Can plastic fit in the palm of your hand? Don’t recycle it.

10 comments

1. When it comes to recycling plastics, size matters.

   Most small plastics [don’t get recycled](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2023/recycling-tips-mistakes-quiz/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3), and putting them in your bins could end up doing more harm than good, said Susan Collins, president of the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit group. These tiny items, such as condiment pouches, pill packaging or [contact lenses and cases](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/05/24/contact-lens-recycling-plastic/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3), can fall through the equipment at sorting facilities or end up mixed in with other recyclables, further complicating the recycling process.

   “People should focus on recycle the things that their communities are telling them to recycle,” Collins said. “Don’t clog up the system with the things that shouldn’t be thrown in the recycling bin.”

   Here’s what you need to know.

   **How small is too small?**

   Generally, standard recycling facilities don’t take plastic items that are roughly three inches or smaller in dimension.

   This means plastic utensils or straws are considered too small to go in curbside recycling, said Judith Enck, a former senior Environmental Protection Agency official in the Obama administration who now heads [Beyond Plastics](https://www.beyondplastics.org/), an advocacy organization. Despite typically being longer than three inches, they are too thin and can still fall through a recycling facility’s equipment.

   Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/11/15/small-plastics-recycling-problem-trash/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/11/15/small-plastics-recycling-problem-trash/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)

2. Rearranging deck chairs

3. how about we come up with a system that if it doesn’t clearly say it’s recyclable, then it goes in the trash.

   these impossible to read codes 1-7 are just stupid and no one understands them.

4. I only recycle 1s and 2s.

5. … in the US.

   There’s are many countries where small plastics can be and are recycled.

6. Looks like the realities of recycling are once again telling us not to use plastic in the first place.

7. The Container Recycling Institute?

8. Or stop making everything out of single use plastics

9. There has to be a better way.

10. Like, the obvious solution is for plastic recycling facilities to be better. We can catch a rocket with chop sticks…. we can figure out how to separate plastic based on its physical properties. (And of course we have already figured this out in other countries). There is no world where recycling isn’t going to be a major player, so it might as well be as good as it can be.

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