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Putting the right items in your blue recycling bin—and keeping the wrong ones out—helps protect workers and ensures recyclable materials can be made into new products. Learn which items aren’t allowed, why they cause problems, and where they should go instead.
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Why some things should never go in your recycling bin
A recycling symbol on an item doesn't always mean you can put it in your blue recycling bin. If you're unsure if an item is allowed, check Portland's recycling guidelines.
Putting items in the recycling bin that don't belong there can:
- Put workers at risk
- Cause fires or explosions
- Break or jam sorting machines
- Increase the cost of recycling
- Make it harder to recycle the items that are accepted
Below is a list of things that should never go in your blue recycling bin—and what to do with them instead.
Batteries
Batteries—and anything that contains a battery—can spark and cause dangerous fires. Never put them in your garbage or blue recycling bin.
When batteries are crushed or punctured in trucks or sorting equipment, they can spark fires. Battery-caused fires in garbage trucks and waste processing facilities have increased dramatically in recent years. These fires put workers' lives in danger and can cost millions of dollars in damage.
What to do instead:
- Houses (or du/tri/fourplexes): Place household batteries in a clear, zip-sealed 1-quart bag and put in your glass recycling bin. See the full curbside battery instructions.
- Apartments and businesses: Contact Metro's recycling information center for drop-off locations, search online, or call 503-234-3000.
Electronics
These items create safety hazards and need special handling.
TVs, monitors, computers, and printers contain lead, mercury, cadmium, and other toxic substances that can harm the environment if not handled correctly. Oregon law bans these items from landfills and curbside recycling to prevent toxins from getting into the air, soil, and water.
Electronics also often contain precious metals—like gold, silver, copper, and aluminum—that can be recycled, but only at professional e-waste facilities that can safely dismantle and process the hazardous components.
What to do instead: Contact Metro's Recycling Information Center for drop-off recycling options.
Plastic bags and stretchy plastics
Plastic bags and other stretchy plastics jam sorting equipment. They wrap around spinning gears and have to be cut out by hand.
When this happens, it can shut down an entire recycling plant, sometimes several times a day. Workers have to climb into the machinery to cut plastic bags out of gears. This is time-consuming, creates a safety risk for workers, and increases the cost of recycling.
This 1.5 minute video shows what happens when plastic bags and other "tanglers" end up in recycling:
Plastic bags and stretchy plastic include things like:
- Plastic produce bags
- Plastic bread bags
- Plastic packaging wrap (the kind wrapped around packs of toilet paper or paper towels)
- Bubble wrap
- Plastic air pillows from shipped packaging
What to do instead:
- Ask your local grocery store if they accept plastic bags for recycling.
- Contact Metro's Recycling Information Center for drop-off recycling options.
- Or put them in the trash.
Bagged recycling
Bagged recyclables don't get opened at the sorting facility, so everything inside ends up in the trash.
Recycling can only be sorted if it's loose. At a recycling sorting facility, staff won't know whether a bag contains garbage or recycling. Opening bags takes too much time and exposes workers to items like diapers, pet waste, and medical waste.
Watch a 50-second video showing what happens to bagged recycling.
What to do instead:
- Empty recyclable items directly into the bin: Never bag them.
- If you use a paper bag to take recyclables from your home to your bin, empty the recyclables into the bin, and then drop the empty paper bag in after.
- If you use a plastic bag to take recyclables to your bin, empty the recyclables into the bin, and then either reuse the plastic bag, take it to a drop-off recycling location, or put it in the garbage.
Hoses, cords, and wires
Hoses, cords, and wires get wrapped around the gears of recycling equipment. When this happens, it can shut down an entire recycling plant. Workers have to climb into the machinery to cut these "tanglers" out of the equipment. This is time-consuming, is a safety risk for workers, and increases the cost of recycling.
What to do instead:
- Put hoses, rope, and twine in the garbage.
- Electrical cords, string lights, and wires can go in the trash, but they contain valuable materials that could be recycled. Contact Metro's Recycling Information Center for drop-off recycling options.
Food and liquids
Food and liquids left in containers make them messy, heavy, and likely to spill onto paper, all of which can lead to recycling being thrown away. Leftover food also causes unpleasant odors and attracts pests, making it harder to keep recycling centers clean and safe for workers.
What to do instead: Make sure containers are empty and dry before putting them in your recycling:
- Give containers a quick rinse, then shake dry. (They don't have to be spotless.)
- For sticky foods like peanut butter, use a spoon or spatula to scrape out the last bits (there's usually enough left for one more sandwich!).
And more...
Clothing
Clothing and fabric can jam recycling equipment.
What to do instead:
- Donate gently used clothes to thrift stores.
- Contact Metro's Recycling Information Center for clothing and fabric drop-off recycling options.
- Or put clothing and fabric in the trash.
Glass
Glass should never be mixed with other recyclables because it shatters into small pieces that get trapped in paper, cardboard, and other materials, making those items hard or impossible to recycle.
What to do instead:
- Put glass bottles and jars into your separate glass recycling bin
- Redeem glass deposit bottles at a BottleDrop location.
- Put non-recyclable glass, including lightbulbs, drinking glasses, mirrors, and window glass in the garbage.
Diapers and medical waste
Dirty diapers, sharps, and other medical waste are serious health hazards for workers.
What to do instead:
- Put diapers and medical waste in the garbage.
- Drop off sharps for safe disposal: Sharps are medical instruments such as syringes, lancets, auto-injectors, needles, needle connectors, and infusion sets.
Shredded paper
Shredded paper turns into confetti when bags pop or tear during sorting. The tiny pieces scatter, mix with dust and debris, and end up as trash.
What to do instead:
- Bag shredded paper and put it in the trash.
- Reduce the amount you need to shred by using OptOutPrescreen.com (credit/insurance offers) DMAchoice.org, and CatalogChoice.org to reduce junk mail.
Foam and other non-allowed plastics
Not all plastics can be recycled—even if they have a recycling symbol.
Polystyrene foam, often called Styrofoam™, should never go in your recycling bin. It breaks down into little pieces, which scatter, mix with dust and debris, and end up as trash.
What to do instead: Check Portland's recycling list. If it's not on the list, or you aren't sure:
- Contact Metro's Recycling Information Center to find out if there are drop-off recycling options.
- Or put it in the trash.
Frozen food boxes
These boxes have a coating to protect them in the freezer that also reduces their recyclability.
Manufacturers coat boxes with plastic to make them moisture-resistant and ensure they don't fall apart in the freezer. Most paper recycling mills rely on water to break down paper fibers. The plastic coating is not water-soluble, so it contaminates the paper pulp and clogs the paper mill's machinery.
What to do instead: Put freezer boxes in the garbage.
Thank you for recycling right!
Keeping items that don't belong out of your recycling bin helps make the system safer, cleaner, and more effective.
By following the guidelines of what's allowed in recycling, you help keep recycling running smoothly. That saves natural resources, reduces pollution, and supports local jobs.
If you're unsure, just ask us. We're here to help you sort it out!
You can also ask Metro's recycling and hazardous waste experts, use Metro's Find A Recycler search tool, and follow @RecycleOrNot in Instagram for tips about what can and can't be recycled.