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Recycling Expands

The City of Madison is adding new material to the curbside recycling program. You can now put the following items in your green recycling carts.

1) Plastic Bags (Grocery and retail bags, produce bags, newspaper bags. No dark green or black bags.)

2) Plastic Dairy Tubs and Deli Containers and their lids

3) Other Plastic Containers numbered 1-7

4) Number 1 plastic clamshells, berry containers, and blister packs

5) Empty Steel Paint cans and Lids

6) Metal Pots and Pans

7) Small Metal Appliances (Toasters, Blenders, etc.)

8) Small Metal Plumbing Fixtures and Pipe (Faucets, valves, pipe 18" long or less)

9) License Plates

 

Paper Recycling

The following paper products can be recycling in your green recycling cart

  • Newspapers and all the inserts
  • Corrugated Cardboard
  • Junk Mail
  • Magazines and Catalogs
  • Paper Grocery Bags
  • Envelopes
  • Office and Computer Paper
  • Phone Books
  • Cereal and Cracker Boxes
  • Roll Cores from Paper Products
  • Soda Cases etc.
  • Receipts and Bills
  • Gift Wrap (No Tissue Paper)
  • Greeting Cards (No Photos)
  • Paper Egg Cartons
  • Paper Milk and Juice Cartons
  • Juice Boxes and Other Aseptic Packages

Flatten your cardboard boxes and place them inside your recycling cart. Boxes that do not fit inside your cart should be flattened and cut down to a 3' x 3' size, tied in bundles 6" in height or less, and placed under the lid of your cart.  See our new cardboard recycling video

What about pizza boxes?  You should not recycle pizza boxes that have been contaminated by food and grease.  You can recycle the clean sections of pizza boxes by tearing them off.  For more information on pizza box recycling...

Can we recycle shredded paper? Yes. Place shredded paper in clear or opaque plastic bags before putting it in your cart (NOTE: This is a change in our previous guidelines.) This will enable our new processor to increase the volume of shredded paper we recover..

Plastic Recycling

The following plastic items can be placed in your green recycling cart

Please clean or rinse before recycling

  • All plastic bottles (except Motor Oil bottles. Motor oil bottles should be capped and put in the trash)
  • All plastic jugs
  • All plastic laundry product bottles
  • #1 Peanut Butter and Condiment Jars
    • NOTE: Lids and caps can be left on all plastic bottles. They will be recycled if left on the bottle.)
  • Plastic Frozen Juice Containers
  • All plastic dairy tubs (ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.) and their lids. Remove lids and place in the cart separately
  • All #1 plastic clamshell containers including berry containers
  • All #1 plastic blister packs (Those clear plastic packages for things like locks, toys, etc.
  • All other plastic containers #1-#7
  • Plastic Bags

Do not recycle the following plastic regardless of the number on the bottom:
  • Microwave Dinner Plates
  • Plastic Wrap or Cellophane
  • Styrofoam (Can be brought to our drop off sites but do put in the cart. For more information)

Can and metal recycling

The following metal items can be placed in your green recycling cart.

Please clean and rinse before recycling

  • Aluminum Cans
  • Steel/Tin Cans
  • Empty Aerosol Cans
  • Empty Paint Cans and their lids
  • Pots and Pans
  • Aluminum Foil Pans
  • Small Metal Appliances (Toasters, mixers, blenders, etc.) Remove and discard any glass parts in your tan refuse cart.
  • Metal Plumbing Fixtures (Faucets, valves, etc.)
  • Metal Pipe 18" in length or shorter
  • Other metal items weighing less than ten pounds
  • (NOTE: We cannot accept nuts, bolts, nails etc in the green carts. They are too small and will be screened out into the trash. You can recycle these items in our scrap metal bins at our drop off sites.)

glass RECYCLING

  • Glass Bottles and Jars ONLY
  • Remove all lids.
    • Metal lids from glass jars can be placed in the green recycling cart separately
    • Plastic lids from glass jars should go in the tan refuse cart
  • No Windows, Mirrors, Glass ware or Ceramics


SINGLE STREAM RECYCLING TIPS

Place all your recyclables in the green recycling cart. No need to separate or bundle.

Flattening boxes, cans and plastic bottles will save space in your cart for material.

Do not put trash, pet waste or yard waste in your green recycling cart. Carts containing trash or yard waste will not be collected.

Remember that recycling is collected every other week. Recycling carts placed out on the wrong week will not be collected.

When in doubt e-mail gdreckmann@cityofmadison.com or call 267-2626.