what to recycle what to trash im confused

WHAT TO RECYCLE WHAT TO TRASH IM CONFUSED

i use to think i knew what to recycle and what to put in the trash
now im all confused

we have been recyclers for years
when we lived at the country n we would produce only about a small grocery plastic bag of trash a week with the rest of the stuff going to the recycle place which was about 5 miles away
it seemed easy when we did it
now
it seems they say no this ones ok and this ones not
so
i
read this npr article linked here
its a good one with pictures and explanations in it
after reading it and going through our recycle container
i now have a better idea of what to trash and what to recycle
well
i think i do

here is a picture of our recycle container that was full
we take it to our condos trash area and dump it in the recycle container


the ones i was most confuse about was the clam containers the plastic bags the smaller plastics the plastic tubs the bottles and containers that hold things like cleaners sprayers etc

so
after digging through our stuff here is what i found in our recycle bin that shouldnt be there

well i dug through all of that stuff and couldnt find anything that shouldnt be in there

here
is my simple version of what to recycle and what not to recycle based on this npr article

plastic wraps nope
plastic bags nope
note we take our bread bags and reuse them like you would a ziplock bag then eventually trashing it
seems such a waste these plastic bags
we also use our reusable shopping bags our favorite being the one we got as a christmas present last year

small plastics like caps chapsticks straws spoons that would all be a nope

flexible packages like chips food pouches thats a nope also

deodorants thats a nope

plastic bottles well thats why recycle was started to recycle them
some places are ok the caps left on some dont
we leave ours on
if i can i squeeze the air out and screw on the lid so that they wont explode when squished
so thats a yes

other plastic bottles like ketchup and mustard and peanut butter and spray bottles and cleaning stuff
be sure and wash them out good
thats a yes on those

plastic clam shells thats a maybe
some places like them some dont since some machines get gummed up processing them
they are similar plastic to the plastic bottles
you can see a clam shell in the picture above that held tomatoes
i say yes

yogurt or butter tubs
wash them good
i say yes although some places dont want them

polystyrene or styrofoam
thats a definite no
although some places have a separate place for these
if not dump in trash

plastic bags and wrappers
some grocery stores will take back the grocery plastic bags
thats a nope

paper glass metal cardboard
thats a yes

batteries is a definite no
our facility takes them and recycles them separately

so
i went through our refrigerator our cabinets our trash can and our recycle bin this morning before and after writing this blog

i now have a good understanding of what to recycle and what to trash

i do worry that as time goes on in this old world that plastics will eventually make it into our dna and destroy us

the organicgreen doctor