Recycling in Lane County once again includes No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, which have been excluded as allowable recyclables in local bins since 2018.

Lane County residents with curbside recycle carts, including those in Eugene and Springfield, and customers at all county transfer stations now can add No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles, jars and jugs to their recycling. Such grades of plastic usually include items such as soda bottles, shampoo bottles, milk jugs and other common product containers.

Items placed in recycling bins must be clean, dry and larger than a tennis ball, according to a county news release.

Most containers are stamped with numbers corresponding to different kinds of plastics used to make the product. Plastics stamped No. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 still are not accepted in most Lane County recycling.

Most plastics haven't been allowed in most Lane County recycling bins since 2018, largely a result of China's decision to stop buying American recycling due to high levels of contamination.

“Since the crisis, local material recovery facilities, or MRFs, have worked to add additional machinery and advanced technology to sort and clean up the recycling stream,” Lane County Waste Reduction Program Supervisor Angie Marzano said in the news release. “We’ve also seen domestic markets improve and more companies buying post-consumer resin made from recycled plastics.”

Once the plastic is collected, it is taken to a local reload facility where it is baled and transported to facilities such as WestRock, a Portland-based MRF, which sells materials to end-use buyers, according to the news release.

More information about what items are now included in area recycling can be found at LaneCountyOR.gov/recycle and eugenerecycles.org.

Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com. Follow on Twitter @DuvernayOR.