Can some things be recycled more easily than others?
Yes. Clothes that you have outgrown, for example, can be “reused” by donating them to charities. Aluminum cans are nearly as easy. They need only be sorted and cleaned. Special recycling facilities then melt them down and make new cans. Some consumer products such as tennis shoes or even milk cartons are more difficult to recycle because they are made from multiple types of materials. Shoes contain many different types of plastics for example, and milk cartons contain a plastic-coated paper, and sometimes metal foil. Generally, in the recycling process these materials must be physically separated before things like plastic can be recycled into new products. Sometimes this process is too expensive.
