Guidelines for using your Recycling Barrel: Acceptable Items

NO PLASTIC BAGS, PLEASE

All plastic bags and wraps, even those with recycling symbols, can become dangerously tangled in the mechanical separating equipment. Please look for “plastic bag only” recycling drop-offs at places like grocery stores instead. Click HERE to find a drop off location in your area.

Glass Bottles & Jars

Food grade containers only: All colors accepted. Clean, empty, and large metal lids can go loose in the recycling. There is no need to remove labels. Please NO plate glass, vases, laminated glass, ceramics, including mugs and plates, drinking glasses, lightbulbs, Pyrex dishes, mirror glass, or crystal. Miniature bottles and jars should be placed in the trash due to their small size.

Metal Items

Aerosol Containers (food grade only): Completely empty and do not remove the label. Please no deodorizers, cleaners, pesticides, paints, or other hazardous waste cans.

Baking trays, Foil, or Pie Plates (food grade only): Should be emptied, rinsed clean, and placed in your recycle barrel for collection. Please no Aluminum siding or foil tops from containers like yogurt.

Cans (food grade only): Clean, empty, and do not flatten. There is no need to remove labels. Please no pots & pans, small pieces of scrap metal, or lawnmower blades.

Plastics

Bottles: Completely empty, with or without caps attached. Loose bottle caps should be placed in the trash. Please no bottles that contained/contain hazardous waste materials, black plastic, or spray/pump mechanisms. Miniature bottles like prescription bottles/nips should be placed in the trash due to their size.

Plastic Containers (food grade only): Including tubs and the lids. Do not flatten containers. They should be emptied and rinsed clean. Please no hazardous waste containers, black plastic containers, or spray/pump mechanisms.

Plastic plant pots/trays (Green or red): Should be emptied, rinsed clean, and placed in your recycle barrel for collection. Black plastic pots/trays should be put in the trash.

Egg Cartons: Plastic or Paper only should be emptied, clean, and placed in your recycle barrel for collection. Styrofoam egg cartons should be placed in the trash.

Paper

Newspaper, Junk Mail & Magazines:  Newspaper Inserts, Paper Bags, Envelopes (Plain or Window) & postcards. There is no need to bundle or tie together. Please be sure to remove any free samples. No gift wrapping paper or tissue paper.

Books: Softcover books can be placed in the recycle barrel for collection. Hardcover books are not recyclable with the cover attached. Yellowed or stained items should be placed in the trash.

Clean Paper & Office Folders: White and/or colored paper can be placed in the recycle barrel for collection. Please no paper clips, binders, plastic tabs, or metal hangers. Shredded paper should be bagged and placed in your trash barrel.

Corrugated Cardboard & Boxboard: Such as cereal boxes & shoe boxes. Clean and empty boxes should be flattened and place in your recycle barrel for collection. For large quantities of cardboard, too big to fit in your container, please call us to discuss other options that may be available in your area.

Juice Boxes & Aseptic Packaging: Such as milk cartons & broth containers. Should be emptied, rinsed clean, and placed in your recycle barrel for collection. Please put any straws from juice boxes into the trash.

Guidelines for Using Your Recycle Barrel:

Items that are NOT to be Recycled

Please call your town or check RecycleCT to find out if there are alternative options for these items in your area.

Common Glass like items that DO NOT belong in the recycling

Flat or Broken Glass, Light Bulbs, Mirrors, Ceramics Including Plates and Mugs, Pyrex Dishes, Drinking Glasses & Jars containing foods or liquids

Common Metal Items that DO NOT belong in the recycling

Paint Cans, Foil Tops from Containers, Clothes Hangers, Pots & Pans, Propane Tanks of Any Size, Scrap Metal, Filters, Hazardous Aerosol Containers (deodorizers, cleaners, pesticides, etc.), Lawnmower blades, Cans containing foods or liquids

Common Plastics Items that DO NOT belong in the recycling

Loose Bottle Caps, Plastic Plates, Bowls and Utensils, Prescription Bottles, Single Use Coffee Containers (K-cups, etc…), Plastic Bags, Plastic Wraps, Black Plastics, Plastic bottles containing liquids, Black Flower Pots, Garden hoses, Styrofoam of any kind including cups/containers or packaging peanuts

Common Paper Items that DO NOT belong in the recycling

Shredded Paper (bagged or loose), Ice Cream Containers, Hot and Cold Paper Cups, Paper Take Out Food Containers, Soiled Paper Products, Paper Towels, Tissues, Wrapping Paper/Tissue paper, Gift Bags, Hard Cover Books w/the cover attached, Pizza Boxes with Food & Grease, Wax Coated Boxes, Paper Cards with Glitter, Ribbons or Other Items Attached & Spiral Wound Containers (like Pringle containers made with multiple materials)

Other common items that DO NOT belong in the recycling

Household Rubbish, Animal Waste, Powdered or Pelletized Hazardous Waste or Chemicals, Batteries, Foam Packing Materials, Bubble Wrap, Food Waste, Yard Waste (Branches, Twigs, Leaves, Grass Clippings), Rubble, Cement, Stone, Insulation, Bricks, Construction Debris, Electronics, VHS Tapes, CD/DVD’s, Tools, Motor Oil or Liquids of Any Kind, Gas Cans, Textiles & Toilets

Recycling is collected on the same day as your garbage collection and in most towns it is every other week. This pick up is done by a separate truck from your trash. If you are unsure of your collection day please refer to our street look up tool or feel free to call our office. Routes start early so you should have your barrel out by 6:00 A.M. on the day of your collection. Most people seem to put it out the night before.

Please place the barrel with the handle facing away from the street, within 2 feet of the curb. Make sure it is free of any obstructions. For example: Cars, lamp posts, planters, mailboxes, stone walls, shrubbery and/or your trash barrel. Removing any obstacles alleviates any interference with the trucks automated arm which needs to wrap around the barrel in order to pick it up.

Recycling is collected on the same day as your regular garbage collection, but every other week by a separate truck, at a different time. If your barrel is still full it may be that the recycling truck just hasn’t come yet due to things like traffic accidents, weather events, and school buses that may have caused the trucks to re-route. Also, it may not be your week for recycling collection. Please refer to our street look up tool or feel free to call our office.

All acceptable recycling items can now be mixed together and loosely placed in the one recycle barrel, no sorting required! This is because of the extremely efficient single-stream recycling system where a single barrel is used to collect mixed recycling material. The contents of your recycle barrel are then dumped into a truck with other recycling items and are taken to a facility where it is mechanically sorted in an advanced processing center.

Remember, it is okay for the barrel lid to be slightly raised up. Please remember most recycling is light weight and is easily blown by the wind If you still have additional that will not fit in your barrel please contact us to find out what the options for removal in your town are.

Please contact our office to see what options may be available in your town.

The number identifies your specific barrel (Both trash and recycling have different numbers). It’s a good idea to record your barrel numbers in case it gets lost.