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1. When recycling plastics #1-7, are only bottles accepted or can anything with those numbers on it be recycled?

The key word is “containers.” Plastic containers marked with #1 through #7 are recyclable. This includes restaurant takeout containers, if they are plastic. Just be sure to rinse them out. However, Styrofoam containers, usually marked with #6, are not recyclable in your blue or yellow bins. These should go back to your local grocer for recycling or placed in your garbage to be reused into energy.

2. What does it mean to recycle plastics #1-7? Can any plastic item with those numbers on it be recycled?

Many plastic products have the triangle made of arrows with a number in the middle. The number in the triangle symbol tells you only the kind of plastic an item is - it cannot tell you whether or not it is recycled in your local program. 

To search what recyclable in Palm Beach County, visit Is This Recyclable?

Here is a handy chart explaining the numbers and the types of plastics:

Resin Identification Code	Type of Resin Content	Examples of Products Made of Plastic Type (Not all of these can be recycled in Palm Beach County)
	PET - Polyethylene Terephthalate	Water and soft drink bottles; mouthwash bottles; peanut butter containers; salad dressing and vegetable oil containers
	HDPE - High-density Polyethylene	Milk jugs; bleach, detergent and household cleaner bottles; shampoo bottles; motor oil bottles; butter and yogurt tubs
	Vinyl or PVC	Window cleaner and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil bottles
	LDPE - Low-density Polyethylene	Squeezable bottles; carpet
	PP – Polypropylene	Some yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, medicine bottles
	PS – Polystyrene	Egg cartons, meat trays, disposable plates and cups, carry-out containers
	Other - Mixed Plastics	Three- and five-gallon water bottles, certain food containers

For example, a large container may be marked with a #2, telling us it's made of high density polyethylene. But that's all it can tell us: the symbol can't tell you whether not a particular item is recyclable in a specific recycling program.

In Palm Beach County, plastic containers that are smaller than 2 gallons and marked with #1 through #7 are recyclable. This includes plastic restaurant takeout containers, laundry detergent jugs, soda bottles, yogurt cups, butter tubs and disposable party cups.

The one exception to this is foam containers, usually marked with #6. They are not recyclable in your blue or yellow bins. These should go back to your local grocer for recycling or placed in your garbage to be reused into energy.

3. Are pull-tab lids recyclable?

Aluminum lids may be acceptable in used beverage cans, as long as it’s all aluminum and not bi-metal.

4. What should be done with metal lids to glass jars?

Leave the lids off of glass jars and place both in your blue SWA recycling bin. Most glass is broken by the time it arrives at our Recovered Materials Processing Facility, or it gets broken in the glass breaker once it arrives. If you leave a metal lid on a glass container, we could get broken glass in the metal recycling, or metal in the broken glass.

5. Does cardboard go in the blue or yellow recycling bin?

Cardboard should be flattened and cut into three-foot by three-foot sections and placed in or beside your yellow bin. You can find out what else goes in your blue and yellow bins by going to www.swa.org/RecycleRight.

6. Can Styrofoam be placed in the blue recycling bin? If not, does anyone recycle them?

Styrofoam containers, usually marked with #6 in the recycling triangle imprinted on the bottom, are not recyclable in the blue or yellow bins in Palm Beach County. Some Styrofoam items like egg cartons can be returned to your local grocer for recycling.

7. I am moving. What should I do with my recycling bins?

When moving to a new address, leave the garbage cart and recycling bins at your old address if you change addresses. Place them behind the home and not visible from the street. If you move to a new address and there are no blue or yellow recycle bins, please call 866-NEW-BINS or request new recycling bins online.

8. Are mirrors recyclable in Palm Beach County?

Mirrors cannot be recycled in Palm Beach County, and should not be placed in the blue or yellow recycling bins nor in the glass, plastic aluminum dumpster at the SWA's Home Chemical and Recycling Centers.

If it is very large and not in a usable condition, it may be brought to any of our six transfer stations or to the Customer Convenience drop-off at our landfill in West Palm Beach. To drop it off, travel on to the tipping floor after going through the scale house. There will be a very nominal fee.

If the mirror is in good condition, you could donate to a secondhand shop, Resource Depot (561-882-0090) or to a construction reuse store like the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

9. Some news stories are saying recyclables are going into the landfill. Is this happening in Palm Beach County?

It's true that some news reports state that certain recycled materials are all just being dumped as general waste. First, let’s better understand the background of the current disruption in recycling markets.

In 2013, China implemented Operation Green Fence, a policy in which incoming loads of scrap material were intensively inspected, and therefore enforcing Article 12 that was issued in April 2011. As a result of this, the recycling industry had to evaluate and improve its recycling practices and adjust to the new market conditions.

In 2017, China let the world know that it would be making additional changes to its policies to prohibit the entry of foreign waste in an effort to improve environmental conditions in China, and, specifically, reduce the unlawful disposal of waste from both domestic and foreign sources. These changes were an effort to bring about more stringent regulations and enforcement against illegal commerce conducted by unlicensed brokers, traders and others, who combine municipal solid waste (regular garbage) with paper and/or plastic recyclables destined for China.

So, starting in January 2018, China banned the import of 23 different types of wastes. The two types of banned imported wastes that specifically impacted the recycling market were mixed paper and mixed plastics. Then, in March 2018, China imposed a contamination level of 0.5% for incoming recyclable materials when an internationally recognized set of specifications for paper contamination is between 3%-5%. This is an even more challenging specification to meet.

In the United States, the industry trend has been toward single stream recycling, where all recyclables are placed in one large cart. Unfortunately, this process has increased the contamination in the recycling stream to 25%-30% or more. To get to the 0.5% specification that China imposed is just about impossible with the current technology and processing systems in place.

Here in Palm Beach County, the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA) uses a dual stream, or two bin, recycling program. The yellow bin is for paper and cardboard; the blue bin is for plastic, glass and metal food containers. By separating the recyclables in this manner, our contamination level is about 8%-9%, which still presents a challenge as far as meeting the lower contamination standard.

As the uncertainty of the market hit in January 2018, we did have to stockpile mixed plastics and find alternative methods of disposing of paper. While we did not landfill any recycled material, we made a decision to recover the energy and we sent a small number of bales of mixed plastic and bales of mixed paper to our Renewable Energy Facility 2 to maintain a safe inventory level at the Recovered Materials Processing Facility.

At this same time, single stream recycling facilities from around the country were in a much different situation. They may not have had a waste to energy option and may have had to landfill their recyclables. This is where many of the most alarming news stories came from. The hardest hit areas seemed to be on the western coast of the US.

Since the China import ban occurred, the SWA has explored all options to sell our recyclable commodities both domestically and internationally. As a dual stream system, our material is preferred. And, with the falling pricing, both the domestic and international markets are looking for good material at good prices to maximize their supply at minimum costs. Through our brokers, we have been successful in opening several non-China Asian markets, including Vietnam, and those in South America. The low pricing has also opened opportunities in India. On the domestic side, we have been able to secure an agreement with a major paper mill that establishes a minimum and maximum price for our mixed paper. This agreement provides for the guaranteed movement of this paper product for 12 months, which stabilizes our movement and minimizes our pricing risk.

More recently, there has historically been an oversupply of glass in Florida. Most recycling programs in the state pay to have the glass taken away. Some programs have, or are considering, dropping glass from their recycling program completely. Our glass has been taken by a company on the west coast of Florida at no cost to us. They further process it by washing and color separating, it is then sold to other companies for various products including glass bottles, jars, etc., fiberglass insulation, sand blasting grit and other applications. There was a period of several months in 2018 when this company could not take our glass material. During that time, we landfilled some and modified our processing equipment to produce a gravel like material that our landfill operations personnel used in the course of building roads and for drainage on the landfill. In early 2019, the company resumed taking our material.

China’s ban on accepting mixed plastics, which contain multiple different grades and types of plastic containers, has caused a major oversupply in the US and the value has dropped to $0. We have literally been giving mixed plastics away. However, the movement is slow. When our storage space is full and there are safety concerns, we have again diverted a small amount of recyclable material to our waste to energy facility where it is converted into electricity and sold to FPL. Our revenue for this material averages approximately $20 per ton. We are fortunate that the waste to energy facilities give us the opportunity to recover the energy from this material and generate revenue.

There is no doubt that the Chinese ban has had a major negative impact on the recycling industry worldwide and has caused unprecedented problems. So far, the impact to our system here in Palm Beach County has been much less than on he majority of counties in the state. The material sent to waste to energy facilities during these two periods is less than 0.4% of our annual bale inventory weight.

We appreciate and share concerns regarding the challenges faced by the recycling industry and are committed to doing everything reasonably possible to maintain our program and meet the expectations of our residents.