Many people have been recycling for decades.  They rinse their glass jars, take labels off soup cans and peal the plastic window from the pasta box with great dedication.  This is wonderful, but often these folks and many others are unaware of the growing list of recylables and the increase ease of recycling.

For instance, since conserving water is a concern, the recycling industry has adapted to allow many items to be recycled without requiring any washing or rinsing.  Here is a list of the most common items taken in curbside programs across the County and in many business collections (rules can vary slightly by hauler based on market demand): 

PAPER/FIBER:

Newspaper (includes glossy ads, acceptable wet or dry) 

 Office Paper (includes white, color, computer printer, copier paper, greenbar, plotter paper)

Construction Paper (heavily colored paper)

 Envelopes (with or without plastic windows, plain, stamped, labeled, colored, manila, standard or oversized)

Interoffice Envelopes (including closure string and metal closure)

Magazines

Catalogs

Telephone Books

Paper Ream Covers (usually heavily coated to seal out moisture)

Gift Wrapping Paper (except metalic)

Chipboard / Paperboard (with or without plastic windows)

Cardboard Boxes (try to flatten)

Soft Cover Books (but try to donate them before recycling) 

Paper Cups

Paper Lunch Bags (clean, empty)

Frozen Food Boxes

Pizza Boxes (No melted cheese, empty)

CONTAINERS, etc.

Glass Bottles and Jars(with or without labels, rinsed or with minor food residue)(NO ceramics, vases, window glass,etc.) 

Steel/ Tin Cans (Soup, Coffee, Cat Food- with or without labels, rinsed or with minor food residue)

Empty Aerosol Cans

Aluminum Cans (rinsed or not, with or without the pop tab)

Aluminum Foil (clean or with food residue)

Aluminum Temporary Bakeware (clean or with food residue)

Plastic Bottles and Containers #1 (with lids, rinsed or with minor residue) This includes soda bottles, water bottles, shampoo bottles, peanut butter jars.

Plastic Bottles, Tubs and Containers #2 (with lids, rinsed or with minor residue) This includes laundry bottles, conditioner bottles, margarine tubs, milk jugs

Plastic Bottles, Tubs and Containers #3, #4, #5, #7 (with lids, rinsed or with minor residue) This includes squeezable bottles,  yogurt containers,  deli containers.

Keep the Caps On campaign launched in 2012 by the Plastic Industry encourages all plastic bottles to be recycled with the cap on as technology has improved to allow the seperation and recycling of both items when they are processed together. Seperating the caps often results in their disposal as they fall through processing equipment and never make it back to a manufacturer. 

Drink Boxes/ Beverage Cartons (empty but no need to rinse)

ITEMS COLLECTED AT SOME SCHOOLS:

Candy Wrappers from Skittles, M&Ms

Ink Jet Cartridges

ITEMS COLLECTED AT SOME GROCERY & DEPARTMENT STORES:

Plastic Bags / Plastic Film (includes plastic grocery bags and more - click here for details)

ITEMS TAKEN AT FRONT DOOR OR DROP-OFF:

Textiles / Shoes / Clothing

Electronics

Toys

Books

CFL bulbs

Rechargeable Batteries

Scrap Metal, Unwanted Keys

Lead-Acid Batteries

Eye Glasses (Lions Clubs, many eye glass retailers)

ITEMS RECYCLED BUT EXPECT TO PAY A FEE:

Tires

Appliances (if not included in municipal collection contract)

Latex Paint

Paper Shredding (find a free event or pay at Office Service Retailers)
Paper Retriever allows residents to place paper bags of shredded paper in their bins. Please find a bin
http://paperretriever.com/binlocator/index.html

When in doubt, check us out! Call or Email.  This industry keeps growing and improving with more items becoming easier to recycle every year. Together we can save resources, reduce pollution and make existing landfills last longer.