25 items you may be recycling by mistake, and why you shouldn't be

Recycling standards vary widely across the US, which can make it confusing to know what your city will pick up and what you need to drop off yourself. Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post Recycling standards vary across the US, with municipalities often setting their own unique rules. Recycling the wrong material or including wet or dirty items can contaminate the waste stream. Some items may need to be dropped off at specific locations rather than collected. Many of us have been guilty of "wish-cycling" — that is, tossing every piece of paper, plastic, metal, or glass in the blue bin, assuming it's probably recyclable. Unfortunately, recycling is more complicated than that. "There are literally thousands of recycling standards across the country," Rajesh Buch, a professor at Arizona State University, where he teaches a course on sustainable business, told Business Insider.