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Phoenix recycles 1, 2, and 6.

Most major cities have a Web site that lists what is and isn't recycled at their facilities, which is great because standards vary so widely.

Our town recycling brochure claims they'll accept any number up to 7, now. (New Hartford, CT)

They don't have recycling at our complex so I take it over to a city recycling dumpster in town. They accept everything as far as paper/plastic/styrofoam/glass/aluminum/tin cans goes so now this makes me wonder... what do they do with it? Does it all actually get recycled?

Only 1 and 2, and then only bottles and jugs (ie anything where the neck is narrower than the base). (Oakland and Berkeley, CA) But oh man, try and convince people of that. I've had multiple people tell me, "But I put out other plastic and they take it!" Uh, yeah, they're not going to sort your recycling on the street. You're just making more work for them later.

Pet peeve, obviously.

SallyGirl -- If they're accepting "everything," the odds are good that your city has given up on training people to separate recycling properly, so they now do all the sorting themselves. Whatever is recyclable in a reasonably cost-effective way gets recycled; the rest is trash.

It's one way to deal with the reality that most people won't check to see what's recyclable in their area -- they just dump everything but food waste into the blue bin. Even my earnestly liberal husband was merrily putting #4 plastics in the recycling when Phoenix states clearly that it doesn't accept them.

With plastics, it's also possible that "recycling" actually means burning them at a waste-to-energy plant rather than melting them for re-molding as something new.

Burlington, VT only recycle 1 & 2.

NYC only does 1 & 2

In Louisville, KY, they take #1 through #7.

In Geneva, they only recycle PET bottles from mostly pop. The rest is incinerated, and used to generate power. I think recycling, like most things in Switzerland, various according to Canton. Although the rules are pretty consistent with those just over the border in France, so maybe not. In this area (Switz. & France), they have recycling depots located throughout the community -- usually near grocery stores and town halls. There are a number of what appear to be large mailboxes -- usually 2 each for paper, glass (clear and colored), batteries, metal and clothing. The chutes lead to huge underground storage bins. Needless to say, there is no curbside pick-up along with the garbage.

NYC has the same "bottle and jug" rule described above. other #1 and #2 plastic are NOT recyclable here. unfortunately most people don't know this... i was quite surprised to learn it myself when i took a course with the department of sanitation last year.

there is a lot of recycling literature that gets distributed everywhere, but the information presented is rather overwhelming and sometimes misleading. even the most diligent recyclers i know are usually misinformed about some fine point of the rules.

My town (Durham, NC) accepts 1, 2, 5 & 7, with the bottle and jug rule applied (neck must be wider than body--no margarine tubs or things like that)

San Francisco accepts 1 through 7:

http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/recycling_information.htm

Champaign, IL
They accept 1 through 7

what about plastics with the number 3 to 7? should i put them in the recycle bin?