Many assume that throwing a half-empty soda bottle into the recycle bin automatically guarantees that it will be recycled. That is not the case.

Just because a plastic or glass bottle is thrown away in the recycle bin, doesn’t mean it will become a recycled item, said Ellyse Adamczyk, an Associated Students Recycling employee.

“The liquids [from the bottles] you can pour into the compost bin, but if there is food residue on the container, you cannot recycle it,” she said.

AS Recycling is not able to recycle anything that contains food or drink in them, regardless of whether or not they are considered recyclables. Another AS Recycling employee, Aimee Bugaren explained what can be recycled, what can’t and what happens to the things that can’t be recycled.

“We recycle aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass, paper, cardboard, ink toners, cartridges and other e-waste such as CD’s, cassettes and cell phones,” Bugaren said. “We can also recycle batteries, binders and books.”

Bugaren said there are some common items that are thrown into campus recycling bins that the AS Recycling program cannot recycle.

“AS Recycling does not recycle plastic cups or the paper cups that you get from the coffee shops on campus because the paper cups have a plastic lining which we don’t recycle at Chico State,” she said.

The cups are labeled as recyclable and compostable but really aren’t. Most students and faculty do not realize this and continue to throw them into the incorrect bins, making it difficult for AS Recycling and Sustainability to do their jobs correctly.

Without the proper information given to the students and faculty about what is and is not recyclable or even compostable, the wrong items will continue to be thrown away into the wrong bins.

Victoria Rohrer can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.