Making Connections

Identifying recyclable items can be confusing, but help is available, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

A product can be marketed as “recyclable” if it can be collected for either reuse or to make another product through an established recycling program.

In addition, manufacturers may claim that a package has recycled content if it is made with materials that have been recovered during the manufacturing process or after consumer use. Used newspapers, shipping cartons, plastic bottles, glass containers and metal cans are “post-consumer waste” while manufacturing scraps, like scrap left over when envelopes are cut from paper, are deemed “pre-consumer waste.”

For a free copy of “Eco-Speak: A User’s Guide to the Language of Recycling,” call (202) 382-4357 or (202) 326-2502 (TDD).

This guide, and more than 150 other consumer publications, also are available on the Internet at www.ftc.gov.