Take my trash… please!
To learn which materials your city or town recycles, try doing a quick Yahoo! search. It only took me a minute to find that my town recycles plastic, paper, newspaper, cardboard, glass, and tin by typing my town’s name and “recycles” into the search bar. You can also call your city/town municipal department, which will direct you to the information.

Most places will recycle plastic. Slowly, science is finding ways to produce biodegradable plastics, but in the meantime, landfills are brimming and health is a concern. Greenpeace says, “Most common plastics pose serious threats to human health and the environment. The problems of plastics include extreme pollution from production, toxic chemical exposure during use, hazards from fires, and their contribution to the world's growing solid waste crisis.”

So when you pause at the trashcan after reading this article, flip over your plastic containers and look for the recycling symbol, which can be found and defined here. Sometimes there will be a number within the recycling symbol, which clarifies which kind of material it is. Your municipal department will probably be able to tell you which numbers your area recycles.

Some plastics you might not realize are recyclable in many areas:

• Cans of food (if they aren’t plastic, they may be tin, which is also commonly recyclable)
• Orange juice or dip containers
• Salad dressing, ketchup, mayo, and mustard bottles
• Shampoo, conditioner, and lotion bottles