Most household recycling programs accept four core groups of materials: paper and cardboard, certain plastics, glass bottles and jars, and metals such as aluminium and steel. Many programs also take organic waste and textiles through separate collections. Whether a specific item is recyclable comes down to three things: the technology to reprocess it, a buyer for the recovered material, and economics that make recovery worthwhile. Rules also vary by location, so the same item can be recyclable in one area and landfill in another. Below is a clear list of what can and cannot be recycled, what makes a material recyclable in the first place, and how businesses handle large volumes of recyclables efficiently.
Last updated: July 2026.
Table of Contents
What can be recycled: quick list
These materials are accepted by most recycling programs:
- Paper: newspapers, office paper, junk mail, magazines
- Cardboard: corrugated boxes and paperboard (clean and dry)
- Plastics: mainly resin codes #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE)
- Glass: bottles and jars used for food and drink
- Aluminium: drink cans, clean foil and trays
- Steel: food and drink cans (often labelled “tin”)
- Organics: garden and kitchen waste, where a collection exists
- Textiles: clothing and shoes, usually through charity or drop-off points
Why does recycling matter?
Recycling helps with day to day waste management, but it also serves a wider purpose. Here are the main reasons it is worth the effort.
It diverts waste from landfill
It is important to keep as much material as possible out of landfill. The things we make come from finite resources, and recycling keeps those resources in use for longer instead of burying them.
It reduces reliance on virgin raw materials
Extracting raw materials from the environment is expensive. It also uses large amounts of water and energy. Every tonne of recovered material is a tonne that does not have to be mined, felled or drilled.
It conserves energy
Making products from recycled feedstock usually takes far less energy than making them from scratch. Recycling aluminium, for example, uses roughly 95% less energy than producing new aluminium from ore. Glass and paper deliver smaller but still meaningful savings.
It cuts pollution
Mining and extraction can cause significant pollution, so more recycling means less extraction and less pollution. It also keeps waste out of landfill. Decomposing material in landfill releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is many times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
What materials can be recycled?
Once you know why recycling matters, the next step is knowing what actually belongs in the bin. Here are the materials you can recycle, grouped by type.
Paper
Paper makes up around a third of municipal waste and is one of the easiest materials to recycle. Keep waste paper together, from old documents to junk mail, and put it in the recycling bin clean and dry.
Newspapers
Newspapers are among the most easily recycled materials. Recovering old newsprint saves a large share of the energy needed to make new paper from virgin fibre.
Magazines and glossy print
You can recycle magazines, including full colour and high gloss finishes. The same applies to coupon fliers and printed advertisements. The clay coating on glossy paper is actually useful in the recycling process.
Cardboard
Cardboard recycles well and frees up a lot of landfill space per tonne recovered. Flatten boxes, keep them dry, and separate corrugated cardboard (OCC) from paperboard such as cereal boxes where your program asks for it. For businesses that generate cardboard at volume, we cover the full loop in our guide on how cardboard is recycled with baling presses.
Plastic bottles
PET plastic (resin code #1) is used for water, soft drink and juice bottles and is widely accepted. Empty and rinse bottles before recycling. Millions of plastic bottles are thrown away every day worldwide, so recovering them makes a real difference.
Other plastic containers
Thicker bottles such as shampoo and detergent (often resin code #2, HDPE) are also recyclable. Rinse them and check whether your program wants the caps on or off, as rules differ. Plastics carry a resin identification code from #1 to #7 on the base of the container. Codes #1 and #2 are accepted almost everywhere; higher numbers are accepted less often and vary by program.
Aluminium
Aluminium is one of the best materials to recycle because it keeps its properties indefinitely and can be recovered again and again with no loss in quality. Recycling it uses about 95% less energy than making new aluminium, and a recycled can can be back on the shelf in as little as 60 days. Recycling aluminium also cuts the need for new mining.
Steel
Steel is an excellent recyclable metal. Many canned goods, including fruit, vegetables, soup and coffee, come in steel (“tin”) cans. Rinse them before recycling. Businesses that handle steel offcuts or cans at scale often bale them first with a scrap metal baler to increase value per load.
Glass
Glass containers used for food and drink are 100% recyclable and can be reprocessed endlessly without losing quality. Recycled glass can replace a large share of the raw materials needed to make new glass. Not every program takes glass in the curbside bin, though, so some areas sort it separately or use drop-off points.
Organics
Some collectors include organic material in their normal service. Examples are garden and kitchen waste. Others run seasonal organics recycling, such as Christmas tree collection. Where composting is available locally, food and garden waste can be diverted from landfill entirely.
Textiles
Charities and non-profit groups collect textiles such as clothing and shoes, often through bins in supermarket car parks or at their own premises. Whatever they cannot reuse is usually sold on to textile processors, which recover the fibres for products like insulation and industrial cloths.
What makes a material recyclable?
For an item to be genuinely recyclable, three conditions have to line up. This is where “recyclable in theory” and “recyclable in practice” often part ways.
The recycling technology has to exist
The first question is whether the technology exists to turn the material back into a usable raw material for manufacturing. If no process exists for a particular material, the next best option is often upcycling, where an item is repurposed into the same or a comparable product rather than broken down.
There has to be a buyer
Recycling is a business. Almost anything is recyclable as long as there is a market for the recovered material, and that buyer has to be within a reasonable distance. If transport costs are too high, a processor will simply source the same raw material from somewhere closer, and the material goes to waste.
The economics have to work for the processor
Most materials recovery facilities (MRFs) employ people and machines to separate materials, so a given material has to arrive in enough volume to be worth recovering. Take polypropylene, a common packaging plastic. Processors prefer it in baled form because it can then be cut, cleaned, heated and pelletised into new goods such as reusable containers, yoghurt pots, bottle caps and margarine tubs. Despite being widely used in packaging, polypropylene has historically arrived at MRFs in low volumes. If a facility does not receive enough of it in its single-stream feedstock, recovering it may not be economically viable.
How much actually gets recycled?
Recycling rates vary widely by country, material and year, which is why national figures are worth checking against a current source rather than a headline number. Metals and paper tend to have the highest recovery rates, while many plastics lag well behind. For the most accurate picture in your market, use the latest published figures from your national statistics office or environment agency.
Recycling myths, cleared up
A few common misconceptions lead to good material ending up in landfill and non-recyclables contaminating the bin. Here is the reality behind the most frequent ones.
“Everyone already recycles everything”
Good recycling takes both convenience and habit. If you only recycle in the kitchen, recyclables from the home office or bathroom get thrown away. Make it easy in more than one room so the right materials actually get captured.
“The recycling arrows mean it is 100% recyclable”
Not always. The symbol and resin code tell you what a plastic is made from, not that your local program accepts it. Sort plastics by shape where asked: bottles, jars, jugs and tubs.
“Containers have to be spotless”
Containers should be clean, but not spotless. The goal is to keep them clean enough not to contaminate other items. Scrape out cans and jars, give them a quick rinse, and that is enough.
“If it is not thrown away, it will get sorted out anyway”
Not reliably. Non-recyclable items contaminate recyclables, and recyclables sealed inside plastic bags often never make it through the process. Recyclable goods that end up in the general waste bin go to landfill and cannot be recovered. Put recyclables loose in the recycling container and non-recyclables in the trash. The highest impact recyclables are bottles, cans, paper and cardboard.
“Anything plastic can go in the recycling bin”
Being plastic does not make an item recyclable through your program. Hoses, tanks, shower curtains and garden furniture are plastic but do not belong in the recycling bin. If it is not a bottle, can, paper or cardboard item your program lists, keep it out.
“All glass bottles and jars are recyclable everywhere”
Glass is not accepted in every scheme. Some areas separate glass from other recyclables or collect it in dedicated drop-off points. Check what your program takes.
“Aerosol cans are always recyclable”
It depends on your area. Most programs accept empty, dry aerosol cans with the caps removed. A can that is not fully empty can be hazardous, so never bin a pressurised one.
What items cannot be recycled?
Knowing what to keep out of the bin matters just as much as knowing what to put in. The following items are generally not recyclable through standard programs:
- Greasy or oily paper
- Used paper towels, tissues and nappies
- Broken ceramics, light bulbs and mirrors
- Film plastics such as carrier bags, shrink wrap and bubble wrap
- Polystyrene foam, also called expanded polystyrene (EPS)
- Electronic waste (e-waste)
- Construction and demolition debris, including concrete and drywall
- Carrier stock, the paper wrapping around drink can multipacks
Some of these have their own routes. Where an organics collection exists, greasy paper, used paper towels and tissues can often be composted. E-waste, batteries and light bulbs usually need dedicated drop-off points. When in doubt, check with your local recycling centre for what it accepts.
How do businesses handle recyclables at scale?
For a warehouse, factory or recycling centre generating tonnes of cardboard, plastic or metal, loose recyclables are bulky, expensive to store and costly to transport. Loose material is essentially transporting air.
This is where balers come in. A baler compresses loose recyclables into dense, uniform bales that are easy to stack, store and ship. Baling can cut waste volume by as much as 90%, so each truckload carries far more material. Clean, source-separated bales of cardboard or plastic also sell for more than loose, mixed waste, which turns a disposal cost into a revenue stream.
The right machine depends on the material and volume. It is worth understanding what a baler does and the different types of recycling baler before choosing one. Facilities dealing mainly with plastic often start with a dedicated plastic baler, while high cardboard volumes call for a larger auto-tie press. If you are not sure whether baling fits your operation, our overview of the industries that benefit most from a recycling baler is a good place to start.
ANIS has spent more than 25 years designing and installing recycling balers, with over 350 installations worldwide, all manufactured at our factory in Slovenia. If you want help matching a machine to your waste streams, talk to our team and we will walk you through the options.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common materials that can be recycled?
Paper and cardboard, plastics (mainly resin codes #1 PET and #2 HDPE), glass bottles and jars, and metals such as aluminium and steel are accepted by almost every recycling program. Glass and metals stand out because they can be recycled repeatedly without any loss of quality.
What items cannot be recycled?
Greasy or food-soiled paper, used tissues and paper towels, plastic bags and film, polystyrene foam, broken glass, ceramics and most electronics do not belong in a standard recycling bin. Several of these, including e-waste and batteries, need dedicated drop-off points rather than curbside collection.
Can plastic bags be recycled?
Not in most curbside bins. Plastic bags and film tangle the sorting machines at recovery facilities and can shut a line down. Many grocery and retail stores run separate collection points for clean, dry bags and wrap, which is the right route for them.
What do the recycling numbers 1 to 7 mean?
They are resin identification codes that tell you which plastic a container is made from. Code #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE) are the most widely accepted. Higher numbers are recycled less often and depend on your local program, so always check before binning them.
Do I need to clean containers before recycling them?
Containers should be empty and mostly clean, not spotless. A quick rinse or scrape to remove food residue is enough. Leftover food and liquid can contaminate other materials in the bin and downgrade an entire batch, so a little effort goes a long way.
Is glass always recyclable?
Glass bottles and jars are recyclable and can be reprocessed endlessly, but not every program collects glass in the curbside bin. Some areas sort it separately or use dedicated drop-off points. Window glass, mirrors and ceramics are not accepted, as they melt at different temperatures.