Washington States Doesn’t Want You to Recycle These Items

We try to recycle when we can and do our part. Although Yakima doesn't have as robust of a recycling program as Seattle like when you're in town and you see all those options for trash, recycle, compost, and more, it can get a little confusing.

However when it comes to recycling there are some items that you just flat-out can't recycle.

Not only that, there are some items you're not supposed to recycle for various reasons.

Straight from the Washington State Department of Ecology, here are a few items to keep out of your recycling bins.

Plastic Bags

I remember when plastic bags were introduced as a way to save paper bags, but now with recycling paper bags are repopulated.

Polystyrene Foam

These are the types of items you always see thrown away. Many say they take 500+ years to break down and plenty of places are opting out of using these in favor for biodegradable ones.

Food

Compost? Yes. Recycle? No.

Tanglers (hoses and wires)

The main reason you shouldn't recycle things like garden hoses or wire hangers is because they become tangled up with everything else causing chaos in the recycling process.

Batteries

Due to the hazardous nature of what batteries are, they're not allowed.

Along with those items from Washington, here is a list from Montana as well with plenty of crossover. Though some of these aren't directly on Washington's list, it's a good idea to consider these when it comes to what to recycle and what you could probably just reuse as needed.