TEE CEE’S TIP

Dear Tee Cee,

Are prescription bottles recyclable? I’m helping a family member move, and they have been hanging on to some medicine bottles because they weren’t sure if they should go in the recycling or trash bin. There are a bunch of orange prescription bottles and also general over-thecounter white and clear medicine bottles.

Thanks, D.

Dear D., Some recycling rules are simple, and others have more nuance. Prescription bottles fall into the “nuance” category. The short answer is that empty prescription bottles, vitamin bottles, and overthe-counter plastic medicine containers—whether they are the orange capsules or colored bottles— measuring two inches or more in diameter are recyclable. Containers that are smaller than two inches in diameter are NOT recyclable.

Here’s why that’s the case: In general, items that are smaller than two inches (except for broken glass) should not go in your recycling bin, whether it’s a loose plastic cap, a small ball of aluminum, or small scraps of paper. The “two inch rule” isn’t arbitrary, it’s for operational reasons.

When recyclables all mixed together are brought to the Boulder County Recycling Center to be separated and transported to their respective markets, glass bottles and jars are purposefully broken into pieces that are smaller than two inches. Those small pieces are removed from the rest of the single-stream materials by running all the material over a screen with twoinch openings. The conveyor belt shakes the materials and the glass falls down through the twoinch screen. The challenge is, that along with broken glass, anything else smaller than two inches — including small prescription bottles — will also fall through the screens and contaminate the recycled glass and lower its value.

That’s why you’ll often hear us ask recyclers to ball their aluminum foil in balls larger than two inches, or to please replace the small plastic screw-top cap back onto an empty bottle.

When recycling larger prescription bottles, please be sure they’re completely empty of any medication. But please do NOT put ANY medication down the drain or toilet or in the trash. You can responsibly dispose of leftover medication through the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment’s Household Medication and Sharps takeback program. Go to bit.ly/medicine-disposal-co. CDPHE offers a map and a list of all participating drop-off locations. Even if your prescription bottles are too small for recycling, please take medications to these drop-off locations and do not dispose of them in the trash.