Ready to reduce your waste?
Here's our introduction to recycling by type.
I have a:
Can: Keep the lid or tab attached, rinse, and put it in your recycling bin.
Carton: Rinse or empty any liquid, put the cap back on, and put it in your recycling bin.
Paper box: Take off the tape and take out any plastic windows (windows can go to TerraCycle). Then flatten your clean, dry box and place it in your recycling bin. If it’s got food waste on it, you can compost it either at home or industrially depending on the box.
Glass jar: Rinse it or empty it out, then put it in your recycling bin. But first, remove any shrink sleeve labels (not that we carry those), and throw them in the trash. If the cap is metal, check the metal type with a magnet and keep similar metals together. If the cap is plastic, send it to TerraCycle.
Coffee bag: Send it to TerraCycle.
Tea bag: Take it to an industrial compost facility, or in some cases compost at home.
Plastic bottle: Rinse it, empty it, and put that little lid back on. Then put the whole thing in the recycling bin. Check the plastic number to be sure your curbside service can take it. If it had a shrink sleeve label, that goes in the trash. But don't worry, you won't find those on our products.
Snack bag or snack wrapper: Most likely, you’ll want to send this to TerraCycle. But if the packaging is marked as NEO plastic you put it in the trash. Yep, right in the trash so it can help capture energy at the landfill.
Spray nozzle or pump bottle: Remove the top, rinse out the bottle, and put the bottle in the recycling bin. Then send that top to TerraCycle, because the internal spring makes the top non-recyclable.
Still not sure what to do?
Head to your product's page.
What is Terracycle?
TerraCycle is our solution for hard-to-recycle items. They collect everything from chip bags to office supplies. Then they reuse them or refurbish them, upcycle them, or recycle them so their raw materials can make new products. By volume, TerraCycle recycles 97% of the waste they collect. You can get your envelope through us with your order. Send it back using the prepaid postage and we'll take care of the rest.
How to find a recycling center near you:
First of all, look outside. There’s probably a curbside bin sitting right there. The private company that collects your recyclables usually has information on their website about the types of materials they accept or reject. So start there. If anything can’t be picked up at your curbside, don’t worry. You can type those products and your zip code into Earth911’s Recycling Center Database. You’ll get a list of facilities near you that can recycle them. For anything else, send it to TerraCycle through Hive’s partner program. Questions? Reach out to customer care.
Recycling Fact or Fiction:
Right now, the national recycling average is only 35%. We can all get better there. The more we recycle properly, the better the system works. Have you heard some recycling rumors you’re not sure about? Let’s help bust some of those myths.
I should put everything I think is recyclable in my recycling bin and let the workers at the facility sort through it.
That’s a myth. “Aspirational recycling” (that’s what it’s called) creates more dirty work for recycling employees. It costs financially-strapped recycling facilities more money to process waste they can’t recycle, and it can damage machinery if items slip through the sorting line (so keep those plastic bags and beer boxes out of the bin).
Cardboard is cardboard, so I can throw it all in the recycling bin. Just like paper.
While cardboard is an amazingly recyclable material, it has to be clean (no greasy pizza boxes, even a little). Even most beer and soda boxes don’t make the cut for your recycling bin. Wondering why? It’s glue. Yep, most of them are designed to go in a cooler of ice without falling apart, so they have a lot of glue mixed into the paper fibers. That means they go into a trash can, not the recycling.
If it has a recycling symbol on it with a number, that means I can throw it in my recycling bin no matter what.
Another myth. It all depends on your facility. We’ve got general guidelines for you, but your best bet is to check with your recycling company or check out that Earth911 Database.
Biodegradable and compostable are pretty much the same thing.
That’s a myth. Biodegradable is a general term with no real legal standard or threshold for certification. And sadly, sometimes something labeled “biodegradable” just breaks down into smaller micro-plastics. Which is not good for water, soil, people, animals—or really anything. “Compostable” is a whole other ball game. For that, the product needs to be third-party verified, and break down completely in specific conditions. There is a big difference between home compostable and industrially compostable, though, so make sure to check that. Some “compostable” stuff won’t break down in your backyard compost heap because they require some really specific heat conditions. But don’t worry, we’re not throwing around the word “biodegradable” without telling you that it’s also home or industrial compostable, too. And yes, we’ll tell you which. Read more about the standards for home versus industrial composting here.
Recycling is broken, and it doesn’t really matter if I do it or not.
This one is...complicated. It’s true that recycling is only as good or bad as the way it’s done, but the more we recycle, the less ends up in landfills. It also means that fewer non-renewable resources are used to make new things. And that’s why we need to do it right as often as we can.