Well, they are recyclable in the sense you yourself can do a lot with them. Not sure why they don’t allow you to recycle them. Maybe it’s because the material they are made of. It’s not just rubber they put stuff on it to make it stretchy and all that.

Rubber, like cars tires, cannot be melted down and recycled. Same thing for rubber bands, if they are indeed rubber. Mixed with asphalt, ground up rubber makes great road surfaces!

The local library recycles rubber bands that they use for reserved books. They place books that people requested in a section sorted by the requesters last name. The books have paper tags with the last name, attached to the book with rubber bands. When you pick up the book, the name tags go in the trash and the rubber bands go in a box so they can be reused.

Most rubber bands are actual rubber and break down naturally.

I recycle them by using them as necklaces for my door knobs.