• Recycling standards vary across the US, with municipalities often setting their own unique rules.
• Recycling the wrong material or including wet or dirty items can contaminate the waste stream.
• Some items may need to be dropped off at specific locations instead of having them collected.

Many of us have been guilty of “wish-cycling” — tossing just about every piece of paper, plastic, metal, or glass in the blue bin because it should be recyclable.

Unfortunately, recycling is more complicated than that.

What belongs in curbside recycling bins varies widely in the US. “There are literally thousands of recycling standards across the country,” Rajesh Buch, a professor at Arizona State University, where he teaches a course on sustainable business, told Business Insider.

That’s, in part, because recycling systems that can sort through piles of discarded items can cost tens of millions of dollars. “In most communities,” he said, “they don’t have the resources to have these fully loaded, full-capacity systems.”

The disposal of household batteries, for example, is a common point of discrepancy and confusion in different towns, states, and regions across the US. While the EPA recommends single-use household batteries should be sent to specialized battery recyclers, they also say that “in most communities, alkaline and zinc carbon batteries can be safely put in your household trash.”

For residents of New York City, however, the Department of Sanitation’s guidelines declare this is illegal and dangerous, citing risk of fire and explosion. New York City residents are required to dispose of their batteries at waste drop-off sites or accepting stores.

Conflicting standards can be confusing, but dumping every container or scrap can contaminate the waste stream, Buch said. The EPA’s estimate put recycling’s contamination rate at 25%.

Therefore, it’s necessary to check with your municipality to see the types of recyclables it’s equipped to handle. Earth911 has a recycling locator that can help you find where to dispose of certain recyclables, or you can pay a company like TerraCycle to do the work for you.

That said, there are some items that almost always need to go in the garbage or a special recycling facility.

1. Aerosol cans

Aerosol cans are metal with plastic caps, which should be recycled separately. Some recyclers accept the cans but others don’t.

You’ll want to make sure they’re empty if you can recycle them, especially if the cans contained chemicals.

“Some of these are dangerous to put in the blue bin,” Buch said.

2. Batteries

Some cities, like Seattle and New York, have barred people from throwing batteries in the trash because they can cause chemical leaks and fires. Batteries usually can’t be recycled curbside, either.

Instead, a battery recycling facility needs to take them, Buch said.

If you want to recycle them, you can find retail locations willing to take batteries on the site Call2Recycle.

3. Chip bags and other snack wrappers

Chip bags, granola bar wrappers, and other snack packages are often multi-layered materials, Buch said.

“You’ve got foil on the outside,” he said. “You’ve got a plastic coating on the inside, and that’s not recyclable.”

The machines aren’t able to separate the layers, he said.

Some brands’ packaging is recyclable through How2Recycle, though you’ll have to drop it off at a participating grocery store or retailer.

4. Coffee mugs and other ceramics

There isn’t good technology to recycle ceramics, Buch said. They can even damage equipment.

The same is true for heat-resistant glass used to make items like baking dishes. Unwanted ceramics can usually be discarded in the household trash.

5. Coffee pods

Over the years, coffee companies have made their pods more environmentally friendly by switching to a different type of recyclable plastic. But you still can’t just toss them in your recycling right out of the machine.

“The foil is recyclable,” Buch said. “The plastic is recyclable.” But you have to remove the foil top from the plastic cup. As with all other recycling, it should be clean and dry.

Even when properly separated, though, the pods can be what Buch calls a “nuisance item.” They’re so small that they often fall through slots or holes in sorting machines instead of getting recycled.

“Anything that’s 2 inches or smaller is going to fall out of the sorting system,” Buch said.

There are still ways to recycle some pods, though. Nescafé accepts pods you return to them, for example.

6. Diapers

Disposable diapers are difficult to recycle “even if you didn’t have all the poop inside,” Buch said. They contain a variety of materials, like plastic and cellulose.

Some recycling companies like TerraCycle might take them, but municipal facilities most likely won’t.

Some companies abroad, like Germany’s BASF, are making advancements in chemically recycling diapers using the process of gasification, Plastics News reported.

7. E-waste

Cellphones, printers, and computers contain plastic, metal, and a mix of other materials that make them poorly suited for standard recycling systems.

Many cities have separate facilities where you can drop off e-waste, or you might be able to schedule a special pickup. For example, if you have a coffee maker that’s gone kaput, a retailer like Staples might recycle it and other small appliances for free.

8. Inflatable pools and toys

In 2018, the US generated 35.7 million tons of plastic waste and only recycled about 9% of it, according to the EPA’s most recent estimates. Because there are so many different kinds of plastics, it can be difficult to know what you can and cannot throw in your blue bin.

Many plastic containers have a little symbol: recycling arrows with a number in the center. This is what’s known as a resin identification code.

Most recycling facilities accept empty, clean, dry number 1 or 2 plastic. Some locations accept numbers 1 through 7, while others won’t take numbers 3, 6, or 7. It’s best to check before you chuck your plastic in the bin.

PVC, which is number 3, is used to make inflatable pool toys, faux leather, and other goods, and is very difficult to recycle.

9. Light bulbs

There are many types of light bulbs, from CFLs to LEDs. It’s important to figure out what type you have before tossing it because many municipalities have different rules about where they go.

“Some of the old light bulbs even have mercury or other kinds of chemicals in them, like fluorescent light bulbs,” Buch said. So you may have to take them to your local hazardous waste collection site.

Some hardware stores will take certain types of bulbs, and Batteries Plus accepts a wide variety, including LEDs, incandescent bulbs, and fluorescent tubes.

10. Medical waste

Needles, syringes, and other sharp medical products can injure workers at waste and recycling facilities. Some locations have drop boxes or other collection sites that take them.

Safe Needle Disposal offers lists of disposal locations by state as well as mail-in services, which often require a fee.

11. Napkins and paper towels

You may know that you only used a paper towel to dry your hands, but the recycling facility doesn’t. They have to assume it could have been covered in food, grease, or even something hazardous.

“Those things become contaminated waste in the blue bin,” Buch said.

Plus, the fibers in these paper products are too short to get recycled.

12. Plastic Utensils

Plastic utensils have a few traits that make them a no-go for the recycling bin. For starters, the size and shape of plastic utensils mean it’s hard for them to be processed by machinery. These objects often cause jams or other issues in machines.

Additionally, they’re often made from a mix of plastics that can be hard to separate.

The waste collection company Republic Services conducted a survey of over 2,000 Americans, which found that 38% of those surveyed recycled plastic cutlery, as reported by Recycling Today.

13. Prescription pill bottles

As with coffee pods, some prescription pill bottles and their lids are small enough to fall through sorting machines and won’t be recycled.

“There might be some communities where they don’t take the pill bottle and other communities where they do,” Buch said.

14. Greasy pizza boxes

Cardboard is one of the most recycled materials in the US, but over half of what’s tossed still ends up in landfills, according to a 2019 estimate.

While most pizza boxes are made of cardboard, they’re also often greasy. “Sometimes the cardboard has cheese stuck to it, so now you’ve got cardboard with food, so it’s contaminated,” Buch said.

Some facilities will still take the boxes if they’re not too dirty.

15. Wet or unrinsed bottles and containers

While many people may throw their finished bottles in the recycling bin without much of a second thought, excess foods or liquids can complicate the recycling process. Briefly rinsing all residue from containers and letting them dry is the best practice.

If bottles still contain liquid, they could damage machinery or be rejected by the automated sorting process, according to Recycle Now.

16. Plastic bags and bubble wrap

Plastic bags and film and bubble wrap can cause serious problems for recycling equipment, acting a bit like hair caught around a vacuum roller brush.

“Plastic film stretches and becomes literally filament-like,” Buch said. “It gets wrapped around inside these sorting systems.”

The Republic Services survey found that 41% percent of those surveyed recycled plastic shopping bags.

Many grocery stores have collection boxes for plastic bags.

17. Loose plastic bottle tops

Whether you should leave plastic tops on water bottles before recycling them varies between municipalities.

“The lid is made of a different material than the plastic bottle itself,” Buch said, so they’re recycled differently.

Many facilities can separate the cap and bottle. However, you’ll still want to check with your local recycler because some require cap-free bottles.

18. Styrofoam

Many cities and states have banned Styrofoam food containers, but the substance still arrives in a lot of products and shipping packaging.

Styrofoam, also known as polystyrene, isn’t recyclable in most curbside bins. Many cities have drop-off sites, though they may only take certain types, like Styrofoam blocks.

19. Receipts

Though receipts can sometimes seem paper-like enough for the recycling bin, the thermal paper that most are printed on contains chemicals like Bisphenol-A and Bisphenol-S, which could contaminate other paper in the recycling stream or find their way into wastewater, per the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

So the next time you’re cleaning out your coat pockets, those receipts that have been in there for a year can go straight to the trash.

20. Photos and glossy photo paper

Much like receipts, recycling photos and glossy paper may seem acceptable, but the coating on most photo paper contains metals or plastic.

If you’re unsure about whether certain other glossy materials, like wrapping paper, can be recycled, you can perform the “rip test” as outlined by Ecology Center. If the material doesn’t rip in the manner printer paper would, it’s most certainly not recyclable.

• I opened a boutique without realizing I’d be sharing a building with a senior living community.
• At first, I worried we’d clash, things would feel awkward, or my store’s music would bother them.
• I was surprised when my new neighbors became my friends — now, they hang out at my store often.

When I set out to open my first-ever retail storefront for my shop, Cindy Jane Boutique, I had a specific picture in my head: a saloon-style concept, rooted in nostalgic Americana, right on the corner in our local downtown area.

I prepared for virtually everything, wanting to create the best shopping experience for my customers. Chasing visions of vintage-inspired rose-trail wallpaper, classic wainscoting, and secondhand antique furniture, I missed one crucial detail: my new neighbors.

I was so deep in our buildout that it took me a month to realize my boutique space sat immediately beneath a senior living community.

Immediately, my mind jumped to worst-case scenarios, imagining strained neighborly relations and noise complaints through our thin walls.

My assumptions were wrong.

I thought sharing a building would be stressful, but it’s become a benefit instead

My worries started to ease during our grand opening when I gave a heads-up about our sound system’s volume to my neighbor immediately above my store.

I expected wariness or frustration. Instead, he invited me to his apartment to talk, and we ended up chatting more about his encyclopedic knowledge of punk rock than volume limits.

From there, I felt myself soften. Hellos in the hallway became routine with residents from all walks of life. Conversations grew in length as each week passed.

Most importantly, the building stopped feeling like something I needed to manage carefully and instead started feeling like something I was learning to share.

Soon, the simple built-in window bench I’d installed along the front of the store was more than just a practical place to sit. It had become a bit of a community gathering spot.

On quiet weekday afternoons, senior neighbors began settling on the bench without announcement, sometimes just to talk and others for a moment of respite.

Once my senior neighbors started lingering, they also started sharing their stories. I learned about their professions, how long they’d lived upstairs, the businesses they had run, the families they had raised, and the fashion heirlooms they cherished.

Since many of them had families who had grown up in the area, they were able to teach me about the history of our shared space, too.

First built in 1912 by Frank Chance, a former Chicago Cubs player, our building was once home to Cub Grocery and Cub Pharmacy during the development of Route 66. A few of my neighbors even remember visiting the pharmacy’s soda fountain decades ago.

I started to feel the age of the place in the best way, and I found myself listening more than speaking as I was captivated by the storytelling. In some ways, the building itself came alive with stories emerging from its notoriously thin walls.

All in all, I’ve loved building community as I built my business

Sharing space with people who have lived many versions of life reshaped how I understand connection across generations.

I stopped seeing my neighbors upstairs as separate from me, and instead began to recognize that we’re on the same journey. Some of us are simply further along in our specific arcs.

Although we’ve only been sharing space for nine months, my neighbors have already taught me more about myself and my own expectations in intergenerational relationships. The realization clicked for me the day a resident in her 80s bought an ivory satin slip dress with the intent to wear it to bed.

In the past, this kind of dress may have been worn as a private piece, intended to rarely be seen, but younger generations today are styling satin slips with boots and wearing them on date nights. The fabric and construction haven’t changed, but the context has.

When I unlock the shop each morning, I no longer feel like I’m operating beneath a senior living community. I feel like I’m part of something that refuses to dim with time.

• Anthropic’s Claude AI models suffered several outages this week.
• Some software developers said the disruptions laid bare how reliant they had become on AI tools.
• A Meta software engineer said these tools act like “a single button” to get tasks done.

When Anthropic’s Claude AI tools stopped working this week, some software developers faced the unthinkable: coding manually.

On Monday, users began reporting outages across Anthropic’s AI tools. The company’s Claude status page said that it was seeing “elevated errors” as users reported issues accessing both Claude.ai and Claude Code, which continued into Tuesday. An Anthropic spokesperson said Wednesday that the problems had been resolved.

The outages highlight the growing popularity of Claude’s coding tool and how many software developers have become dependent on it for generating and fixing code.

Gauresh Pandit, a senior software engineer at Meta, told Business Insider that tools like Claude have quickly become embedded in engineers’ day-to-day work. He said that when Claude went down, he turned his attention to non-coding tasks because he believed it might be slower to tackle the coding manually.

“It might not be that the muscle is lost but it feels like it’s just simple to use an LLM even for the simplest things now, because it acts like a single button action to get things done,” he said, referring to large language models.

Dozens of Claude users posted on sites such as Reddit and Discord to remark on how reliant they’ve become on these tools.

“Claude outages hit way harder when you realize you’ve outsourced half your brain to it,” one Redditor posted. Another joked: “I guess I’ll write code like a caveman.”

Software development has been significantly disrupted by AI. Developers say AI tools are making them simultaneously more productive and more overworked. It’s leading to fewer junior coding roles. Some Big Tech companies are baking AI use into performance reviews. And across the broader workforce, leaders worry about employee skill atrophy from leaning on AI.

Pentagon spat drives support for Anthropic

Anthropic’s outages came during a tumultuous couple of weeks. After a standoff with the Pentagon that came from Anthropic drawing red lines around how its tech could be used, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s AI tools.

OpenAI then secured a deal with the Department of Defense instead, leading to a surge in users canceling their ChatGPT subscriptions and protests outside the company’s office. Anthropic’s app shot up to the top of Apple’s App Store this week.

Boris Cherny, Anthropic’s head of Claude Code, said in a Monday X post that the recent outages were due to “rapid user growth straining our services.”

Even before the show of public support after the Pentagon spat, Claude was popular among coders. Dishant Banga, a data scientist based in Charlotte, North Carolina, told Business Insider he has come to rely heavily on Claude as part of his daily learning routine after being laid off and entering the job market.

He said he uses Claude to experiment with fine-tuning large language models and to prepare for technical interviews. While this week’s disruptions didn’t cause much disruption for Banga, he said Claude’s integration with Microsoft’s Visual Studio development platform has made it increasingly central to his routine. “It helps me code better,” he said.

Engineers at companies including Meta, Netflix, Salesforce, and Accenture use Claude Code. OpenAI and Google offer competing tools that are also being rapidly adopted by engineers and companies.

Gergely Orosz, a former Uber engineering manager who now writes a newsletter on the industry, recently surveyed nearly 1,000 subscribers about their top AI tools. Claude Code came out on top, he wrote in a newsletter on Tuesday. “Claude Code is today nearly as widespread as GitHub Copilot was in our survey three years ago,” wrote Orosz.

Sathika Hettiarachchi, an IT student and software developer, told Business Insider that he prefers Claude over alternatives from Google and xAI, and that it has become his “go-to” AI model for his project.

“Since I do a lot of coding and problem solving, Claude is the better option for me,” he said.

On Tuesday, he posted on X: “I never realized how people (including myself) have become so dependent on AI in such a short time until the Claude outage happened.”

• A United Airlines jet experienced an apparent engine fire after takeoff from Los Angeles on Monday.
• Everyone evacuated, some with their bags, and none of the 268 souls on board were seriously injured.
• Pilots are trained to handle engine failures, and aircraft are designed to fly on one engine.

A United Airlines Boeing 787 turned around 15 minutes after takeoff from Los Angeles on Monday after smoke and alarms suggested a fire in one of its two jet engines.

United told Business Insider in a statement that there was a “possible engine fire.” It added that none of the 268 passengers and crew on board the plane were seriously injured, and that passengers were bused to the terminal and flown out on a different aircraft.

The plane was back on the ground at LAX within about 40 minutes; a replacement flight to New Jersey took off around 6:30 p.m. local time — eight hours after the originally scheduled departure, per Flightradar24.

“We are grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their quick actions to keep our customers safe,” United said. The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident.

It’s unclear what caused the engine issue, but previous incidents at United and other carriers involved bird strikes and metal fatigue.

Pilots are trained to handle engine failures and fires and to remain calm in emergency situations. Airliners like the Boeing 787 are designed to fly safely on one engine.

Recordings from the website LiveATC.net reveal the crew initially thought the fire was out but received additional “fire indications” for the left engine despite using the extinguishers, prompting the decision to evacuate passengers.

“People will be coming out the right side, the side toward the runway; we prefer to stay right here and just get people off,” one of the pilots can be heard telling firefighters after landing.

Videos circulating on social media show the scene from inside the jet, including smoke coming from the aircraft’s left engine and people evacuating via slides and airstairs onto a taxiway.

Some commentators have pointed out that individuals leaving with their bags is dangerous during an emergency. Aviation safety leaders have long instructed passengers to abandon their carry-on items during evacuations to avoid wasting time or clogging the aisles.

“The FAA’s message to passengers is simple: If you have to evacuate, leave your bags behind and follow crew instructions,” the agency said in a statement to Business Insider. “Airlines have policies requiring passengers to leave luggage behind to ensure they can evacuate as quickly as possible. Federal aviation regulations require passengers to obey crewmembers’ safety instructions.”

The warning has precedent: an Aeroflot plane caught fire during landing in 2019, and industry experts said people fleeing the blaze with their luggage partially contributed to the deaths of more than half of the passengers.

In 2024, a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 collided with a Coast Guard jet on the runway in Tokyo and caught fire. All 379 people on board survived; experts partially attributed this to passengers leaving their bags behind.

• British F-35s shot down drones over Jordan within the past 24 hours, the UK government said.
• It marks the first time a Royal Air Force F-35 has destroyed a hostile target during operations.
• The Middle East has been locked in an air defense frenzy as Iran fires waves of missiles and drones.

British F-35s shot down drones over Jordan, marking the first time that one of the Royal Air Force’s stealth fighter jets has destroyed a target in combat, the UK defense ministry said on Tuesday.

British forces have shot down multiple drones across the Middle East over the past 24 hours as Iran continues to retaliate against countries across the region in response to US and Israeli strikes.

The UK said that the interception of drones above Jordan marks “the first time an RAF F-35 has destroyed a target on operations.” The fighters were supported by Typhoon jets and a Voyager tanker aircraft.

The F-35B jets the UK operates are designed for air-to-air, air-to-surface, and electronic warfare missions. They have short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities that allow the fighter jet to operate from austere environments, amphibious assault ships, and aircraft carriers.

The UK received its F-35 jets, manufactured by the American defense giant Lockheed Martin, in 2012. The stealth fighters reached initial operational capability status in 2018.

The UK recently deployed additional defensive assets to its bases in Cyprus, including F-35 jets, radars, counter-drone systems, and ground-based air defenses, amid the soaring tensions in the Middle East.

Over the past day, British counter-drone forces have also intercepted hostile drones in Iraqi airspace, and an RAF Typhoon fighter aircraft used an air-to-air missile to down an Iranian drone heading for Qatar.

Since the fighting began, Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic and cruise missiles and one-way attack drones at many Middle Eastern countries, including the Gulf States and Israel, as well as bases for US forces across the region. A strike on an American military installation killed at least six service members and wounded several others.

British bases have also been hit in this conflict, in which the UK is not offensively involved. A UK defense ministry spokesperson said on Monday that a suspected drone had struck RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. There were no casualties, but the incident has triggered a response in London.

On Tuesday, the UK announced that it is deploying the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon and Wildcat helicopters to the Eastern Mediterranean region to strengthen Britain’s missile and drone defense.

“We are moving quickly to further reinforce our defensive presence in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Defense Secretary John Healey said. “HMS Dragon brings world-class air defense capability, and our Wildcat helicopters are armed with Martlet missiles to counter the growing drone threat.”

The Middle East has been locked in air defense battles since the US and Israel started striking Iran on Saturday. Washington and its allies in the region have shot down hundreds of Iranian retaliatory missiles and drones over the past three days.

• Four judges have said Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms were unconstitutional.
• The DOJ on Monday said it would not appeal the rulings favoring Big Law firms.
• On Tuesday, the DOJ backtracked, saying it wants to move forward with an appeal.

On Monday, the Justice Department waved a white flag, telling a court it would no longer try to justify President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms.

On Tuesday, the DOJ decided it was ready for battle again.

The Justice Department filed a notice with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday afternoon, asking for permission to continue appealing lower court rulings that struck down Trump’s executive orders.

The filing came in a case that consolidated the Justice Department’s appeals of rulings by four different district court judges who said Trump’s executive orders targeting Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey were unconstitutional.

Trump issued the executive orders shortly after taking office last year. Had they gone into effect, they would have revoked security clearances for the firms’ attorneys, required a review of their government contracts, and may have barred the attorneys from entering federal government buildings.

Nine other Big Law firms struck deals with the White House to avert similar executive orders targeting them. The deals require the firms to each contribute millions of dollars’ worth of pro bono work toward Trump’s political priorities.

Friday would have marked the deadline for the Justice Department to file a brief to convince the appellate court to overturn the lower court rulings invalidating the executive orders.

It’s not clear whether the appellate court will allow the Justice Department to withdraw its decision to drop the appeal. All four law firms opposed the Justice Department’s motion, according to the DOJ’s Tuesday filing.

“Yesterday evening, the Administration told the Court that it gave up and wouldn’t even try to defend its unconstitutional executive orders,” a Susman Godfrey spokesperson told Business Insider. “Today, it reversed course. Regardless, Susman Godfrey will defend itself and the rule of law — without equivocation.”

A Perkins Coie spokesperson told Business Insider the Justice Department “offered no explanation to either the parties or the court for its reversal.”

“We remain committed to defending our firm, our people, and our clients,” the spokesperson said.

Justice Department representatives didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.