It's got a number on it, why can't it be recycled?

Each recycling facilty may have individual policies regarding what can and cannot be recycled regardless of the recycling number of the item.  This is usually based on what equipment they may be using and what secondary vendors they sell to may be accepting.

For example, black plastic takeout food containers often have a number on them.  However, our current vendor cannot accept black plastic as their sorting equipment can't "see" it and it becomes a problem for the machinery.  Same with prescription bottles, but that's more of a size issue than color; the items are too small and fall into the machinery causing problems.  They may also just fall through the sorting machinery and end up being collected as trash.  You can put small items into a larger container of the same materials to recycle them.