All materials can be combined in the recycling bin.
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No sorting is necessary, making recycling easy.
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Acceptable Materials for Recycling
Proper Preparation Is Important
The following items are collected for recycling in Raleigh's curbside program:
- Glass food and beverage containers
- Food and beverage cans
- Aluminum foil and trays
- Plastic bottles
- Plastic beverage rings
- Gable top cartons
- Aseptic drink boxes
- Newspaper and all inserts
- Magazines and catalogs
- White paper, including junk mail
- Corrugated cardboard pieces no larger than 3' x 3' in size
- Paperboard, chipboard and paper tubes
Raleigh residents can help collection crews by preparing the recyclable materials as described below before placing them in the recycling bin:
Unbroken glass food and beverage containers should be lightly rinsed. Glass food and beverage containers are the only glass products the City collects for recycling. Items such as plate or window glass, light bulbs, mirrors, dishes, glassware and ceramic materials cannot be recycled through Raleigh's program.
Metal food and beverage cans should be lightly rinsed. Please place the lids of steel food cans inside the can for safety. If possible, please crush your beverage cans before depositing them in the recycling bin. Aluminum foil and trays must be completely free of food debris to be recycled. If the aluminum foil or trays have any food residue, please dispose of them in the trash. In the melting process the foil will be destroyed before the food is burned away. Steel and aluminum food and beverage cans and aluminum foil and trays are the only metal products the City collects for recycling. Items such as metal oil cans or metal containers for non-food products cannot be recycled through the Raleigh's programs. (Wake County Convenience Centers and Multi-Material Drop Off Centers have scrap metal boxes for recycling other metal items.)
All plastic bottles and soft plastic beverage rings can be recycled in the City's programs. Plastic BOTTLES should be rinsed lightly. To help save space, please crush the bottles, before putting them in the recycling bin. Plastic bottles are the only plastic containers the City collects for recycling. A bottle is defined as having a "neck" that is narrower than its base and usually has a screw on type lid. Items such as plastic yogurt cups, margarine tubs, food service trays and flower pots, cannot be recycled through Raleigh's recycling programs. We also cannot accept plastic bottles that previously contained hazardous liquids such as oil, chemicals or pesticides. If the container has the poison symbol on it, please place it in the trash.
Gable top cartons should be rinsed lightly and have their caps removed and discarded. Examples of gable top cartons include milk, juice and laundry detergent cartons.
Aseptic boxes are commonly called drink boxes and products often include juice, milk and soup. Please remove the straw and discard it before placing it in the recycling bin.
Newspapers and all inserts, magazines and catalogs, and WHITE paper should be removed from plastic bags or sleeves before placing in the recycling bin. White paper includes all white junk mail you receive (any color of printing or designs on white paper is acceptable), white envelopes (including window envelopes), and white copy and fax paper, printed or blank. (Hint: many colored papers look like they are colored but are actually white. Make a tear in the paper, if the jagged edge shows white, it is actually white paper and is acceptable!) Paper clips should be removed from paper but staples are okay. Please, no phonebooks, colored paper or envelopes, checkbooks, books, carbon paper, paper with adhesive backing, napkins, tissues or other paper products. And please, NO UNOPENED MAIL - it may contain items such as colored paper, promotional stickers or product samples, which could make our material unacceptable for recycling. Do you have shredded paper? Please place shredded paper inside a brown paper bag, staple it closed and mark "shredded paper" on the bag before placing it in the recycling bin. Do not put loose shredded paper in the recycling bin where it can litter your neighborhood if the wind picks up or when the bin is being emptied by the crew.
Paperboard, chipboard, SBS board and paper tubes should all be flattened to conserve space in the recycling bin and on the recycling truck. (SBS stands for solid bleached sulfate and simply refers to the white layer manufacturers put on the gray or brown paperboard so they can make their product attractive to the consumer.) Examples of paperboard and chipboard include cereal, pasta, toothpaste or beer boxes. Remove any linings such as those containing cereal from the paperboard boxes before flattening them. Tubes include those from paper towels or toliet paper but please be sure all product is removed from the tubes before placing them in the recycling bin.
Please fasten the tie straps over all the recyclable materials to avoid littering. (Need new straps? Call us at 996.6890 and we'll drop a new set in the mail to you.)
Corrugated cardboard is cardboard with two flat single layers sandwiched around a wavy layer. It is usually used to make shipping type boxes. Cardboard boxes must be completely flattened, not just stepped on and squished down. All packing material must be removed, including any glued on Styrofoam liners. It must also be reduced in size to pieces no larger than 3' x 3' in size. The reason for this limitation is that is the size of the opening on the recycling trucks. Pizza boxes are NOT ACCEPTED for recycling because they usually have food contamination! No paper product with food contamination is acceptable. Cardboard that is not prepared according to these guidelines will not be collected. Please do not tie rope or string around the cardboard. Prepared cardboard can be placed in the recycling bin, stacked on top of other materials in the recycling bin, stacked under the recycling bin, or stacked alongside the recycling bin. If you have a lot of cardboard, and do not want to reduce it to 3' x 3' pieces, you can remove packing materials, flatten it and take it to one of the City's drop off recycling centers.
Beginning on January 1, 2009 our recycling crews no longer sort materials into separate compartments on the trucks . All sorting is done by the City's contractor, Sonoco Recycling, Inc. This is called single stream recycling. Further, many of the trucks in the City's fleet are being switched over from the traditional style recycling truck to a rear loader truck. Many residents will recognize these rear loading trucks as the same type of vehicle that has been used to collect their garbage and yard waste. The advantages to switching to single stream recycling and using rear loading trucks to collect recycling are many:
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Increases the crew efficiency
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Reduces risk of injury to crew from handling materials
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Height of opening is lower and easier to unload contents of bins
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Each rear loading truck costs $60,000 less than regular recycling truck
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Rear loading truck has more capacity than recycling truck allowing more collection points before unloading
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Thanks for helping us to serve you better!
Recycling Advantages:
- Reduces pollution
- Saves natural resources
- Saves energy
- Saves money
- Saves landfill space
Is your recycling bin getting heavier to tote to the curb these days? Raleigh Recycling offers a handy bin carrier that allows you to roll it to the curb. Check it out at Recycling Bins for Purchase.
*** Vacation time is is here! Don't take a vacation from recycling! Where ever you go in the U.S. you can call 1.800-CLEANUP or visit earth911.org, enter the local zip code (find in the phone directory) and voila!, they will tell you where the closest recycling center is. ***
For More Information Contact:
Linda A. Leighton
Waste Reduction Specialist
Solid Waste Services Department
400 West Peace Street
Raleigh, NC 27603
919-996-6890
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