What do #1 and #2 plastics mean? The numbers are codes for different types of resins. They are usually found printed on the bottom of a plastic bottle inside a recycling symbol. For example, #1 is PET or Polyethylene terephthalate, and is collected and sold separately from #2 HDPE, high density polyethylene.

Why do we have to sort our materials? We ask residents to sort their paper, plastics, etc. because we sell them to companies that only want one kind of material. CleanTech, Inc., for example, buys our #1 clear plastic bottles. Other plastics mixed in those bales contaminate the #1 resin and the bales are not as valuable or are rejected. We do not have the manpower to sort all of the materials like some larger operations do, so we ask people to sort as much as possible before we accept it.

We can't I recycle the plastic caps? The caps are made from a composite of resins and are not marketable. They contaminate a bale of plastics.

Why don't you accept all plastic? We only accept plastics that we can recycle, that is, sell to a company that uses the materials to make another product. Several of the numbered plastics (#3-7) have limited markets. And some plastics are not numbered and cannot be recycled.

What do you recycle? We recycle 18 different items: office paper, junk mail, magazines and catalogs, boxboard, cardboard, aluminum foil and cans, tin cans, clear and colored glass, plastic grocery bags, plastic film, #1 clear plastic bottles, #2 colored plastic bottles, #2 milk jugs, deposit pop cans, electronics, household batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs. and cell phones. The highlighted items are only recycled at the Fremont Center during business hours.