How Curbside Recycling Works
Put your recyclables, loose, in your blue-lid recycling cart and set it at the curb on your recycling day. Recycling is collected every other week, on the same day as your trash; see the recycling collection schedule.
Keep Recyclables Loose
Please keep recyclables loose in the cart instead of tying them up in plastic bags. At the materials recovery facility, bags wrap around the sorting machines, jam them and can break them, and a single tangle may force the whole sorting line to stop.
Getting a Recycling Cart
Every Fredville home with city solid waste service has a blue-lid recycling cart. Extra recycling carts cost $3.00 a month each (limit of 2); request one with the city's cart request form or through Fredville 311 at (555) 010-0311.
What Goes in the Recycling Cart
Every item should be empty, clean and dry before it goes in.
Aluminum cans: Soda cans are prized by recyclers and can be back on store shelves as new cans in about two months. Rinse them and let them dry.
Food cans: Steel and tin cans are worth a lot, too. Rinse out the food; the paper label can stay on.
Paper and cardboard: We collect newspapers, magazines, coupons, junk mail, envelopes, phone books, and flattened cereal and shipping boxes.
- Flatten cardboard boxes so they fit inside the cart with the lid closed. Leftover tape is not a problem.
- Glossy paper and envelopes with windows are accepted.
Glass bottles and jars: Glass containers of any color are accepted. Rinse them and take off the caps and lids. Car glass and window glass are not allowed.
Plastic bottles: Bottles that held water or soda rank among the most valuable items in the recycling stream, so always rinse, dry and recycle them.
Juice and milk cartons: Cartons are made from a coated paperboard that recyclers take. Rinse and dry them first.
Items to Recycle Another Way
Plastic bags: Grocery bags snag in recycling equipment and cause shutdowns. Return them to a grocery store that collects them, and think about switching to reusable cloth bags.
Batteries: Batteries often start fires in recycling trucks and plants. Bring them to a city household hazardous waste event or to the regional household hazardous waste collection center.
Foam packaging: Dense Styrofoam blocks can be recycled at a collection site that takes them; the Recycling Resource Guide lists options. Packing peanuts usually are not accepted.
Fluorescent bulbs: Many kinds of bulbs can be recycled, but they have to go to a participating store, such as a home improvement retailer, or to the regional HHW center.
Food waste: Food never belongs in the recycling bin. Composting is a good option.
Clothing: Textiles can be reused or made into new products, but they need to go to a drop-off location.
Electronics: The city holds electronics recycling events during the year, and you can also bring electronic waste to the Fredville Landfill.
What Does Not Belong in the Cart
Clothing and furniture: Give usable items to a charity. Large furniture can go out on your monthly bulky pickup day; see Bulky Waste.
Electronics: See electronics recycling.
Food-soiled and wet items, for example:
- Greasy pizza boxes
- Napkins and paper plates
- Bags from frozen foods
- Snack chip bags
- Clamshell containers, like the ones berries come in
Glass and ceramics: Glass containers are recyclable, but drinking glasses and window panes usually are not and should go in the trash. Ceramics may find a second life at a reuse store; otherwise, throw them away.
- Plates, bowls and other dishes
- Ceramic pieces of any kind
- Flower pots
- Mirrors
- Window glass and car glass
- Incandescent bulbs
Containers from hazardous or toxic products: See household hazardous waste disposal.
Medical waste:
- Needles
- Syringes
- Lancets
Some plastics: Plenty of thick plastics are fine, but certain plastic items are a hazard at the recycling facility.
- Plastic bags (many large grocery stores and supercenters have bag drop-off bins)
- Plastic toys
- Plastic and metal hangers (a local charity may be glad to take them)
Propane tanks: These are dangerous for several reasons. Return them to a propane dealer.
Shredded paper: Bag it and put it in your regular trash, or bring your papers to a city Shred Day event.
Foam: Keep foam out of the bin. Dense foam packaging can go to a drop-off site, but packing peanuts usually cannot.
- Foam food containers
- Packing peanuts
- Foam packing material
Wire and cable: Take these to an office supply or electronics store that accepts them.
Wrapping paper and gift bags: Most wrapping paper is coated with foil, glitter or other materials, so it goes in the trash. Plain craft paper or newspaper makes a greener wrap.
Residential Recycling Guidelines
- Use your blue-lid recycling cart for your recyclables.
- No sorting is needed. Newspapers, magazines, boxes, junk mail and phone books can share the cart with glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jugs, and cans made of aluminum or steel.
- Flatten cardboard boxes and put them inside the cart.
A printable guide to what belongs in the recycling cart is available as a PDF.
Recycling Beyond the Bin
If you have a large amount of anything besides paper, cardboard, glass, plastic or aluminum, the regional council of governments offers an online recycling locator that shows where to take it. Free community reuse networks are another way to pass along items that still work.
Commercial Bag Service Customers
Businesses on commercial bag service can join the curbside recycling program by signing up online. The city drops off an 18-gallon green bin at the business, usually in a few weeks, and recyclables are then picked up at the curb once a week. The service costs $2 per month.
Fredville is a demonstration city built by Talk to Fred. Names, numbers and details on this page are sample content.