What to recycle and what not to recycle in El Paso

The City of El Paso is dealing with a high contamination rate when it comes to recycling.

Last year, contamination in El Paso was at 17 percent and this year it’s at 33 percent. In other words, nearly a third of recycle bins included inappropriate items at pickup.

The City is trying to get that number down to below 15 percent by simply educating residents on what they can and cannot place in their blue recycling bins.

When it comes to what you can place in your recycling bins, it’s as easy as remembering the “Fab Five.” This includes paper, aluminum, cardboard and plastics 1 & 2, or any plastic bottle that has a neck and handle. The City urges residents to rinse out the bottles before they place them in the blue bins.

While cardboard box recycling is encouraged, any type of cardboard that has residue should be placed in the gray bins. Items with any type of residue will contaminate the whole recycling bin.

In other cities, Styrofoam and glass items are recyclable, but in El Paso those items are not to be included in blue recycle bins.

Styrofoam items are the number one contaminant items in El Paso, but the city tells ABC-7 that they also see a lot of El Pasoans placing diapers and yard ware in the recycle bins as well and this is also leading to the high contamination rate in the borderland.

Click here for a full list of acceptable and non acceptable recyclable items in El Paso.