Recycling - Are Clamshells Always Clamshells?

[lxskllr]

I think the answer is "no", but I wanted confirmation. The single stream recycling here is confusing. For example, they list waxed/laminated paper as being unacceptable, but then also say that milk, juice, and ice cream containers *are* acceptable. Those are all the primary sources of waxed/laminated paper :^S Seems to be an issue of dumbing things down so much, it makes the whole thing stupid.

Anyway. I get plastic that seems quite like clamshell plastic, but either has a fully removable lid, or no lid at all. Clamshell or not?

 

[quikah]

Plastic, I just chuck it in and let them sort it out. My understanding is that the only problem plastic items are film plastics (like bags) as those can cause jams in the machines.

I don't get the wax/laminate paper thing, guessing the containers get put into a different stream that can handle it.

 

[lxskllr]

After I made the thread, I did a little more digging, and it seems like the defining difference is blowmolding(easily recyclable), and thermoforming(a bit more tricky). It would have been nice if they just said that. That distinction is easy to search and intuit if it isn't already known. Thermoformed plastic is harder to autosort, and contaminates the bales of more desirable blowmolded plastic. Both can be used, but not really together.