Many people think that certain items are recyclable, when in fact they aren’t recyclable. This can actually cause more harm than good. Recycling items that can’t be recycled can result in the contamination of material that is actually reusable. Many foreign nations have started to refuse shipments of the United States’ recycled items due to contamination. This has led to issues for the recycling industry in the United States and has caused more garbage to end up in landfills.

The following common items are not recyclable and actually belong in the trash:

• Padded Shipping Envelopes
• Coffee Bags
• Shiny Food Wrappers
• Broken Glass
• Toothpaste Tubes
• Styrofoam

Some of these items may be surprising to some people, but hopefully more people become aware that they belong in the trash so that they don’t contaminate reusable items.  

More detailed info about why these items are not recyclable can be found here