What to Recycle

Recycle right with Flood Brothers — your guide to what can be recycled.

Why Recycling Matters — and How You Can Make an Impact

According to the EPA, as many as 35% of households in America don't recycle. Less than 10% of businesses in the country aren't recycling either. This represents an immense opportunity not only to help save the environment and adopt green waste management policies but save money and space while doing so. Flood Brothers Disposal serves over 150 communities in the Chicagoland and Northern Illinois areas with their recycling needs — homes as well as commercial and industrial businesses and construction sites. See Recycle Across America for more interesting and staggering statistics about recycling(opens in new tab).

The examples of the impact of recycling will astound you. Recycling just 1 ton of cardboard trash can save up to 46 gallons of oil. One person has the opportunity, on average, to recycle over 25,000 cans in a lifetime. Think of how much soda you drink and soup you eat! About half of the food in the United States goes to waste. Glass can be produced and recycled an infinite number of times. The list goes on.

Part of what you can do to make the recycling experience go smoothly is to recycle the proper trash items, as well as keeping them sorted. We've put together a helpful list of items that can (and cannot) be recycled.

We thank you for joining us in our efforts to be the cleanest and greenest waste management and disposal company in Chicagoland. Learn more about our family owned company!

Earth with recycling logo surrounding it

Recycling Electronic Waste

Do you have an old computer, laptop, tablet, or other piece of gadgetry that you want to get rid of in a responsible, green way? Here's some helpful information on electronics recycling.

Join us in building a cleaner, greener future.

What Can You Recycle?

  • Aluminum food and beverage cans
  • Ferrous (iron), steel and tin cans
  • Foil and pie tins
  • Corrugated cardboard, cereal boxes
  • Chipboard
  • Telephone books
  • Newspapers, junk mail and envelopes
  • Catalogs and magazines
  • Office and copy paper (without wax liners)
  • Clear, green and brown glass bottles and jars
  • Juice and soda bottles, 6- and 12-pack rings
  • Detergent and shampoo bottles
  • PET plastic containers with the #1 symbol-screw tops only,
    without the caps, no black trays
  • Water and milk jugs/cardboard cartons (with #2 symbol)
  • Plastics with the #3, #4, #5 or #7 symbol

What Cannot Be Recycled at Curbside?

Including, but not limited to:
Plastics
  • Bags
  • CD or cassette plastic cases
  • Cover sheets
  • Crates
  • Cups (clear or colored)
  • Diapers
  • Dinnerware
  • Drain tile
  • Driveway sealer pails
  • DVD cases
  • Film from packaging
  • Flexible food & beverage pouches
  • Flower pots with dirt
  • Furniture
  • Garden planter trays w/ dirt
  • Garbage containers
  • Garment bags
  • Hangers
  • Herbicide containers
  • Holiday light packaging racks
  • Hoses
  • Inflatable rafts, toys, etc.
  • Insecticide containers
  • Landscaping edging
  • Laundry baskets
  • Lawn furniture
  • Oil containers
  • Picnic coolers
  • Picture frames
  • Pipe
  • Plastic hose
  • Plastic sheets
  • Plastic trim & molding
  • Plastic wood
  • Plates (clear or colored)
  • Polystyrene cups, plates
  • Polystyrene dinnerware
  • Polystyrene insulation
  • Polystyrene packaging
  • Recycling bins
  • Shower curtains
  • Storage containers
  • Stretch film
  • Swimming pools
  • Swimming pool liners
  • Table cloths
  • Tackle boxes
  • Tarps
  • Thermos bottles
  • Tool boxes
  • Toys
  • Tubing
  • Tupperware
  • Utensils
  • Vapor barrier insulation sheets
  • Vinyl siding
  • Waste baskets
  • Water cooler bottles
  • Window blinds
Electronics
  • Appliances
  • Cable
  • Calculators
  • Cameras
  • CD players/recorders
  • Circuit boards
  • Clocks
  • Computers
  • Computer discs
  • Computer keyboards
  • Computer monitors
  • Computer mouses
  • Computer printers
  • DVD players/recorders
  • Electric extension cords
  • Electronic consumer goods
  • Flashlights
  • Holiday light strands
  • Light bulbs
  • Light fixtures
  • MP3 players / iPods
  • Pagers
  • PDAs
  • Radios
  • Switches
  • Telephones
  • TVs
  • VCRs
House Wares
  • Ceramics
  • China dishes
  • Cookware
  • Crockery
  • Crystal
  • Dinnerware
  • Glassware
  • Porcelain
  • Pots and pans
  • Pottery
  • Silverware
  • Vases
Fiber
  • Asbestos
  • Burnt paper
  • Carbon paper
  • Wall paper
  • Wax paper
Hazardous Waste
  • See EPA list
  • See chemical wastes
  • See medical wastes
Radioactive Wastes
  • All
Miscellaneous
  • Aluminum blinds
  • Aluminum siding
  • Ammunition
  • Audio cassette tapes
  • Auto parts
  • Bathroom waste
  • Batteries
  • Cabinets (metal or wood)
  • Carpet
  • Carpet padding
  • Ceramic tiles
  • Clothing
  • Construction debris
  • Crayons, chalk, markers
  • Drywall
  • Fencing
  • Fireworks
  • Furniture
  • Garden hose
  • Garden tools
  • Gasoline cans
  • Glassware
  • Gutters
  • Hangers
  • Hardware
  • Hose reels
  • Hubcaps from autos
  • Inner-tubes
  • Lawn furniture
  • Lawn fertilizer spreaders
  • Lawn sprinklers
  • Liquids
  • Medical waste
  • Metal scrap
  • Mirrors
  • Motors
  • Oil dry
  • Pallets
  • Pencils, pens, rulers, etc.
  • Pipes
  • Pottery
  • Propane tanks
  • Radioactive waste
  • Rocks/stones/brick
  • Roofing material
  • Rope/twine/string
  • Rubber hoses & parts
  • Rugs
  • Saw dust
  • Scrap and sheet metal
  • Shelving
  • Sporting goods
  • Textiles
  • Tires
  • Toilet seats
  • Tools
  • Umbrellas
  • Vases
  • VCR tapes
  • Window glass
  • Wood
Putrescible Trash
  • Animal waste
  • Cooking oil & grease
  • Diapers
  • Food waste
  • Human waste
  • Kitchen waste
Medical Wastes
  • Bandages
  • Bedding
  • Bloody rags
  • IV bags
  • IV tubing
  • Medicine bottles
  • Sharps
  • Syringes
Yard Waste
  • Brush
  • Branches
  • Compost
  • Grass
  • Leaves
  • Mulch
  • Shrubs
  • Soil
  • Trees
  • Tree stumps
  • Wood chips
  • Wreaths
Chemical Waste
  • Absorbents
  • Acids
  • Alkalis
  • Fertilizers
  • Herbicides
  • Insecticides
  • Grease
  • Oil
  • Oil dry
  • Paint
  • Stain
  • Solvents
  • Sorbents
Explosives & Arms
  • Ammunition
  • Bullets
  • Fireworks
  • Guns
  • Gunpowder
  • Hand grenades
  • Shells