearly 100% of plastics are sold to U.S. companies, and about half of recycled paper and metal are sold to domestic mills.

To find out which MRF your recyclables are sent to, check out this searchable map on our “Where Does It Go?” page.

At a transfer station, you may help with the sorting process by placing paper in a separate bin from bottles and cans, or you might sort and separate different plastics. In this case, your recyclables are sent to multiple recycling companies that handle clean “source separated” materials. These materials have a higher value and may even be sold directly to mills or end-users.

“Tanglers” are things like old hoses, string lights, ropes, chains, and electrical cords that jam the machinery used to sort recyclables. These items do not belong in the recycling; they can shut down operations at materials recovery facilities, increase sorting costs, and put workers at risk of injury.

Consider donating items in good working condition or throw tanglers in the trash.

No, “zero-sort” and “single-stream” do NOT mean you can put anything in the recycling. These terms mean you don't need to sort your paper and cardboard from your bottles and cans, but you do still need to put the right stuff in the recycling bin.

Putting non-recyclable items in the recycling devalues good recyclables, slows down processing, and can even put workers at risk of getting hurt. For example, tanglers can jam up equipment, resulting in system shutdowns and tricky situations for workers getting the equipment working again. Food and liquids can ruin paper, and electronics with batteries can cause catastrophic fires. When you recycle the right stuff, you help make recycling successful.

Carbonated and malt beverage bottles and cans should ideally be returned for a deposit at a local grocery store or redemption center. Manufacturers prefer recycled beverage bottles and cans sourced from redemption centers since they are typically a cleaner product. Plus, you get the $0.05 deposit back! But you can also feel good about putting them in your home recycling. Either way, they will be recycled.

Not sure where to drop off your redeemable bottles? Find a redemption center near you.

No. Items labeled as compostable must be taken to an industrial composting facility or put in the trash. If you have access to a compost program do NOT include anything that is not listed as acceptable. Check the program rules before including materials other than food waste.

No, your recyclables should be placed loose in your bin.

That bag, whether paper or plastic, will be tossed in the trash when it reaches the recycling facility, even if it’s full of good recyclables. Workers on the sorting line do not have time to break open bags, and what’s inside could be a safety hazard.

Paper bags can be folded and put in the recycling bin. Plastic bags should be brought to a film plastic collection site or put in the trash. Many supermarkets and other retailers accept plastic bags and wraps for recycling. Check out NexTrex’s list of acceptable plastics to find out which types are acceptable.

Use the Recyclopedia search tool to determine if an item is recyclable or not. Below are some of the top questions we get about specific items.