4 Everyday Things You Didn't Know You Could Recycle

In this day and age, recycling is a fairly standard practice in the U.S. We’re used to breaking down our cardboard boxes and dutifully crushing soda cans in the name of sustainability. But besides those usual suspects, plenty of other everyday household items can also be recycled—even if it's not necessarily via your curbside bins.

Below are four surprisingly recyclable items you may be missing.

A Bit About Specialty Recycling Programs

While some categories of recyclable items are picked up by your local municipality, others need to be taken to a specialty recycling program in order to be properly recycled or reused.

This is because most municipal recycling systems are designed to handle a small range of materials efficiently at scale. Items that require special handling, disassembly, or safety precautions can disrupt the process, Daniel Penge, a sustainability engineer, explains. That’s where specialty recycling comes in.

According to recycling and waste management expert Brent Bell, "Specialty recycling programs allow for more specificity around safely collecting, sorting, and processing materials that traditional recycling facilities cannot.”

Once collected from residents (usually through either local drop-offs, pick-ups, or mail-in donations), these materials are then transferred to "facilities equipped with the right technology and safety measures to recycle them," says Bell. There, they can be properly processed and, eventually, their materials reused.

Recyclable Items via Speciality Programs

Here are four items commonly accepted by local and national specialty recycling programs.

Plastic Shopping Bags

Personally, my plastic shopping bags are already earmarked for a specific purpose (I use them for my dog's business)—but if you're looking to recycle yours, know that you likely can't leave them curbside and that you'll need to seek out a specialty program.

“In the U.S., shopping bags, wraps, and films aren’t accepted in most municipal curbside recycling programs,” Penge says. “However, many of these thin, flexible plastics are acceptable for store drop-off at your local grocery store or big box retailers.” 

Inspect the plastic packaging first to confirm its eligibility. "Look for a #2 HDPE or #4 LDPE resin code," says Penge. Then, check the plastic film recycling database to find your nearest drop-off location.

Old Cell Phones

Have an outdated iPhone sitting in a drawer? You might be able to recycle it. “Many nonprofits will accept harder-to-process items such as electronics, including Cell Phones for Soldiers, which provides airtime to military personnel, or the 1Million Project, which helps low-income students access the internet,” sustainability expert Kristin Steiner explains.

Depending on the type of phone you donate, these organizations can refurbish it for reuse or take it apart to recover any valuable components. Either way you slice it, your old phone will be responsibly utilized—and you'll have less junk sitting in your drawers. 

Cosmetic Packaging 

Don’t throw away your beauty empties just yet—you might be able to recycle them with the help of a specialty program. “Organizations like the Pact Collective provide recycling solutions for packaging waste in the beauty industry,” Steiner says. “You can drop off your empty products at collection bins from member companies, such as Ulta Beauty.”

Another popular beauty recycler, TerraCycle, details which beauty packaging is accepted, and you can find a list of drop-off spots here based on the products you’re recycling. Before dropping anything off, it’s important to clean the inside of any containers as best you can, removing any remaining product.

Lithium Batteries

You can find lithium batteries in everything from an old laptop to that electric toothbrush sitting on your counter. But they can't be processed via any municipality's regular curbside recycling, as they can cause serious fires, Steiner says. 

However, there are ways to recycle them: “Lithium batteries are recyclable and contain valuable materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and aluminum that can be recovered in a specialty program,” says Steiner. Consider checking out a program like Call2Recycle, which accepts rechargeable batteries, e-bike batteries, high-energy batteries, and more.

You can enter your zip code and the type of battery you'd like to recycle to find your nearest drop-off location here.