Recycling - I'm confused

As much as I love "single stream" recycling, I have lots of items that I am not sure about. I also have a friend who has the same concern. So we end up standing between the two garbage and recycling bins and choosing based on some vague past recollection. Newspaper bag? The plastic bag from Target? The plastic bubble wrap? What about other metal? You're standing there with hangers? Aluminum foil? Wire?

There must be a way to figure this out or make a cheat sheet to post somewhere as a quick reference.

First, here are some City of Dallas residential recycling figures, seems pretty good until you see the last one. 50%, that's all? It's also worth noting we are excluding commercial...hmmmm

• Dallas continues to increase their recycling volume from 9,680 tons in FY 2005-06 to 20,149 tons in FY 2006-07 and to 29,664 tons in FY 2007-08!
• The City’s goal is to increase that figure to 35,000 tons in FY 2007-08 and 45,000 tons by 2011, with a residential participation rate of at least 50 percent of households.

Here is the Dallas list of items on their website. I have paraphrased where necessary for clarity.

Glass:

• Yes - Bottles and jars of any color.
• No - Window glass, light bulbs, ceramics, mirrors, Pyrex, fiberglass.

I think that means nothing other than jars and bottles. Can we leave the labels on? Do we need to rinse these? Old glasses? Old light fixture glass? Old table top? Glass tile? If we all change to CFLs, wont we fill the landfills with old incandescent bulbs?

Plastics:

• Yes - Containers labeled #1 through #7 in the recycling triangle. If in doubt, put it in the cart - we'll sort it out, if need be.
• No - Plastic grocery bags (regardless of number in recycle symbol). Styrofoam or peanuts. Chemical containers. Toys.

One through seven are all the recyclable plastic types. There are many others, but #7 is the "other" category. If it has a number, in theory they take it...

Number 6 is polystyrene. It's the stuff they make takeout food containers from but...if it's expanded polystyrene, that's Styrofoam and verboten.

Metals:

• Yes - Steel, tin, and aluminum (labels do not need to be removed). Empty aerosol (non-hazardous) cans are OK too.
• No aluminum foil, pie plates, parts, toys, electronics, appliances.

I guess steel includes stainless. What is a non-hazardous aerosol? Hairspray? Paint? WD-40? Bug spray? I cant think of anything that's completely non-hazardous and in an aerosol can. Oh ya, Cheese Wiz and whipped cream.

Paper products & Cardboard:

• Yes - Newspapers and inserts, window envelopes, magazines, catalogs, paperback books, phone books, food and detergent boxes, paper egg cartons, 12-pack drink cartons, folded corrugated boxes, cardboard boxes, cereal boxes.
• No - Rubber bands, plastic wrapping, hardback books, waxed cardboard, plastic or foil-lined cereal or cracker boxes, pizza delivery boxes or food contaminated boxes.

What's a paper egg carton? What's the difference between a folded corrugated box and a cardboard one? What's plastic wrapping, that's a very broad term, no? What does waxed cardboard look like? Is that like paper plates? If I have emptied a cereal box, it still has the internal plastic bag, can I throw it in? Or do I need to separate the two, then throw it in? Or just throw it away?

And what does food contaminated mean? I have a feeling 90% of what goes in that bin comes from the kitchen and it's all food related. If we have a picnic, what about the plastic utensils? The paper plates? Are they "contaminated"?

Bottom Line - It's not confusing if you don't care, it is if you do. I will get to the bottom of this.