Household recycling
How to Recycle Cookware
Pots, pans, baking sheets, and stockpots in steel, stainless, aluminum, and cast iron. Scrap metal at end of life, and worth donating long before that.
Check local acceptanceLast reviewed July 28, 2026
Quick answer
Donate what still cooks, scrap what does not. Metal cookware is genuine scrap metal at a yard, though it does not belong in a curbside bin. Take plastic and wooden handles off first, and separate stainless and aluminum from the steel. Glass bakeware is a different question and is not recyclable at all.
- Recycling route
- Check locally
How to Prepare
- 1Donate anything still usable, since cookware is consistently wanted secondhand
- 2Unscrew plastic, wooden, and silicone handles, which are not metal
- 3Test with a magnet: magnetic means steel or cast iron sold by the ton, non-magnetic means stainless or aluminum sold by the pound
- 4