Residential Recycling
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Accepted Materials - Residential Recycling
We accept corrugated cardboard, mixed office paper, junk mail, magazines and catalogs, paperboard (cereal boxes, tissue boxes, etc), phone books, brown paper bags, newspapers (including inserts and ads), plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans, aluminum foil and pie tins, and empty aerosol cans.


Preparing Your Items

NO SORTING REQUIRED!

Rinse and discard all caps, lids or pumps.
Protect paper materials from inclement weather.
ALUMINUM: 

Clean, rinsed aluminum cans, foil, trays, and pie plates. Remove as much food residue as possible. Download the bilingual brochures:
photo: glass bottles GLASS: 

Food and beverage bottles and jars.
photo: steel cans STEEL AND EMPTY AEROSOL CANS: 

Labels are OK. Empty aerosol hairspray, shaving cream, etc., cans through normal use. Remove plastic caps unless they are part of the can. Spray nozzles are OK. NO full or partially-full aerosol cans. Do not puncture.
PLASTIC BOTTLES: 

ONLY BOTTLES. Don't worry about the numbers - check the neck. Bottles have a neck or opening smaller than the base of the container. Most bottles and jars also have a screw-on top, for example: milk, juice, soft drink, and detergent bottles. Please flatten bottles. NO lids, tubs, cups, trays or bags.  Read more about plastic ....

Includes items such as:
- Water, soda and juice bottles
- Milk and Orange Juice jugs (not paper cartons)
- Shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap bottles
- Liquid detergent and other cleaning supply bottles
- Ketchup and other condiment bottles (rinse out please)
- Peanut butter jars(rinse out please)

photo: cardboard box CARDBOARD: 

Flatten and cut to pieces no larger than 2 feet by 2 feet. Whole boxes will not be collected. NO wax coated cardboard.
photo: paper bags BROWN PAPER BAGS: 

NO plastic bags.
photo: cereal and food boxes PAPERBOARD: 

Flatten or cut into pieces no larger than 2 feet by 2 feet. Only broken down boxes will be collected. Remove plastic or wax paper bag inserts. NO foil coated paperboard. NO paper milk or juice cartons.

Paperboard includes single-layer boxes and low-grade paper such as:
  • Boxes for cereal, tissues, beverages, food, soap, etc.
  • Gift, shirt and shoe boxes
  • Hanging file folders
  • Paper egg cartons
  • Paper towel and toilet paper tubes
  • Frozen food boxes (but not the ones that have a waxy, white coating on the inside) 
photo: newspaper
NEWSPAPER: 

Recycle the entire newspaper, including ads and inserts. Remove any bags, strings or rubber bands.
photo: office paper

OFFICE PAPER: 

Paperclips, stamps, staples, tape and sticky notes are OK. NO plastic wrappers. NO fluorescent paper. NO Tyvek® (polyethylene fiber) envelopes, such as some overnight mailing envelopes.

Includes items such as:

  • Office paper
  • Adding machine tape
  • Receipts
  • Brochures and glossy ads
  • Fax paper
  • Greeting cards
  • Postcards and index cards
  • Loose leaf and legal pad paper
  • Stationary, letterhead, copy and typing paper
  • File folders (manila and pastel only)
  • Paper envelopes (plastic windows OK)
photo: junk mail
JUNK MAIL: 

Paperclips, stamps, staples, tape and sticky notes are OK.  NO plastic wrappers. NO fluorescent paper. NO Tyvek® (polyethylene fiber) envelopes, such as some overnight mailing envelopes.

Includes items such as:
  • Opened mail
  • Greeting cards
  • Postcards and index cards
  • Loose leaf and legal pad paper
  • Stationary, letterhead, copy and typing paper
  • Paper envelopes (plastic windows OK)
photo: magazines MAGAZINES AND CATALOGS: 

Discard plastic wrap, bags, and non-paper inserts such as CDs and magnets.
photo: phone books

PHONE BOOKS: 

Discard plastic wrap, bags, and non-paper inserts such as CDs and magnets.



Educational Brochures

Download these bilingual brochures:
 Print   
 Materials Not Accepted
The items below are not accepted in the Denver Recycles program.  Please follow the list of acceptable materials. Incorrect items can contaminate an entire load. DO NOT ADD any of the following items to your recycling containers:

 
  • NO Cups
  • NO Lids, caps or tops
  • NO Full aerosol cans 
  • NO Paint cans
  • NO Scrap metal
  • NO Wire
  • NO Metal utensils
  • NO Hangers photo: plastic bag
  • NO Dishes
  • NO Light bulbs 
  • NO Mirrors
  • NO Window glass
  • NO Drinking glasses
  • NO Plastic bags
  • NO Plastic tubs 
  • NO Plastic plates
  • NO Plastic egg cartons
  • NO Six pack rings
  • NO Paper milk or juice cartons photo: cottage cheese tub
  • NO "Neon" fluorescent paper
  • NO Tissue paper or napkins
  • NO Paper towels or plates  
  • NO Wrapping paper
  • NO Waxed paper 
  • NO Carbon paper 
  • NO Photographs
  • NO Flower pots photo: garbage
  • NO Toys
  • NO Styrofoam containers
  • NO Foam
  • NO Food or garbage

    Denver Recycles DOES NOT accept any of these items. Unacceptable items will be left in the container with an explanation. We will stop collection on containers that frequently contain unacceptable items. To find a suitable recycling or reuse option for these and other items, please search our recycling directory.

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    How Clean is Clean?
    How clean do bottles and jars need to be?
     
    In most cases, a simple light rinsing will do.  Containers don’t need to be sparkling clean.
     
    For “stickier” food items (such as mayonnaise or peanut butter jars) the containers might need to scraped or wiped clean to remove as much food material as possible.
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