Recycling

RECYCLING

Sandia Heights Services is committed to helping maintain a healthy environment for Albuquerque’s current and future generations.  By utilizing waste products in a constructive way, we can decrease the size of our landfills. In addition, recycling helps conserve our natural resources by turning recycled materials into new items, lessening the need to collect natural resources such as water, minerals, coal, oil, gas and timber.

ALLOWED RECYCLABLES INCLUDE:

PAPER	PLASTIC	METAL
Newspapers	#1 – #7 Plastic bottles/tubs	Aluminum cans
Magazines	Rigid plastic toys	Tin cans
Office paper		Foil & pie pans
Corrugated cardboard		Small electronics
Cereal/cracker boxes		Pots & pans
Phone books		Small appliances
Books
Brown paper bags
Paper egg cartons
Junk Mail

Do I Have To Rinse My Recyclables?

Jars, Bottles and Cans:

• If the empty jars, bottles, and cans have visible residue within the container, you should rinse them out before tossing them in the recycling bin.
• This doesn’t mean you need to break out the dish soap and a sponge in order to clean out the remaining contents. All you need to do is fill the jar, bottle, or can with water and swish the water around until a majority of the remaining contents are removed from the sides. That’s it!
• However, for containers that were filled with more sticky substances (jelly, honey, marshmallow fluff), take the extra few seconds to give it a quick scrub.

Cardboard and Paper Guidelines:

• Grease and oil make cardboard and paper unrecyclable, so pizza boxes covered in grease aren’t fit for the recycling bin. However, if the box is mostly clean with just a few specks of grease, you’re fine to recycle it.
• The same goes for other contaminants. If you’re making pancakes and a drop of egg lands on the box, it’s still clean enough to recycle. However, too much of a mess will make it impossible to recycle.
• Additionally, crumpled, torn or misshapen paper and cardboard can be recycled the same as flat products. As a side note, paper that has been shredded or torn into bits must be contained in paper bags to avoid the small pieces from blowing away and causing littering. 

Throw Away Heavily Soiled Items:

• Items that are heavily soiled or impossible to clean, unfortunately cannot be recycled and should be thrown away.

ITEMS NOT ALLOWED FOR RECYCLE:

Glass	Garbage
Food	Light bulbs
Wood	Hazardous waste
Sharp metal	Yard waste
Batteries	Motor oil bottles
Medical waste/needles	Styrofoam
TVs	Computer monitors
Plastic grocery bags	Wrapping paper
Ink cartridges

For more information, please visit the New Mexico Recycling Coalition website for a full directory of all recycling centers.  The directory allows users to search for recycling centers by type of material to be recycled or by the type of services offered.