Show All Answers

1. How can my town sign up for the cart program?

Most municipalities with curbside collection can participate in the program, provided that they agree to pay for their share of the carts.

Contact your municipal officials to find out your municipality’s cart status.

2. What do I put in the paper cart?

All recyclable paper and cardboard (flatten boxes to fit in cart), including:

• Brown paper grocery bags
• Catalogs
• Junk mail (window envelopes are ok but remove product samples, plastic cards, etc.)
• Magazines
• Newspaper
• No plastic bags or plastic wrap.
• Paperback books
• Paperboard such as cereal boxes and tissue boxes
• Phone books
• School and office paper
• Shredded paper must be in a paper bag or small cardboard box

Plastic bags and wrap jam up our sorting equipment.

3. Does it matter how the cart is placed at the curb?

Yes, set your cart curbside by 6 a.m., with the metal bar facing the street. If you set the cart out backwards your lid may be broken when tipped by the automated arm.

The cart should be at least 3 feet from all obstacles. Do not set it under low hanging branches or basketball hoops. Do not set recyclables on top of cart lid.

4. Do I have to flatten cardboard boxes?

Please flatten boxes to make sure everything fits in your cart and remove styrofoam (egg cartons, peanuts or packing) and remove plastic wrap from cardboard cartons before recycling. It is ok if your flattened boxes stick out of the top of the cart.

Placing material on the ground defeats the efficiency of an automated system and drives up the cost of recycling. That said, if you do have to set excess cardboard on the ground that can’t fit in the cart, even after flattening boxes, we will collect it. You can also bring excess recyclables to your municipal recycling drop off.

5. What about bottles and cans and paper cartons?

Keep using your recycling bucket for bottles and cans and paper cartons. Only use the round buckets issued by your municipality.

We collect and process bottles and cans and paper cartons separately from paper and cardboard. This method is called “dual stream” recycling.

6. Will we ever be able to put all recyclables in our cart?

Collecting your recyclables all together in one cart is called “single stream” recycling. The county is planning to install a single stream sorting system by the end of 2013. Once this system is in place you will be able to place all your paper, cardboard, bottles and cans, and paper cartons into your blue paper cart. For now, the cart can only be used for paper and cardboard.