GUIDES

Local waste management companies often dictate what can be recycled in your area. Recycling services vary from place to place and your first step should be to understand the recycling guidelines of your local waste management company. If you encounter hurdles to recycling certain materials, do some research into drop-off and mail away alternatives. You can often expand your recycling by finding special options for materials that are not processed by your local waste management service.

At home: Get set up for recycling in your home with these tips and this guidance from the United States EPA.

At the office: Get set up for recycling at your office with this guide.

What can be recycled? For general information on what you can recycle, check out this guide and this Recycling Explorer tool.

Pro tips: When you get past the basics, you are ready for this guide.

Paper: Get the facts on recycling paper in this guide.

Plastics: Get the facts on recycling plastics in this guide.

Electronics: Recycling electronics and other e-waste products requires additional care. Get tips on doing it right from Electronics TakeBack Coalition and in this guide.  Also refer to this guidance from the United States EPA. Local big box stores may have electronics recycling programs, such as this program at Best Buy.

Learn how to salvage parts and reuse older devices in this guide.

Clothing and textiles: For unwanted garments and textiles, follow these tips from Earth911, and find a location to donate or recycle using their Recycling Locator tool. This blog provides helpful resources for selling, donating, and recycling old clothing. There are a number of for-profit organizations that maintain clothing collection bins in cities throughout the world and provide bin locations on their websites. If you want your usable clothing donations to go to the needy, you should stick with a traditional nonprofit organization, such as Goodwill.

Yard waste: Composting yard waste improves our soils and reduces the production of greenhouse gases. Learn how to manage your leaves, branches, and other yard waste in this guide.

Special recycling solutions: For anything else that cannot be recycled by your local waste management service, search for sponsored recycling promotions and other recycling solutions on Terracycle and similar websites. You may be able to find drop-off and mail away options.

APPS

Check out these 5 apps to help you recycle.

Earn rewards for recycling with the Recyclebank app.

Track your local collection schedules and get detailed disposal instructions for your area with the Recycle Coach website.