Which materials are worthwhile to recycle and which are not?

I’ve discovered that certain things are indeed helpful to the environment when recycled, but there are also certain things that do more harm than good when recycled.

I read that aluminum cans are probably the best thing to recycle. But when it comes down to paper, for example, it’s probably a net loss for the environment (due to all the transporting, sorting, processing, bleaching, re-manufacturing, etc, that must be done to get it back to a usable state).

So basically I’m trying to figure out what items make sense to recycle and which don’t.

Thanks!