How to Interpret How2Recycle Labels

You may have started seeing these How2Recycle labels on more of your packaging lately. They've been around for over a decade but seem to be becoming more widely adopted; we've been noticing them on more and more items. They use symbols and actual words (!) to describe the item you're looking at and what you're supposed to do with it. It's much clearer than the numbering system alone, so we love the idea and are grateful for any efforts to make recycling easier!

There are four main categories (explained here):

• Widely Recycleable
• Store-Drop Off
• Check Locally
• Not Yet Recyclable

That being said, even these new labels can be confusing, so we wanted to answer a couple questions you might have—and encourage you to send us other questions when they arise.

1) The "not yet recyclable" or "do not recycle" labels don't really mean the item cannot be recycled in any way. It means that municipal and grocery store drop-off programs are not going to take them—or that the materials are often contaminated with food residue or hazardous materials that render them unrecyclable. Mail-in programs like TerraCycle or other specialized recyclers can actually recycle many of these "not yet recyclable" items. But the label is intended for the average person who just wants to know whether they can put the item in their home recycling bin. So if you see a crossed-out recycling symbol—don't put it in your curbside bin. Do bring it to us to TerraCycle (assuming it's clean). 

2) If there are two labels on the package, they probably apply to different components of the packaging. The example below from the PepsiCo website indicates that the granola bar box is widely recyclable but that the individual wrappers are not recyclable. (Though as noted earlier, they actually are...through TerraCycle.) 

3) When in doubt, ask! We've reached out to How2Recycle a few times now about labeling that seems questionable. In one case, we were surprised to see individual fun-sized Laffy Taffy wrappers labeled as recyclable in Store Drop-Off bins. The staff at How2Recycle confirmed that this is correct. But they also confirmed that another label we questioned was indeed wrong...or at least an unauthorized use of the label! They thanked us for reporting it and said they would be contacting the offending company. 

So: we like these How2Recycle symbols and hope they will reduce confusion. But they aren't perfect—and if something seems wrong, there's no harm in asking about it! Send us a message, bring it to the shop, or contact How2Recycle directly using the instructions below. It feels wonderful to get some much-needed clarity when it comes to recycling! And if you learn something, please share it with us so we can share that information with others—through conversations, presentations, and our online recycling guide.