Plastic plant pots

( Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times )

As spring planting season closes, home gardeners may find themselves with a lot of plastic trays, pots, wrappers and tags. Most plant trays and pots are made from plastic — usually high-density polyethylene (plastic No. 2), polypropylene (plastic No. 5) or polystyrene (plastic No. 6), all of which are recyclable in L.A.'s blue bin.

Plastic plant pots that are marked "compostable" cannot be recycled in the blue bin because they contaminate the other plastics. Nor can they be composted in the green bin because they take too long to break down. Compostable plastic pots must be thrown in the trash or composted in home composters.

Arcadia: Yes, except for compostable plastic.
Burbank: No in curbside program. Plastic pots, wrappers and tags can be dropped in the mixed plastics bin at the Burbank Recycle Center.
Glendale: Plastic pots with recycling numbers, yes. Compostable plastic pots, no. Plastic wrappers, yes. Plastic tags, yes.
Long Beach: Plastic pots with recycling numbers, yes. Compostable plastic pots, no. Plastic wrappers, no. Plastic tags, no.
Los Angeles: Plastic pots with recycling numbers, yes. Compostable plastic pots, no. Plastic wrappers, yes. Plastic tags, yes, if wrapped in bag.
Riverside: Plastic pots with recycling numbers, wrappers and tags, yes. Compostable plastics, green bin.
Santa Monica: Plastic pots with recycling numbers, yes. Compostable plastics, no. Plastic wrappers, no. Plastic tags, no.
Torrance: Yes, if clean and marked with recycling symbol.
Ventura: Plastic pots with recycling numbers, yes. Compostable plastic pots, no. Plastic wrappers and tags, no.