Other forms: recycled; recycles
When you recycle something, you process it so it can be used again. You might recycle an old tire and make it into a snazzy black knapsack with some very cool skid marks.
The prefix re- means again, and when you recycle something, you process it for another cycle of use. The phrase «reduce, reuse, recycle» gives you three ways to prevent waste. When you recycle plastic bottles, they’re melted down and made into new bottles or even furniture or clothing. You might do some creative recycling and turn your old textbooks into a coffee table. When you have your washing machine repeat the wash or rinse cycle, that’s a different recycle.
Definitions of recycle
-
verb
use again after processing
“We must
recycle the cardboard boxes”-
synonyms:
reprocess, reuse
-
verb
cause to repeat a cycle
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Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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Britannica Dictionary definition of RECYCLE
1
a
[+ object]
:
to make something new from (something that has been used before)
-
The company recycles plastic.
-
They’re studying various ways to recycle garbage into fuel.
-
The oil is recycled.
-
The doormat is made from recycled tires.
b
:
to send (used newspapers, bottles, cans, etc.) to a place where they are made into something new
[+ object]
-
Town residents are required to recycle cans and bottles.
[no object]
-
We make efforts to recycle.
2
[+ object]
:
to use (something) again
-
The author recycles a familiar story in her latest novel.
— recyclable
/riˈsaɪkləbəl/
adjective
-
recyclable bottles
— recyclable
noun,
plural
recyclables
[count]
-
Put all recyclables [=recyclable materials] in the green bin.
— recycling
noun
[noncount]
-
The recycling of plastics is encouraged.
-
(US) Put the recycling [=the materials that can be recycled] out by the curb in the morning.
— often used before another noun
-
a recycling plant [=a factory that recycles materials]
-
the city’s recycling program
Recent Examples on the Web
With a goal of maximizing the bag’s potential, its contents are either sold, recycled or donated to charity.
—
William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 12 Apr. 2023
And as with all titans of capitalism, there is an environmental cost: Coachella generates 107 tons of solid waste each day with only 20% of that getting recycled.
—Jonah Valdez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2023
Selections vary in design, lettering, phrasing, and finishes (matte, smooth, or recycled) that can be customized to suit your taste.
—Amanda Prahl, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2023
And in underground workshops across eastern Ukraine, soldiers are using 3D printers and recycling unexploded ordinances to create alternative munitions.
—Kamila Hrabchuk, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2023
Zipay oversaw the city’s garbage collection, disposal, landfill, recycling and composting and other services.
—Emily Goodykoontz, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Apr. 2023
Lead Contamination: The removal of lead from car batteries, many from the United States, at recycling plants in northern Mexico is leaving workers in the region vulnerable to a toxic metal that poses severe health risks.
—Galia García Palafox Alejandro Cegarra, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2023
In January, ecoATM reached 38 million smartphones and other mobile devices recycled through its kiosks and Gazelle online marketplace — up from 28 million as of June 2021.
—Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Apr. 2023
Baltimore has been collecting recycling every other week for more than a year due to shortages with existing staff in the department.
—Emily Opilo, Baltimore Sun, 6 Apr. 2023
In New York, Re-Clothe NY and Green Tree Textiles work to inform consumers about the locations of textile recycle bins and what can be recycled there.
—Sara Lang, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Mar. 2023
Green Standards works with companies like Google, Microsoft and United Airlines to develop strategies to resell, recycle, and donate office furniture that companies no longer have use for.
—Trey Williams, Fortune, 15 Jan. 2023
This will provide a simple and effective system across the country that helps people reduce litter and recycle more easily, even when on the move.
—Lloyd Alter, Treehugger, 23 Jan. 2023
Alaska Waste canceled all trash and recycle routes in Anchorage, Mat-Su, Seward, Kenai and Homer on Monday.
—Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Dec. 2022
Commercial Metals’ 11,000 workers manufacture, recycle and sell steel and metal products made at mills and processing plants across the U.S. and Poland.
—Dallas News, 11 Jan. 2022
How can Hoosiers reuse or recycle items during the winter holidays?
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 26 Dec. 2022
The reverse supply chain can be defined as the process where a company can retrieve a product or service from the customer or other entities that may not want the product and dispose of, recycle, repurpose and/or resell the product or service.
—Ken Gosnell, Forbes, 22 June 2022
The company now has 35trucks collecting waste from about 3,500 businesses in the Boston area, with an emphasis on hard-to-recycle materials, Levy said.
—Johanna Seltz, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Dec. 2022
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘recycle.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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I think we would all like to believe that every new event demands a new word. But we’re environmentally conscious with our words. We recycle words we’ve got.
Erin McKean
PRONUNCIATION OF RECYCLE
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF RECYCLE
Recycle is a verb and can also act as a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.
The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.
See the conjugation of the verb recycle in English.
WHAT DOES RECYCLE MEAN IN ENGLISH?
Recycling
Recycling is a process to change materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for «conventional» waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to plastic production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the «Reduce, Reuse and Recycle» waste hierarchy. There are some ISO standards related to recycling such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management control of recycling practice. Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. The composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste—such as food or garden waste—is also considered recycling. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.
Definition of recycle in the English dictionary
The first definition of recycle in the dictionary is to pass through a system again for further treatment or use. Other definition of recycle is to reclaim for further use. Recycle is also to institute a different cycle of processes or events in.
CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO RECYCLE
PRESENT
Present
I recycle
you recycle
he/she/it recycles
we recycle
you recycle
they recycle
Present continuous
I am recycling
you are recycling
he/she/it is recycling
we are recycling
you are recycling
they are recycling
Present perfect
I have recycled
you have recycled
he/she/it has recycled
we have recycled
you have recycled
they have recycled
Present perfect continuous
I have been recycling
you have been recycling
he/she/it has been recycling
we have been recycling
you have been recycling
they have been recycling
Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.
PAST
Past
I recycled
you recycled
he/she/it recycled
we recycled
you recycled
they recycled
Past continuous
I was recycling
you were recycling
he/she/it was recycling
we were recycling
you were recycling
they were recycling
Past perfect
I had recycled
you had recycled
he/she/it had recycled
we had recycled
you had recycled
they had recycled
Past perfect continuous
I had been recycling
you had been recycling
he/she/it had been recycling
we had been recycling
you had been recycling
they had been recycling
Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,
FUTURE
Future
I will recycle
you will recycle
he/she/it will recycle
we will recycle
you will recycle
they will recycle
Future continuous
I will be recycling
you will be recycling
he/she/it will be recycling
we will be recycling
you will be recycling
they will be recycling
Future perfect
I will have recycled
you will have recycled
he/she/it will have recycled
we will have recycled
you will have recycled
they will have recycled
Future perfect continuous
I will have been recycling
you will have been recycling
he/she/it will have been recycling
we will have been recycling
you will have been recycling
they will have been recycling
The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.
CONDITIONAL
Conditional
I would recycle
you would recycle
he/she/it would recycle
we would recycle
you would recycle
they would recycle
Conditional continuous
I would be recycling
you would be recycling
he/she/it would be recycling
we would be recycling
you would be recycling
they would be recycling
Conditional perfect
I would have recycle
you would have recycle
he/she/it would have recycle
we would have recycle
you would have recycle
they would have recycle
Conditional perfect continuous
I would have been recycling
you would have been recycling
he/she/it would have been recycling
we would have been recycling
you would have been recycling
they would have been recycling
Conditional or «future-in-the-past» tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.
IMPERATIVE
Imperative
you recycle
we let´s recycle
you recycle
The imperative is used to form commands or requests.
NONFINITE VERB FORMS
Present Participle
recycling
Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.
WORDS THAT RHYME WITH RECYCLE
Synonyms and antonyms of recycle in the English dictionary of synonyms
SYNONYMS OF «RECYCLE»
The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «recycle» and belong to the same grammatical category.
Translation of «recycle» into 25 languages
TRANSLATION OF RECYCLE
Find out the translation of recycle to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of recycle from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «recycle» in English.
Translator English — Chinese
循环再用
1,325 millions of speakers
Translator English — Spanish
reciclar
570 millions of speakers
English
recycle
510 millions of speakers
Translator English — Hindi
रीसायकल
380 millions of speakers
Translator English — Arabic
يُعْيدُ اِسْتِخْدام
280 millions of speakers
Translator English — Russian
повторно использовать
278 millions of speakers
Translator English — Portuguese
reciclar
270 millions of speakers
Translator English — Bengali
জিনিসকে
260 millions of speakers
Translator English — French
recycler
220 millions of speakers
Translator English — Malay
kitar semula
190 millions of speakers
Translator English — Japanese
再生利用する
130 millions of speakers
Translator English — Korean
재활용하다
85 millions of speakers
Translator English — Javanese
Daur ulang
85 millions of speakers
Translator English — Vietnamese
tái chế
80 millions of speakers
Translator English — Tamil
மறுசுழற்சிக்கு
75 millions of speakers
Translator English — Marathi
रिसायकल
75 millions of speakers
Translator English — Turkish
geri dönüşüm
70 millions of speakers
Translator English — Italian
riciclare
65 millions of speakers
Translator English — Polish
zawrócić do obiegu
50 millions of speakers
Translator English — Ukrainian
повторно використовувати
40 millions of speakers
Translator English — Romanian
a recicla
30 millions of speakers
Translator English — Greek
ανακυκλώνω
15 millions of speakers
Translator English — Afrikaans
herwin
14 millions of speakers
Translator English — Swedish
återvinna
10 millions of speakers
Translator English — Norwegian
resirkulere
5 millions of speakers
Trends of use of recycle
TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «RECYCLE»
The term «recycle» is very widely used and occupies the 14.346 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
FREQUENCY
Very widely used
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «recycle» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of recycle
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «recycle».
FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «RECYCLE» OVER TIME
The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «recycle» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «recycle» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.
Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about recycle
10 QUOTES WITH «RECYCLE»
Famous quotes and sentences with the word recycle.
Here, you go to the supermarket and you have wipes to clean your hands before shopping. No, we don’t have that in France, but we recycle.
I really look at my childhood as being one giant rusty tuna can that I continue to recycle in many different shapes.
I thought it was normal to recycle pants and shoes from your older cousins. That was just my way of life. At the end of the month, there was not much food in the refrigerator and you’re hoping the first comes so food can come again. You never forget those things.
A photograph doesn’t gain weight or lose weight, or change from being happy to being sad. It’s frozen. You can use it, then recycle it.
I plan my golf outfits for the tournaments, I recycle some for the practice rounds, but I always have new ideas for my golf attire, and I like to dress nice after the rounds, so I have to bring all my heels. It’s terrible. The worst part about being on tour is living out of a suitcase.
We recycle everything in my house. I’m not into any particular organizations, but I’m doing my part and that makes me feel okay.
It’s hard to get everybody to recycle paper and plastic, let alone.
I’m mad keen on recycling because I’m worried about the next generation and where all this waste we’re producing is going. It has to stop. I wash out my plastic containers and recycle envelopes, everything I possibly can.
Filipinos don’t wallow in what is miserable and ugly. They recycle the bad into things of beauty.
I think we would all like to believe that every new event demands a new word. But we’re environmentally conscious with our words. We recycle words we’ve got.
10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «RECYCLE»
Discover the use of recycle in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to recycle and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
I’m Michael Recycle for all that I’m worth I’m green and I’m keen to save plane Earth!A small town somewhere near you is in desperate need of salvation…fro drowning in rubbish at the hands of its lazy and wasteful inhabitants!
Michael Recycle, the green-caped crusader, visits the town of Abberdoo-Rimey and proves to the residents that recycling can actually be fun.
Each of these simple books examines ways students can help conserve resources in their community. The simple text and corresponding photographs will support students as they learn about these important concepts.
4
Why Do We Recycle?: Markets, Values, and Public Policy
Among the topics he considers are: externality issues — unit pricing for waste disposal, effluent taxes, virgin materials subsidies, advance disposal fees the landfill crisis and disposal facility siting container deposit («bottle bill») …
Well of course they can. This is the quest of modern man. Find out how Earthlings become green in this lyrical book about recycling that dazzles with its beautiful illustrations.
Sharon Gribbin-Lindemon, 2009
6
Stuff!: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
A packrat resists recycling, reducing, and reusing
7
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: An Easy Household Guide
From old cell phones and E-waste to expired medicines and motor oil this little guide shows you where you can send your unwanted items and how you might make a bit of money while you’re at it.
8
Eco-craft: Recycle-recraft-restyle
Presents instructions for thirty eco-friendly projects, including pots, towel racks, drawer dividers, pendants, shades, and trays.
«Simple text and full-color photos explain the reasons for and the ways to recycle»—Provided by publisher.
10
Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Rethink
Suitable for lower secondary, this volume consists of 6 titles, bound together in one bumper volume for a low price. It is a great introduction to these issues, generating thought and discussion.ContentsGlas
10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «RECYCLE»
Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term recycle is used in the context of the following news items.
Cities and counties come to grips with the high cost of recycling …
Local governments have mailed out brochures. They’ve held live Web chats. They’ve designed helpful magnets. But D.C. area residents — like recyclers across … «Washington Post, Jun 15»
O2 recycle grass phone made from twickenham’s rugby pitch clippings
created in collaboration with designer sean miles, the O2 recycle ‘grass phone’ is formed from recovered parts and clippings from twickenham stadium’s pitch … «Designboom, Mar 15»
Food Industry Drags Its Heels On Recyclable And Compostable …
Overall, Americans recycle at the lamentable rate of 34.5 percent and recycle plastic packaging at the even measlier rate of 14 percent. So the majority of that … «NPR, Jan 15»
FIRST Robotics 2015 competition announced – Recycle Rush
On January 3, 2015 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) announced their 2015 game, Recycle Rush. The announcement was … «ENGINEERING.com, Jan 15»
Where to Recycle Christmas Trees in Chicago
Chicago residents have some options when it comes to getting rid of that dry, brittle Christmas tree. The city offers free recycling at 23 locations around the city, … «NBC Chicago, Jan 15»
Nevada goats help eat, recycle Christmas trees
Thomas is launching a new program with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District on Friday to use his 40 goats to help recycle Christmas trees. He says he … «Fox News, Dec 14»
San Diego forced to recycle sewage into drinking water due to drought
Recycling: The San Diego City Council voted unanimously to support a $2.5billion plan to recycle waste water to drinking water. The Point Loma Wastewater … «Daily Mail, Nov 14»
Cleveland to recycle 270 surrendered firearms
Cleveland is partnering with steel facility ArcelorMittal to recycle the more than 270 guns surrendered during the city’s gun buyback event in September. During … «WLWT Cincinnati, Oct 14»
Families face PENALTIES for not recycling under strict new Europe …
The European Commission yesterday announced plans for councils to recycle 70 per cent of household waste by 2030. It is an increase on the current 50 per … «Express.co.uk, Jul 14»
Recycle Your Extra Fridge During Spring Cleaning; Collect $50
NV Energy customers who participate in the company’s Second Refrigerator Recycling Program can have their old appliance hauled off for free. Plus they can … «KOLO, Mar 14»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Recycle [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/recycle>. Apr 2023 ».
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Discover all that is hidden in the words on 
vb tr
1 to pass (a substance) through a system again for further treatment or use
2 to reclaim (packaging or products with a limited useful life) for further use
3 to institute a different cycle of processes or events in (a machine, system, etc.)
4 to repeat (a series of operations)
n
5 the repetition of a fixed sequence of events
♦
recyclable, recycleable adj
English Collins Dictionary — English Definition & Thesaurus 
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