Aluminum trays are accepted in most programs, provided they are rinsed clean of all food residue. Aluminum foil wrap is trickier, so consequently not all programs accept it. The first problem is that people don’t appreciate the need for it to be completely free of food residue; the second is it needs to be scrunched into a loose ball the size of a lemon so that it can be sorted.

What to do? It’s probably safe to recycle clean aluminum foil wrap that is scrunched into a ball no smaller than the size of a lemon.