Landfill waste makes up a staggering portion of waste produced worldwide. From chip bags to detergent bottles, landfills are filling up at an alarming rate. The best way to combat this is to, of course, stop purchasing non-recyclable or non-compostable items. However, with so many common and essential items being produced using these materials, the best we can do is limit our consumption of single-use plastics.
Below is a brief list of landfill materials that often get put into recycling bins. Of course, being able to recycle a lot of different products doesn’t help if the recyclables don’t make it into the proper bin so, UCSB has developed an impressive recycling infrastructure to make sure everything gets to the right place. Visit our campus resources page to learn more about UCSB’s recycling infrastructure!
Landfill material:
The following materials should be placed in black landfill bins.
- Plastic bags/film plastic
- Styrofoam
- Plastics #3 through #7
- Pet Waste
- PLA #7 compostable material
NOTE: Items made up of multiple recyclable materials are not recyclable. For example, a sheet of laminated paper is made up of paper and plastic but it is not recyclable, and should therefore go in the landfill bin.