Recycle

Should I Recycle Old Recycling Bins in Philly?

Our Where Can I Wednesday reader question reads:

“I am getting a bigger recycle bin, but am not sure what to do with my old one. Can you help?

Thanks,
Amy”

What to do with old recycling bins

We’re happy to answer this, Amy! Once you’ve recycled your heart out (or maybe even invest in a new, bigger container – with a lid!), you don’t want to sentence your old bin to landfill purgatory.

What to do If the Recycling Bin is in decent condition:

If the bin still works, I’d recommend giving it to a friend or putting it on Freecycle / a Facebook Buy Nothing giveaway movement. That’s just good karma: a lot of people want the bins and don’t have them. (And might be a little too lazy to pick one up themselves, even though we have a WHOLE list of free bins here.)

what to do If you have a broken recycling bin:

Recycle the recycling bin! You can place it curbside to recycle it IN your Single-stream recycling.

Hope your bin ends up in a happier place, Amy!

If you have a recycling question, submit it to contact(at)greenphillyblog(dot)com or on Twitter/ Facebook.

Julie Hancher

Julie Hancher is Editor-in-Chief of Green Philly, sharing her expertise of all things sustainable in the city of brotherly love. She enjoys long walks in the park with local beer and greening her travels, cooking & cat, Sir Floofus Drake.

Recent Posts

25% of City is solar-powered*, Getting to Green & new watershed exhibit

The latest green news you missed. Here comes the sun! Approximately 25% of municipal city…

6 days ago

Native plants and the future of our drinking water

Native plants are part of a collective solution to the expanding problem of stormwater mitigation…

1 week ago

Earth week: Winner of SBN’s Food Saver Challenge, Swarthmore’s Solar purchase & more

Read the latest sustainability news. Earth Day was Monday is every day, and was celebrated…

2 weeks ago

Four Ways to Improve Recycling in Philly

Recycling in Philly is broken. Here’s how Mayor Parker’s administration could fix it. Recycling in…

2 weeks ago

The EPA’s Efforts in Climate Action, Public Engagement, and Earth Month Initiatives

We sat down with Adam Ortiz, EPA's Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator to chat about transparency and…

3 weeks ago

Is My Recycling Being … Recycled?

Philadelphians' skepticism about the City’s waste policies has led to an abysmal recycling rate. Here’s…

3 weeks ago