# Do you recycle empty candle jars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423 "2013-03-08T20:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423/1 "2013-03-08T20:16:11Z")
Do you put them in the recycling bin? Is that OK? I can’t seem to find an answer, other than ‘use them for \_\_\_\_\_\_\_’. They’re piling up fast, I have repurposed some, and it seems a shame to throw them in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423/2 "2013-03-08T20:18:39Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever had any that weren’t just glass. Cleaned up, I don’t see why they can’t be recycled. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423/3 "2013-03-08T20:22:37Z")
I’m not convinced they are the same glass as food grade. Call and ask your recycler, as I know they don’t want the wrong kind of glass in there (like window glass, light bulbs, Pyrex, etc) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423/5 "2013-04-12T13:32:57Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever had any that weren’t just glass. Cleaned up, I don’t see why they can’t be recycled. I doubt that they can be recycled. The instructions I have say that jar and bottle glass can be recycled, but not drinking glasses. And the glass jars that those candles come in look more like the latter type. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423/6 "2013-04-12T14:58:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The instructions I have say that jar and bottle glass can be recycled, but not drinking glasses. Never lived in a place with that restriction, it’s always been just “remember that lightbulbs don’t count as glass”. Also, I’ve had candles which came in what would become a drinking glass, others that were designed to leave behind a storage jar, and yet others where the casing was earthenware. So it sounds like the answer will depend on what the actual casing is and on recycling ordnances/capabilities. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recycle-empty-candle-jars/652423/7 "2013-04-12T19:42:21Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Never lived in a place with that restriction, it’s always been just “remember that lightbulbs don’t count as glass”. Also, I’ve had candles which came in what would become a drinking glass, others that were designed to leave behind a storage jar, and yet others where the casing was earthenware. So it sounds like the answer will depend on what the actual casing is and on recycling ordnances/capabilities. It might be (for drinking glasses) because they don’t want anybody throwing lead crystal into the recycling bin; [light bulbs](http://www.renewablesathome.com/recycling/lighting-sources-hazardous-waste) are excluded for the same reason (something people who eschew CFLs for their mercury don’t want to know; mercury is more toxic but they only have a few milligrams, while light bulbs have a big blob of lead on the base and [leaded glass](http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastetypes/universal/merc-emi/merc-pgs/vol-1/unwas2.pdf) (PDF, page 3), perhaps a gram in total).