11 Items That Usually Not Recyclable

Recycling is one of the easiest ways we can reduce waste, conserve natural resources, and help protect our environment. However, many people are surprised to learn that not everything with a recycling symbol can actually be recycled.

For example, small items (roughly 3 inches or smaller) are rarely accepted by most recycling facilities. Things like bread bag clips, dental floss containers, plastic cutlery, and even loose bottle caps are often too small to be sorted properly, so they end up being treated as trash.

Fun Fact: When it comes to plastic, recyclability also depends on the types; Thermosets typically cannot be recycled because they harden as you heat them, meaning that no matter how much heat you apply, they cannot be remelted into new material. On the other hand, thermoplastics are recyclable plastics because they can be remelted and turned into new products.

Some items simply aren't recyclable, including varieties of paper, glass, and plastic. Check with your local recycling program to know specifics, but in this blog post, I'll show you 11 common items that generally are not recyclable, along with suggestions on how you can dispose of or reuse them.

The Problem With Recycling Wrong Products

Fun Fact: According to Illinois State University News, the average recycling contamination rate is around 25%, meaning 1 in 4 items placed in a recycling bin shouldn't be there!

That might not sound like a big deal, but contamination creates serious problems for recycling facilities. When non-recyclable items end up in the recycling stream, they can jam machines, slow down the process, and even force recycling facilities to send otherwise good materials straight to the landfill.

Why It Matters:

• Wastes Resources: Recycling centers must spend extra time, energy, and money sorting out non-recyclables.
• Increases Landfill Waste: Contaminated loads often end up in landfills instead of being reused.
• Creates Safety Hazards: Batteries, electronics, propane tanks, and other prohibited items can start fires, damage equipment, or put workers at risk.
• Hurts Sustainability Goals: When recycling is inefficient, it reduces the environmental benefits we’re trying to achieve.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a single non-recyclable item can contaminate a whole load of recyclables, causing an entire load of recycling to be rejected and thrown out!

So before tossing something in the recycling bin, check your local recycling guidelines. What’s recyclable in one city may not be accepted in another. (A quick check can prevent contamination and make your recycling efforts far more effective!)

Summary: Recycling is one of the most common ways we try to reduce waste, but tossing the wrong items into your recycling bin can actually do more harm than good. When non-recyclable items are mixed in with recyclables, it can contaminate entire batches of materials, which means the whole load might get sent to the landfill instead of being processed.

Here Are 11 Items That Are Usually Not Recyclable:

Photo: © Bogdan Dreava Photography via canva.com

1. Coffee Cups

While a warm cup of coffee in the morning gives us a boost of energy to start the day, it also leaves an unimaginable amount of single-use waste in landfills. Millions of coffee drinks, once finished, have nowhere to go except the trash.

Fun Fact: Coffee is more popular than ever, and daily consumption recently reached a 20-year high. According to the National Coffee Association report, 67% of American adults had coffee in the past day (more than any other beverage, including tap or bottled water).

And the issue lies in how these cups are made. Although disposable coffee cups look like they're made entirely of paper, most actually contain a thin plastic lining, usually made from polypropylene. This waterproof coating prevents hot drinks from soaking through the paper and leaking onto your hands.

However, because the cup is made of two different materials fused together, it cannot be easily separated during the recycling process. As a result, the addition of this plastic layer means that roughly 99.75% of coffee cups can’t be recycled.

Actionable Tip: Instead of relying on single-use cups, consider carrying your own reusable cup or travel mug. Many major coffee chains, such as Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, even offer a small discount when you bring your own cup.

Summary: Many companies made it seem like your coffee cup can be recycled, but they cannot. Most single-use cups are coated with plastic to prevent any liquid from leaking through your hand. This thin layer, however, makes the recycling process more difficult and inefficient.

Photo: © Iulia Cozlenco via Getty Images

2. Plastic Straws

Fun Fact: According to Eco Cycle, Americans use an estimated 500 million plastic straws every day. That's enough to fill more than 127 school buses every single day, or over 46,000 school buses each year!

Plastic straws are everywhere, so why aren't they recyclable?

Despite being made from recyclable plastic (usually polypropylene), most can't be recycled through curbside recycling programs because they are too small and lightweight. They often slip through the cracks of mechanical sorters or get stuck in the gears, causing jams and inefficiencies.

Plastic straws also frequently contain leftover drink residue. If they aren't completely clean, they can contaminate recyclable materials and reduce the efficiency of the recycling process. Even a small amount of liquid or food waste can render an entire batch of recyclables unusable.

Because plastic straws usually can't be recycled, most end up in landfills or the environment. A single straw can take up to 200 years to break down into tiny pieces known as microplastics, which can pollute our oceans, harm wildlife, and enter the human food chain.

Actionable Tip: The easiest way to reduce plastic straw waste is to simply say "No straw, please" when ordering a drink. If you regularly use straws, consider carrying other eco-friendly alternatives made from stainless steel, silicone, bamboo, or glass. (Ask yourself, is a 15-minute sip really worth centuries of pollution?)

Summary: Stop the misconception that plastic straws should be put in your recycling bin. Although plastic straws are made from recyclable plastic, their small size and frequent contamination prevent most recycling facilities from processing them, so they usually end up being treated as waste that belongs in the landfill.

Photo: © olgamiltsova via canva.com

3. Plastic Bags

Fun Fact: Americans use more than 100 billion plastic bags each year. According to the Environment America Research & Policy Center, that's more than 300 bags per person! (Plastic bags are also used for an average of 12 minutes, but can take anywhere from 20 to 1000 years to decompose!)

Many people who are trying to live more sustainably may unknowingly develop a habit of putting paper, junk mail, and plastic grocery bags in their recycling bin. The only problem with that is plastic grocery bags themselves are not recyclable and should not be put in the recycling bin.

Why? Because plastic bags are one of the most problematic items for recycling facilities. Their thin, lightweight, and flexible nature easily clogs machinery and disrupts the entire recycling process.

Instead of moving smoothly through sorting machines, plastic bags often wrap around conveyor belts, gears, and rotating discs. Workers frequently have to stop the equipment to cut the tangled bags away by hand, slowing operations and increasing maintenance costs.

For this reason, many recycling facilities have asked residents to keep plastic bags out of their curbside recycling bins. Putting them in the recycling bin can delay processing and contaminate otherwise recyclable materials.

Actionable Tip: The good news is that many grocery stores and retail chains offer special collection bins for clean plastic bags and other flexible plastic films. So if you want to recycle your plastic bags, your best bet is to take them back to your local grocery store to be reused. (You can also use this link to find a specific plastic bag drop-off near you!)

Summary: Plastic bags are often cited as the #1 contaminant found in recycling containers nationwide. Curbside recycling programs typically don't accept them because they're difficult to sort out and often jam the machines at the recycling facilities.

Photo: © Visor69 via pixabay

4. Batteries

Batteries play an important role in our modern lives. Powering everything from TV remotes and flashlights to smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles. However, once they run out of power, they should never be placed in your curbside recycling bin.

Fun Fact: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans purchase around 3 billion batteries annually. And without proper disposal, that’s billions of potential toxic hazards entering the waste stream every single year!

Unlike plastic bottles or aluminum cans, batteries contain a complex mix of metals and chemicals that require specialized recycling equipment. Depending on the battery type, they may contain lithium, cadmium, nickel, lead, mercury, or other materials that can be harmful if released into the environment.

Improperly disposing of batteries doesn't just waste valuable resources, they also creates serious safety risks. Damaged or crushed lithium batteries can spark fires in garbage trucks and recycling facilities, putting workers and equipment at risk.

Because different batteries are made from different materials, they must be handled differently:

• Single-use alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D): Some communities allow these in household trash, while others encourage or require recycling. Check your local guidelines whenever possible.
• Rechargeable batteries: Commonly found in phones, laptops, cameras, power tools, and other electronics, these should be recycled through specialized collection programs because they contain valuable and potentially hazardous materials.
• Car batteries: Extremely hazardous if not handled properly, but widely accepted at auto shops and recycling centers.
• Button cell batteries: Often used in watches, hearing aids, key fobs, and small electronics, these may contain mercury or silver and require special recycling.

Never place batteries in your curbside recycling bin. Not just for contamination reasons but also for safety reasons. Instead, store used batteries in a dry container until you can take them to a battery recycling drop-off location, household hazardous waste facility, or specialized retailer such as Best Buy or Home Depot.

Summary: Batteries contain toxic substances that, if improperly disposed of, can harm the environment and pose health risks to humans and wildlife. For safety reasons, certain batteries should NOT go in household garbage or recycling bins.

Photo: © VPanteon via Getty Images

5. Clothes Hangers

According to the ReCollective, approximately 8 to 10 billion hangers are being produced in the United States each year. Often made from a mix of materials such as plastic, metal, and sometimes wood, this makes them very difficult for recycling facilities to separate and process efficiently.

For example, some plastic hangers include metal hooks, while wooden hangers may contain rubber grips, clips, nails, or glue. Because these materials are tightly bonded together, standard recycling facilities cannot mechanically separate them during the rapid automated sorting process.

Also, even when clothes hangers are made from a single material, they have odd shapes and curved ends that can easily get caught in recycling machinery and disrupt the sorting process.

Therefore, many curbside recycling programs don't accept clothes hangers!

An eco-friendly alternative to minimize the environmental impact of clothes hangers is to reuse or donate them to your local thrift stores. This way, fewer hangers end up in landfills, and others can benefit from their use.

Summary: Most recycling facilities won't accept clothes hangers because of their material complexity, and their curved ends can be problematic when sorting. I recommend you consider reusing them or donating them to your local thrift store so others can benefit from their use.

Photo: © zevei-wenhui via Getty Images

6. Children's Toy

Toys bring joy, creativity, and learning opportunities to children, but they also come with a hidden environmental cost. According to News Decoder, plastic accounts for 90% of today's toy market, and nearly 80% of all children’s toys end their lifecycle in landfills, contributing millions of tons of plastic waste and chemical pollutants to our environment every year!

Many people assume old plastic toys can simply be tossed into the recycling bin, but that's rarely the case. Here's why:

• Mixed Materials: Many toys are tightly bonded together with several types of plastic, metal screws, springs, fabric, rubber, paint, glue, or other components.
• Electronic Components: Battery-powered toys often contain circuit boards, wiring, motors, speakers, and batteries.
• Potentially Hazardous: Some toys also contain harmful chemicals like lead, phthalates, or flame retardants, making them unsuitable for recycling due to safety and environmental concerns.

Because of these challenges, you’ll rarely find curbside recycling programs that accept toys. In fact, tossing them into your recycling bin can contaminate the stream and cause more harm than good.

So before throwing away unwanted toys, consider whether they can be repaired, donated, or passed along to another family. Many charities, thrift stores, schools, daycare centers, and community organizations gladly accept used toys that are still safe and in good condition.

Actionable Tip: Consider other eco-friendly alternatives like wooden, fabric, bamboo, natural rubber, cardboard crafts, or recycled materials next time you go shopping for your children's new toy.

Summary: Children’s toys are often made from a mix of materials such as plastics, paints, metals, batteries, and tiny glued components, which make recycling nearly impossible in standard recycling facilities. (It's even worse to separate electronic toys!)

Photo: © Drbouz via Getty Images

7. Plastic Wraps

Fun Fact: According to Statista, 5.3 million Americans used 10 or more rolls/boxes of plastic wrap in 2020. Each year, we buy enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the entire state of Texas!

Plastic wraps have become a popular option for packaging items and preserving leftover food. However, it's nearly impossible to recycle them. Here's why:

• Contamination: Since most plastic wraps are used for food storage, they are often soiled with grease, oils, or food residue, which may ruin an entire batch of recyclables.
• Thin & Flexible: Plastic wrap is extremely lightweight and flexible. Instead of moving through recycling equipment, it can easily wrap around recycling machinery, causing jams, breakdowns, and costly delays.
• Limited Recycling Infrastructure: While some specialized facilities can recycle clean plastic film, most curbside recycling programs aren't designed to handle it.
• Low Value: Even when collected, the cost of recycling plastic film often outweighs its resale value, making it economically unfeasible for most recycling programs.

You can find some local areas that offer plastic wrap drop-offs, but please keep in mind that plastic wraps typically do not get recycled in curbside bins and can take hundreds of years to break down in the landfill.

Actionable Tip: Plastic wrap is not recyclable and can be expensive to replace over time. So consider using other alternatives like beeswax wraps or reusable silicone lids whenever possible.

Summary: Plastic wrap usually isn't accepted for recycling because the thin film is often tangled, clogged, and wrapped around the equipment, potentially damaging the machinery used in recycling centers.

Photo: © pixelshot via canva.com

8. Paper Towels

Fun Fact: According to PEA, the paper towels that we use in a single day take 51,000 trees and 60 million gallons of water to make. That's also about 3,000 tons of paper towels sent to landfills every day in the United States!

Although paper towels are made from paper, they should not be placed in your curbside recycling bin. Here's why:

Reason #1: Paper towels are designed to clean, so they almost always come into contact with food waste, grease, or cleaning chemicals. These contaminants can interfere with the recycling process and reduce the quality of recyclable paper products.

Reason #2: Every time paper is recycled, its fibers become shorter and weaker. By the time paper is turned into a paper towel, those fibers have already reached the end of their useful life, so even unused paper towels cannot be recycled.

Instead of placing your already used paper towel in the recycling bin, you should throw them in the trash. And if they are not contaminated with grease, oil, or chemicals, you should try to compost them.

Actionable Tip: One of the easiest ways to reduce paper towel waste is to switch to washable cloth towels or reusable kitchen cloths for everyday cleaning. You'll produce less waste and often save money over time.

Summary: Although paper towels are made from paper, they don't belong in your recycling bin. Their short paper fibers can no longer be recycled, and food or chemical residue can contaminate other recyclable materials. Whenever possible, compost clean paper towels or replace disposable paper towels with reusable alternatives.

Photo: © Joe_Potato via Getty Images

9. Pizza Boxes Or Other Cardboard Food Containers

Fun Fact: According to Domino's Pizza, the U.S. goes through about 3 billion pizza boxes every year, generating more than 600,000 tons of cardboard waste annually.

While the cardboard boxes themselves are naturally recyclable, leftover grease, sauces, cheese, oils, and food residue soaked in the cardboard can contaminate the entire recycling process. As a result, many recycling facilities will reject greasy or soiled pizza boxes, even if only part of the box is dirty.

When grease and food oils soak into the cardboard fibers, the fibers become inseparable from the oil; this can reduce the quality of recycled paper products and make processing more difficult.

Although many modern paper mills can handle small amounts of grease, heavily soiled cardboard may still be rejected by recycling facilities. And because recycling rules vary by community, it's always a good idea to check your local recycling guidelines.

The good news is that recycling technologies are improving, and major companies are stepping in to help. In 2020, Domino's increased its percentage of recycled content from 40% to 72%

Actionable Tip: Before throwing away a pizza box, tear off the clean portions and place those pieces in your recycling bin. This way, you help keep valuable cardboard in the recycling stream and reduce unnecessary landfill waste.

Summary: While recycling technologies are advancing and companies like Domino’s are working to make pizza boxes more widely recyclable, most curbside recycling programs still reject cardboard boxes contaminated with food residue.

Photo: © SINGTO2 via Getty Images

10. Plastic Toothbrush

Fun Fact: According to National Geographic, it’s estimated that over 1 billion toothbrushes are thrown away every year in the United States alone, enough to wrap around the Earth 4 times if you laid them out end-to-end!

While toothbrushes are a crucial part of our daily dental care routine, their environmental impact is often overlooked. Surprisingly, plastic toothbrushes are not recyclable because they are made of mixed materials that are difficult to separate and can jam machinery.

A typical toothbrush combines nylon bristles and plastic handles (some even have metal staples to secure the bristles to the head). Separating these materials is costly and impractical for standard recycling facilities.

Oh, and don’t get me started on electronic toothbrushes. These add another layer of complexity since they contain metals, wiring, and batteries. They require specialized e-waste recycling programs and should never be tossed in regular recycling bins!

Here are some eco-friendly alternatives to plastic toothbrushes:

• Bamboo Toothbrushes: Same function, but with a biodegradable bamboo handle instead of plastic.
• Replaceable-head toothbrushes: A toothbrush where only the head is replaced, reducing overall waste.
• Electric toothbrushes with recyclable heads: While not perfect, they generate less waste over time compared to discarding a full plastic toothbrush.

A plastic toothbrush can take hundreds of years to decompose, breaking down into harmful microplastics that pollute our ecosystems. Animals often mistake these fragments for food, leading to many injuries or death.

Summary: Most plastic toothbrushes are not recyclable through standard curbside recycling programs because they are made of mixed materials that are difficult to separate and can easily jam machinery.

Photo: © Kameleon007 via Getty Images

11. Paper Receipts

Whether you're buying groceries, picking up a cup of coffee, or shopping for clothes, you've probably been handed a paper receipt at checkout. Although receipts look like ordinary paper, they don't belong in your curbside recycling bin.

Fun Fact: Around 30 billion paper receipts are printed worldwide every single year! In the U.S. alone, Green America reports that receipt production consumes over 3 million trees and nearly 9 billion gallons of water annually.

The reason most receipts can't be recycled is the type of paper they're made from. Rather than using ordinary paper and ink, many receipts are printed on thermal paper, which is coated with heat-sensitive chemicals that create text when exposed to heat.

When thermal receipts are recycled with regular paper, these chemicals (Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S) can contaminate the recycled paper pulp and reduce the quality of new paper products. Because of this risk, most paper recycling facilities ask consumers not to place thermal receipts in curbside recycling bins.

Receipts also use very thin, low-quality paper fibers. These fibers have very little recycling value and are often too short to be turned into high-quality paper products, making thermal receipts an inefficient material to recycle even without the chemical coating.

Actionable Tip: Whenever possible, choose a digital receipt sent by email or text instead of a printed one. If you don't need proof of purchase for a small transaction, politely decline the receipt altogether. (Do you really need a paper receipt for a $4 iced coffee?)

Summary: Although paper receipts look recyclable, most are printed on thermal paper coated with BPA or BPS, making them unsuitable for standard paper recycling. Choosing digital receipts or declining unnecessary ones is a simple way to reduce waste and help keep chemical contaminants out of the paper recycling stream.

Quick Takeaway

Recycling is one of the easiest things we can do to protect our environment, but tossing non-recyclable items into the bin and hoping they get recycled often does more harm than good. So here are 11 items that are usually not recyclable:

1. Coffee Cups
2. Plastic Straws
3. Plastic Bags
4. Batteries
5. Clothes Hangers
6. Children's Toys
7. Plastic Wraps
8. Paper Towels
9. Pizza Boxes
10. Plastic Toothbrush
11. Receipts

As always, check with your local recycling program for the most accurate information on what items can be placed in your recycling bin. Curbside recycling programs vary from city to city. This blog is intended to be a general guide only.

Beyond the usual suspects, here are some additional non-recyclable items that I haven't mentioned: Food waste, garbage, medical waste, photographs, styrofoam, dirty diapers, and wood or tree branches.

My Personal Take: Knowing the right items to recycle is just as important as recycling itself. And if you have any questionable items that need to be recycled, use this search to find a local recycler.

Frequently Asked Questions Related To Unrecyclable Items:

Question #1: What are the reasons an item may not be recycled?

Answer: An item may not be recyclable for several reasons. It might be made from mixed materials that are difficult to separate, contaminated with food, grease, or liquids, too small to be sorted by recycling equipment, or made from materials that local recycling facilities don't accept.

Question #2: What can I do with items that are not recyclable?

Answer: For items that can't be recycled, consider alternatives like repair, reusing them, composting (if applicable), or disposing of them responsibly. Doing these 4 actions will reduce waste and help lessen your environmental impact.

Question #3: How can I reduce my use of these items?

Answer: You can swap out for eco-friendly alternatives or try choosing durable products, buying in bulk, and avoiding unnecessary single-use plastics to reduce your plastic waste and save money in the long run.

Question #4: How can I identify if something is recyclable?

Answer: To identify whether an item is recyclable or not, simply check for recycling symbols on the packaging, look up your local recycling guidelines, or refer to the material the item is made from. Also, not all recyclable items are accepted in your local recycling programs, so it's important to know what can be recycled in your area.

Question #5: What should I do with my old lightbulb?

Answer: What you should do with an old lightbulb depends on its type: incandescent and halogen bulbs can go in the regular trash, but fluorescent and compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs should be recycled because they contain toxic mercury.