What can be recycled in Tallahassee?

Plastic containers, metal cans, glass bottles, paper and cardboard items are all recyclable in Tallahassee. Just remove the lids of any plastic, glass or metal container, rinse out (not required but can help keep bugs and smells away) and place in your Recycling Container. Remember to breakdown any cardboard and gift boxes. Download the recycling guide poster.

Plastic Containers

All plastic containers that hold less than three gallons are recyclable excluding plastic bags and styrofoam. Some examples of recyclable plastics include (but are not limited to):

Glass Bottles

All glass containers that hold less than three gallons are recyclable. Some examples of recyclable glass items include (but are not limited to):

Metal Cans

All aluminum, tin and steel cans are recyclable. Some examples of recyclable metal items include (but are not limited to):

Paper & Cardboard

All paper and cardboard items are recyclable in Tallahassee. Exceptions include: pizza boxes (greasy), paper towels (wet) or drink boxes. Remember that cardboard and gift boxes must be broken down. Some examples of recyclable paper and cardboard include (but are not limited to):

Why should you recycle?

There are lots of reasons why someone should make an effort to recycle as much as possible. Here are some good reasons why you should start making recycling a habit. Download the recycling guide poster.

• It cuts back on global warming. Production of certain materials from scratch can release significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Aluminum production is a prime example-producing new aluminum creates 95% more CO2 than recycling old aluminum cans. In addition, recycling paper saves trees-for each ton of paper recycled, 17 trees are saved. Each of these trees can extract around 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air in a year.
  
  
• It makes us more energy-efficient. The amount of energy to produce something from recycled materials versus raw materials is a significant decrease. For example, it takes twice as much energy to burn plastic as to recycle it; it takes 64% more energy to make paper than to recycle it; and recycling just one pound of steel can save enough energy to run a 60-watt bulb for one day.
  
  
• It keeps our landfills from overflowing. With available landfill space becoming an increasing concern, there's no time like the present to reduce, reuse, recycle!┬á Studies show that 60% to 75% of garbage in landfills can be recycled. That means that if everybody recycled, we'd have 60% to 75% less garbage in our landfills, and we'd need at least that much less land for garbage disposal.
  
  
• It improves the quality of our groundwater. Rain and other runoff from landfills get into our streams, rivers, lakes, and other waterways, damaging fragile ecosystems. Recycling reduces the trash in landfills, and the more we recycle, the more our water systems can improve.
  
  
• It reduces air pollution. Many factories that produce plastics, metals, and paper products release toxins into the air. Recycle these materials, and there will be less need for companies to manufacture new materials-saving on the amount of pollution released into our air.
  
  
• It creates jobs. Recycling is a growth industry, earning billions of dollars annually. Our need to recycle is only going to grow as populations grow and as technology changes. Recycling creates far more jobs than landfills do-enough jobs to make a big difference in a small town.
  
  
• It conserves our natural resources. Americans disposed of 83 million tons of paper products in 2003. According to the EPA, by recycling nearly half of that, we saved 705 million trees and 290 billion gallons of fresh water. 4% of U.S. annual oil consumption, or roughly 219 million barrels of oil, goes into the manufacturing of plastic. The more plastic we recycle, the less oil we use.

Contaminants are very costly to the recycling program

When non-recyclable items are mixed with items that are accepted for recycling in Tallahassee, they can contaminate an entire load of recyclables. When it is feasible, these unaccepted items are sorted out at a recycling processor by hand and then taken to the landfill. However, a contaminated load can be rejected by the recycling processor as unusable, and the whole load has to be taken to the landfill. Then, we lose tons of recyclable material due to a small amount of contamination.

View details on what can and cannot be recycled (pdf)