Greeting Cards Paper Recycling Musical Greeting Cards Contain Mercury Musical greeting cards contain mercury, a dangerous chemical that cannot be put in recycling or the garbage. Find out how to dispose of musical cards. Remove Everything But Paper Before recycling a greeting card, remove parts that have glitter, foil, metal charms, felt cutouts and ribbons. All of these items will contaminate the paper recycling. Foil-Lined Envelopes Are Not Recyclable Foil lined envelopes cannot be recycled, so throw them out. Recycle the envelopes of greeting cards as paper. It’s okay to keep stamps and adhesive strips when recycling envelopes or cards. Did You Know? The Environmental Impact of Greeting Cards Making and transporting greeting cards has its own carbon footprint on the environment. It is estimated that the average greeting card produces 600 times the carbon dioxide as an email (Verus Carbon Neutral). Americans purchase enough greeting cards to produce the same amount of CO2 as 22,000 cars annually.