Technologies
Earth Day: Do You Know If These Items Can Be Recycled or Not?
How many can you get right?
Earth Day was started in 1970 to make people aware of damages to the environment. Since then, companies like Apple have introduced plans to reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint, and some companies, like Microsoft, have introduced product settings to use more renewable energy when it’s available.
There are many ways you can help the environment, too, and one of those ways is by recycling certain items. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling can help conserve natural resources and energy, and the practice can generate over $37 billion in wages. But do you know what items you can and can’t recycle?
Test your recycling knowledge with this list of common household items and whether or not they can be recycled.
Note: Recyclable items may vary by location, so check with your local recycling center or government agency.
Pizza boxes?
Yes, even if the boxes have grease in them, they can be recycled, according to the EPA. However, you have to get rid of any food scraps, including uneaten crusts, and you have to flatten the boxes.
Hardcover books?
No, hardcover books can’t be recycled. The covers are usually made of different materials, including plastic and leather, which aren’t recyclable. The glue that binds the books together can be hard to separate from the pages as well. Besides, why recycle a book when you can donate it to a school, library or a nonprofit organization? Donating books can help people increase their vocabulary and improve their communications skills. Plus, it’s a guilt-free way of making more room on your bookshelves.
Paperback books?
Yes, you can recycle paperback books, even if they’re beyond repair. Like hardcover books, though, maybe consider donating the books if you want to get rid of them.
Batteries?
Yes. According to the EPA, lead-acid batteries are one of the most recycled items. This includes car batteries, too. However, batteries require special handling, so they need to be recycled at separate locations and can’t be recycled in your home recycling bin. This tool can help you find a location to recycle your batteries.
Receipts?
No, you can’t recycle receipts. Most receipts are coated with Bisphenol A, a plastic compound more commonly known as BPA. This compound makes the receipts unrecyclable, and it could be bad for your health, according to the Mayo Clinic. The best way to dispose of receipts is in the trash, but you might want to shred the receipt before throwing it away for financial security.
Stickers?
Stickers can be fun, but unfortunately you can’t recycle them. The glue that holds stickers in place can gunk up recycling machinery, and some stickers, like vinyl stickers, can be harmful to the environment.
Carpet?
Yes, carpet can be recycled. Nearly all kinds of carpet can be broken down and used to make new products, and the complex fibers of carpet make it nearly impossible to break down in landfills. However, the infrastructure required to recycle carpet isn’t widely available, and you can’t put carpet in your home recycle bin. The nonprofit Carpet America Recovery Effort is one group working to put the necessary infrastructure in place to recycle carpet everywhere. For now, use this tool to find a location that will recycle your carpet.
Motor oil?
Yes. Many garages and auto shops recycle your old oil when you take your car in for an oil change. If you perform your own oil change, usually these same shops will accept oil for recycling. Like batteries, motor oil should not be put in a household recycle bin. The used material from one oil change is enough to contaminate one million gallons of fresh water, according to the EPA. Use this tool to find a location that will recycle your used motor oil.
Compostable plastics?
No, even though they’re made from renewable materials, like corn, cellulose and soy protein, compostable plastics can’t be recycled. «Compostable plastics aren’t meant to be recycled and can contaminate and disrupt the recycling stream if mixed with non-compostable plastics,» according to the EPA.
Wrapping paper?
Trick question — yes and no. Shiny and laminated wrapping paper can’t be recycled, but there is recyclable wrapping paper available. The EPA says a good wrapping paper alternative that is recyclable is newspaper. Plus, using newspaper as wrapping paper gives the gift recipient something to read while they wait to open their gift.
Bonus round: Aluminum cans?
Yes, empty aluminum cans can be recycled, but the cans can’t be crushed. The EPA says crushed cans are harder to detect when being sorted within recycling facilities. All those shows and movies showing people crushing cans to take to the recycling center lied to us.
For more, here’s how to recycle old tech and gadgets for free, how to use Best Buy’s recycle-by-mail program and how plastics recycling misses the point.
Technologies
This Massive AT&T Data Breach Settlement Could Pay $5K to Some: Find Out if You’re Eligible
Claims will open later in the summer for the settlement AT&T is paying to resolve two major data breaches.
It’s a tough time for AT&T — especially with the recent conference call troubles for Donald Trump — but their struggles could be your gain thanks to the $177 million settlement it’s agreed to pay to customers that fell victim to data breaches in 2019 and 2024.
On Friday, June 20, US District Judge Ada Brown granted preliminary approval to the terms of a proposed settlement from AT&T that would resolve two lawsuits related to the data breaches. The current settlement would see AT&T pay $177 million to customers adversely affected by at least one of the two data breaches.
The settlement will prioritize larger payments to customers who suffered damages that are «fairly traceable» to the data leaks. It will also provide bigger payments to those affected by the larger of the two leaks, which began in 2019. While the company is working toward a settlement, it has continued to deny that it was «responsible for these criminal acts.»
For all the details we have about the settlement right now, keep reading, and for more info about other recent settlements, find out how to claim Apple’s Siri privacy settlement and see if you’re eligible for 23andMe’s privacy breach settlement.
What happened with these AT&T data breaches?
AT&T confirmed the two data breaches last year, announcing an investigation into the first in March before confirming it in May and confirming the second in July.
The first of the confirmed breaches began in 2019. The company revealed that about 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders had their data exposed to hackers, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The company began investigating the situation last year after it reported that customer data had appeared on the dark web.
The second breach began in April of 2024, when a hacker broke into AT&T cloud storage provider Snowflake and accessed 2022 call and text records for almost all of the company’s US customers, about 109 million in all. The company stressed that no names were attached to the stolen data. Two individuals were arrested in connection with the breach.
Both of these incidents sparked a wave of class action lawsuits alleging corporate neglect on the part of AT&T in failing to sufficiently protect its customers.
Who is eligible to file a claim for the AT&T data breach settlement?
As of now, we know that the settlement will pay out to any current or former AT&T customer whose data was accessed in one of these data breaches, with higher payments reserved for those who can provide documented proof that they suffered damages directly resulting from their data being stolen.
If you’re eligible, you should receive a notice about it, either by email or a physical letter in the mail, sometime in the coming months. The company expects that the claims process will begin on Aug. 4, 2025.
How much will the AT&T data breach payments be?
You’ll have to «reasonably» prove damages caused by these data breaches to be eligible for the highest and most prioritized payouts. For the 2019 breach, those claimants can receive up to $5,000. For the Snowflake breach in 2024, the max payout will be $2,500. It’s not clear at this time how the company might be handling customers who’ve been affected by both breaches.
AT&T will focus on making those payments first, and whatever’s left of the $177 million settlement total will be disbursed to anyone whose data was accessed, even without proof of damages. Because these payouts depend on how many people get the higher amounts first, we can’t say definitively how much they will be.
When could I get paid from the AT&T data breach settlement?
AT&T expects that payments will start to go out sometime in early 2026. Exact dates aren’t available but the recent court order approving the settlement lists a notification schedule of Aug. 4, to Oct. 17, 2025.
The deadline for submitting a claim is currently set at Nov. 18, 2025. The final approval of the settlement needs to be given at a Dec. 3, 2025, court hearing for payments to begin.
Stay tuned to this piece in the coming months to get all the new details as they emerge.
For more money help, check out CNET’s daily tariff price impact tracker.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, July 12
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 12.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s one of those long Saturday puzzles, and a few clues are tricky. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: Havana’s home
Answer: CUBA
5A clue: Last word in many bowling alley names
Answer: LANES
6A clue: Lots and lots
Answer: SOMUCH
7A clue: Left-leaning social media site
Answer: BLUESKY
8A clue: Hepburn of «Breakfast at Tiffany’s»
Answer: AUDREY
9A clue: Word after «break» or «banana»
Answer: BREAD
10A clue: Car loan figs.
Answer: APRS
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: They always shoot their shot
Answer: CAMERAS
2D clue: Brand-new
Answer: UNUSED
3D clue: Woman with «the good hair,» in a famous Beyoncé lyric
Answer: BECKY
4D clue: In need of moisturizer
Answer: ASHY
5D clue: «We can’t hear you back here!»
Answer: LOUDER
6D clue: Drink noisily
Answer: SLURP
7D clue: ___ ghanouj
Answer: BABA
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 12, #292
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 12, No. 292
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has one of those classic purple categories, where you probably won’t figure it out before you’ve answered all the others. Need help? Read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Show Me State.
Green group hint: Old Line State.
Blue group hint: Gridiron greats.
Purple group hint: Names begins with a certain creature.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Missouri teams.
Green group: Maryland teams.
Blue group: Hall of Fame football coaches.
Purple group: Sports people or terms starting with an animal.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is Missouri teams. The four answers are Blues, Cardinals, Chiefs and Royals.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is Maryland teams. The four answers are Maryland, Navy, Orioles and Ravens.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Hall of Fame football coaches. The four answers are Levy, Madden, Noll, and Shula.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is sports people or terms starting with an animal. The four answers are batter, Catchings, Cowherd and dogleg.
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