Recycling Mystery: Black

Black-colored plastic gets its color from carbon black pigment and is commonly used in food containers like meat or produce trays and take-out, as well as for disposable coffee lids, plastic bags, and hard plastic items like DVD cases and planters. While plastic is one of the categories of things that we are encouraged to recycle — when we can't reuse or repurpose it — not all black plastic items can be recycled.

Before we look at the do's and don'ts of recycling black-colored plastic, here are a few general recycling reminders:

To date, I haven't seen any black-colored plastic deposit containers (water, soda, etc.), but in case you run into some:

There's work on better sorters, new black and alternative-color dyes, and different materials. For now, your strategy should be to avoid using black-colored plastics. Let businesses know that you would prefer that they use plastic that you can recycle locally. Try to shop at places that don't use black plastic, but instead:

This article was originally published on January 7, 2021.You Might Also Like...-->