Refuse and recycling carts at the curb
Streets & Urban Forestry

Recycling Guidelines

Green recycling cart

Put your recycling in the green recycling cart. 

General Guidelines

  • Only put the correct paper, plastic containers, metal, and glass in the recycling cart.
  • Recyclables must be clean, empty, and dry before you place them into the recycling cart.
  • Do not bag your recyclable items. Put items loose in the recycling cart.
    • If you must use a bag, use a clear bag. If sorters cannot see what is inside the bag, they will assume it is trash.
    • Exception: Shredded paper should always be in a clear bag.
  • Keep the recycling cart lid closed when out for collection.
  • Do not put any banned items in the recycling cart. Banned items include:

What happens to the recyclables after pickup?

The City of Madison hauls them to Pellitteri Waste Systems on the east side Madison where they are sorted.

They have an excellent video that shows how that sorting process works. It's a lot of people and machines doing a lot of hard work.  

More Recyclables Than Your Cart Can Hold?

We have a set of rules special for these one-off circumstances on our Clean Out page.

If this happens a lot at your home, you can:

  • Get a bigger cart
  • Buy an extra cart
  • Use the drop-off sites
  • Change what you buy to make less waste

If you are a business that uses our recycling service, you must have the number of carts you need to hold the recyclables you generate. This includes cardboard.

Recyclopedia

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Trash & Recycling