Acceptable Items for Recycling
Sustainability starts at home. As the recycling leader, Rumpke offers residential customers a convenient, comprehensive recycling program.
All items should be empty, clean and placed loose in recycling containers. Do not place items in plastic bags. There is no need to remove labels. You can mix all items together – no separation is required.
Acceptable Items
- Glass bottles & jars (all colors)
- Steel cans
- Aluminum cans and cups
- Plastic bottles (empty, crush, reattach lid): Bottles and jugs that have a small mouth and wider base, such as milk jugs, soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles, water bottles, shampoo bottles and contact solution bottles
- Plastic tubs*: Containers for butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, Jello, and fruit slices would fall into the tub category. Plastic lids should be reattached prior to recycling, film or foil lids should be discarded
- Plastic Cups* (remove/discard straw, reattach lid): Fast food beverage cups – colored party cups are not accepted
- Plastic Clamshell Containers**: Packaging food, retail products, groceries, and takeout items
- Paper: newspaper, magazines, cardboard, mixed office paper and envelopes, paperboard (cereal boxes), pizza boxes free of food debris and grease, telephone books, and catalogs
- Paper cups (remove/discard lids, straws, and stoppers): Fast food beverage cups, coffee cups, Dixie cups
- Cartons (remove plastic caps and straws): Food and beverage cartons, such as milk, juice, soup, wine, broth, and other cartons
Unacceptable Items
Items not listed on the acceptable items list should not be placed in recycling containers, including:
- Hazardous Waste
- Batteries
- Electronics
- Yard waste
- Plastic bags
- Cassette & VHS tapes
- Textiles including clothing and bed sheets
- Hangers
- Metal chains
- Garden hoses
- Medical sharps or needles of any kind
- Polystyrene foam
- Buckets
- Car parts
- Food
- Light bulbs
- Drinking glasses, ceramics,
Pots, pans, and scrap metal
*No cups or tubs are currently accepted in Central Kentucky, where Rumpke partners with Lexington Fayette Urban County Government to process recyclables. See more on plastic recycling.
**Currently, clamshell recycling is only available to customers serviced by the Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center. This includes customers within Greater Columbus and Central Ohio, Greater Cleveland. northern Ohio, southeast Ohio and West Virginia. Clamshell recycling is not yet available in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois or Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. As Rumpke continues to upgrade its other recycling facilities with new technology and end markets continue to expand, you can expect similar recycling options to become available in other areas as well.
Hefty ReNew™ Program
In portions of our service area, residents can also participate in the Hefty ReNew™ program, allowing them to recycle additional plastics, including plastic bags and Styrofoam. Learn more by visiting Hefty ReNew™.
Recycling Tips
- Items should be empty and clean and placed in recycling containers loose.
- Mix all items together – no separation required.
- No need to remove labels.
- For plastic bottles, empty, crush and reattach lids.
- For cartons, remove plastic caps and straws.
- NEVER place medical sharps or needles in the recycling.
- DON’T place items in plastic bags.
- NEVER place batteries in recycling.
Learn More
Download Our Flyer
Click below and get a downloadable version of our list of acceptable items!
Download Flyer
What Happens to Your Recyclables?
Check out our videos below and see what happens to your recyclable items once we pick them up!
Videos