Can they be recycled? What kind of plastic are they made from?
Actually they should be styrene. One way of recycling you may not have thought of- collect up a bunch and give them to a collector to use for trading.
I would recommend you contact PEZ to be certain. However, if I had to guess, I would say they are primarily plastic #5, PP, and more likely than not, there are several types of plastic in the dispenser. Additionally, because of the metal springs inside, the PEZ dispenser would be discarded from a recycling program because of the difficulties associated with separating the different materials. Generally speaking, outside of electronics and aseptic cartons (the paper cartons some milks and orange juice come in), there isn't a big market for mixed-material recyclables. The small amount of plastic and metal that could be possibly be recovered from the dispenser are not worth the time it would take to disassemble the piece. It is possible the company offers some sort of recycling or take-back program, though I couldn't find anything about it on their website. Hope this helps.
