Plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 no longer allowed in blue bins

Aug 13, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Sanitation is changing its policy about which plastics can be thrown in the blue recycling bin. Under the New Blue program announced Tuesday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, many plastics should now be disposed of in the black trash bins.

While clean and empty plastics marked with the numbers 1, 2 and 5 are still allowed in the blue bin, plastics marked with the numbers 3, 4, 6 and 7 are no longer allowed because they cannot be recycled, even if they include a recycling symbol.

Following are items that are no longer allowed in the blue bins:

Following are items that can still be recycled through the blue bin:

Encouraging people to “think reusable, not disposable,” LASAN is asking that Angelenos “always bring your own reusable cup and bag.”

Operating the largest curbside recycling program in the U.S., LA Sanitation collects recycling and trash from 750,000 households and currently diverts about 76.4% of its waste from landfills, according to its website. By 2050, as part of the city’s Green New Deal, it has set a goal of no longer sending any trash to landfills.