What Can I Recycle?
Through advances in recycling technology, you have more options than ever. And it's a good thing because we need to conserve as much of our resources as possible. In this section, you'll learn about which materials you can and can't put in your bin.
See how the actions you take affect the environment.
Experience MoreWhat needs special handling?
Electronics
Electronics that are obsolete, broken, and destined for recycling or disposal are sometimes called "e‑ waste." There are many chemical and mineral elements in e‑ waste. A circuit board contains copper, gold, silver, platinum and palladium, as well as lead. If recycled properly, this waste is a valuable source of secondary raw materials. Watch this brief video to learn more about e‑ waste.
Cell phones
Did you know you can recycle your old cell phone?
Every year, Americans buy more than 100 million cell phones, yet fewer than 20% of old cell phones are recycled.
Discarded phones represent about 65,000 tons of electronic garbage every year. Simply by recycling the phones, customers could save enough energy to power more than 194,000 homes for an entire year.
Cell phones are made from copper, other valuable metals, and plastics – all of which require energy to extract and manufacture. Recycling cell phones helps recover these valuable resources and saves energy.
Recycling just a million cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing 1,368 cars off the road for a full year.
Contact your local municipality to find out about
e‑
waste collection days and drop-off locations.