Ceramic mugs, plates, bowls, pottery, and figurines are not recyclable. Ceramic isn't container glass — it's fired at a much higher temperature and won't melt with glass bottles and jars, so even a small piece ruins a batch of recycled glass. Ceramics go in the black trash cart, or better, get donated.
📷 Scan an item with your phoneRecyclers only want glass bottles and jars. Ceramic, Pyrex, porcelain, stoneware, and pottery have a different composition and melting point, so they contaminate the glass stream — recyclers deliberately screen them out.
Intact mugs, dishes, planters, and decor are easy donations — thrift stores and reuse networks take them, keeping them out of the landfill.
Wrap sharp broken pieces in newspaper or seal them in a sturdy box labeled "broken ceramic" so no one gets cut, then put it in the black trash cart. Small terra-cotta or unglazed pottery shards can also be crushed as garden drainage material.
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Not sure about something else? Point your camera at it and RecycleLens tells you the right bin.