Recycling used to be so simple: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper bags. The sheer amount of disposable items has turned a garbage problem into a garbage crisis, says Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle. The company's mission is recycling the previously unrecyclable, such as cigarette butts, contact lenses and chewing gum.

Stephanie Moses from TerraCycle, an independent organization in the U.S. that focuses on recycling “un-recyclable” items, said there isn’t a market for the materials razors are made of.

Alternative: Try using a safety razor, or go back to the even more vintage (and virtually waste-free) straight-razor shave. The up-front costs are higher, but they’ll end up paying for themselves fairly quickly. Or at the very least, find a place that accepts razors for recycling — such as TerraCycle‘s program, which turns razors into products, including picnic tables and park benches.