Some people will get rid of items by putting them in recycling bins in the hopes that they'll get reused, but that's not always the case. 

“Items like this are usually called wishful recycling,” McAllen Recycling Coordinator Abril Paz said. “It's just gonna go straight into the trash.”

Paz says wishful recycling adds extra work for staff, creating the challenge of sorting out what can and can't be recycled.

There's a misconception that all plastic can be recycled, but the McAllen Recycling Center only accepts plastic one and two. You can actually check on the bottom of the bottles to see what type of plastic it is if you are wondering if that type of plastic is recyclable.

According to Paz, all other types of plastic can cause damages to the center.

“A lot of the times these things can get stuck in the machinery, or they can get stuck in the line, so it's very, very hard for us to take time and try to pull them out,” Paz said.

Paz says there is an increase in recycling around the holidays.

Accepted materials at the McAllen Recycling Center include: paper, cardboard, aluminum, tin, plastic one and two, and glass. The recyclable glass does not include broken glass from windows or windshields, and for the metal, only cans are accepted.

More details are available at the McAllen Recycling Center’s website. 

Watch the video above for the full story.