Keep those pizza boxes out of Raleigh's recycling bins

An important reminder from the City of Raleigh:

So you've been putting yogurt cups, pizza boxes, and ceramic cups in your recycling bin. Guess what? The City of Raleigh cannot recycle these products.

The top three containers that residents are putting into their recycling bins which the City cannot recycle are:

* Non-bottle shaped plastic items, such as yogurt cups, bags, utensils, and margarine tubs. The City also is urging residents not to put acceptable items into plastic bags when their recycling bin is full. Instead use a box or other container;

* Pizza boxes; and,

* Non-food glass products such as ceramic cups, vases, dishes, plate glass, mirrors and light bulbs.

These items should be placed in the trash can, not the recycling bin. Putting them in the recycling bin with other acceptable recyclable items can be harmful to the City's recycling efforts.

"Non-bottle plastic items, even those with the same resin code on them, will melt at a different temperature during the recycling process. If they end up in the oven together, bottles will be burning up before the non-bottle products even begin to melt, sending the entire load to the landfill," said Linda Leighton, waste reduction specialist for the City of Raleigh Solid Waste Services Department.

"In the case of non-food glass items, again, each type glass melts at a difference temperature during the recycling process, resulting in bubbles, cracks and holes in newly manufactured glass bottles. Plastic bags are the nemesis of the recycling plant as they become tangled in equipment and burn up motors, shutting them down," Ms. Leighton added.

For more details about Raleigh's recycling program, click here.