Recycling Update: You may be doing it wrong!
The old rule — when in doubt, recycle it – no longer applies. The only recyclable items in the City of Dayton and Montgomery County are limited to:
- Plastic bottles and jugs
- Aluminum, tin and steel cans
- Glass bottles and jars
- Cardboard and paper bags
- Magazines, newspapers and office paper
Please Keep It Clean. Rinse all items. Contaminated materials can’t be reprocessed.
Do Not Recycle:
- Take-out food containers (clamshells, pizza boxes, Chinese takeout boxes, deli containers, etc.)
- Plastic grocery bags or baggies (if they are clean, take them to Kroger)
- Plastics butter or yogurt tubs, product packaging, plastic wrap, plastic drinking cups
- Styrofoam (UPS stores take clean Styrofoam peanuts)
Why the New Rules?
Global change has affected the recycling market. Until recently, China took 40 percent of America’s gently used paper, metals and plastic. Now, it accepts hardly any of it which has disrupted recycling programs throughout the U.S.
So where will all the previously recycled stuff go? Into our landfill, which doesn’t look good. Montgomery County predicts our landfill will be full in less than six years. Proper recycling has become even more urgent, since it will save space in the landfill, conserve resources, save energy and save water.
Find Out More. Your recycling gets picked up every two weeks. It adds nothing extra to your waste collection bill. Visit https://www.daytonohio.gov/399/Waste-Recycling-Schedules or call Public Works Call Center at 937-333-4800 for more information.
South Park Awarded $1600 Montgomery County Grant for Recycling Program
Two new blue bins are waiting for discarded water bottles, pop bottles and beer cans at the Gazebo (Park + Wayne) and Blommel Park (Park + Cross). And two weathered old park benches in the 200 block of Park Drive Boulevard have been refreshed with shiny new slats made of recycled material. All thanks to a 2019 Recycling Incentive Grant from Montgomery County. The blue bins will be emptied by the City every two weeks.
Clean streets, alleys and green spaces are the foundation of our anti-crime efforts! And recycling helps reverse the negative impact of waste.