What is recycled in the yellow container

In some countries it may be different, but in Spain there are 5 types of containers , four are for recycling and one for waste:

• Yellow container
• Blue container
• Light green container
• Dark green or brown container
• Gray container

There are other specials for hazardous or toxic waste, such as the red container, or for clothing to donate, such as the orange container. But remember that this may change in certain countries and regions, so it is advisable to inform yourself at the town hall in your area.

In addition, there are countries that are implementing Smart Recycling Bins , find out about them here.

Now that we have seen the list of the basic containers that exist, we explain what the yellow container goes , which is the main question raised at the beginning, and we also comment on what goes in the other containers .

Yellow container

This is the container in which containers should be discarded, both lightweight, such as polystyrene or expanded polystyrene, such as tetrabricks and cans.

Light packaging is divided into metal (steel or aluminum), plastics (PET, HDPE, film and plastic mixtures) and cartons. For example, as a plastic container is the plastic bottle, metal would be a can of preserves and film, a bag of fried foods. Of these, each one is divided into a recycler, which is the one that is finally in charge of converting them into raw material again. The cans are made of aluminum and have the advantage that they can be recycled unlimitedly. Finally, they are transformed into aluminum coils that can be used to make new cans of soda or preserves. The tetrabriksInstead, they must be divided according to their composition into paper, polyethylene or aluminum tetrabriks and are deposited separately during the recycling process. From its recycling, aluminum ingots can be obtained for use in industry. These containers, when collected from the yellow container, are taken to the sorting plants and then to their corresponding recyclers.

Blue container

This container is used for paper or cardboard . These wastes are then directed to recycling plants, where they are shredded and compacted into large bales of paper or cardboard , which are then hydrated to form a paper paste that goes through a cleaning process. When completely dry, they are ironed and rolled into reels that are distributed to paper or cardboard factories. Once recycled, they are used to make new boxes, toilet paper or sacks for building materials.

Light green container

This container is used to dispose of glass containers . This glass is then transported to recycling plants, where it is cleaned (removing everything that is not glass) and crushed to powder. Ultimately, this is used to make new glass containers such as bottles, light bulbs, jars, etc.

Brown or dark green container

This container is used to dispose of organic waste . That is, waste that if you leave it in a bag would rot. They are residues of vegetable and / or animal matter such as food or garden waste. In the case of plant residues, they can be composted and used as organic compost. Another form of recycling used for this waste is the production of biogas, which is used to produce electricity with renewable energy.

Gray container

In this container go the waste . Everything that does not go in the other containers such as animal feces, CDs, containers of toxic products, batteries, etc. Normally, most of this waste is necessary to take to the clean point of your city and they will take care of this waste.

So what can we throw in the yellow bin ? We can throw away products such as candy wrappers, yogurt containers, spreadable cheese tubs, butter wrappers, shopping bags, sauce jars, toothpaste bottle, disposable plastic plates, cups and cutlery, personal hygiene product containers or tissue packaging.

However, there are certain things that we should not throw in the yellow container under any circumstances, such as any type of medicine container, paper or cardboard wrappers for hamburgers and others, ice cream tubs, aluminum coffee capsules, toys, batteries , aerosols, fruit boxes, plastic buckets or non-disposable kitchen utensils.

Despite certain errors, we are above the recycling targets of the European Union and among the countries that recycle the most, although there is always room for improvement. For this reason, from Ecoembes there is a container search engine to know which ones go in each container.

Find out more details on this topic in this other AgroCorrn article on Which plastics are recycled and which are not .

If you want to read more articles similar to What is recycled in the yellow container , we recommend that you enter our Recycling and waste management category .