Recycling Program

Mandatory recycling items. Elmwood Park residents are expected to recycle the following mandatory items:

• Glass
• Aluminum cans
• Tin cans
• Plastics
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Paper
• Corrugated and chipboard cardboard
• Brown paper bags
• Yard recyclables
• Grass
• Leaves

How to package and separate these things as well as when to place them on your curb for pick-up are explained below and on the yard waste page.

Facts About Litter

Litter comes in all shapes and sizes and can be found anywhere. It includes everything from a wrapper tossed out of a car window to a piece of paper dropped while walking, to a bag of trash dumped on the roadside or a cigarette butt flicked on the sidewalk.

Something to think about: It takes 2 to 5 months for paper to biodegrade; 5 years for plastic-coated paper cartons; up to 12 years for cigarette butts; 50 to 100 years for tin cans; 200-500 years for aluminum cans.

Recycling 125 aluminum cans saves enough energy to power one home for one day.
Recycling one ton of aluminum saves 37 barrels of oil.
Recycling one aluminum beverage can saves enough energy to run a computer for 3 hours.
Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours or to operate a TV set for 3 hours.

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Recycling Manufactured Items

Manufactured recyclable materials are collected by Elmwood Park’s Recycling Contractor. Co-mingled or separately packaged materials are picked up on alternate weeks throughout the year.

For pick-up, place recyclables at your curb by 6 a.m. on your designated collection day in containers weighing not more than 40 pounds each.

Co-mingled Recyclables: Glass, Aluminum, Tin, Plastics

Glass, tin, aluminum and plastic items are to be co-mingled, which means that these items can be stored together in one container. Do not place co-mingled recyclables in plastic or brown paper bags.

Glass includes glass jars and bottles of all colors, rinsed and placed together in container.

• Do not recycle mirrors, ceramic cups and plates, clay flower pots, crystal, light bulbs, window glass, heat-resistant ovenware or drinking glasses.

Tin and aluminum containers includes all rinsed tin and aluminum food and beverage cans.

• Rinse containers and, when possible, crush to flatten.
• Do not recycle aerosol spray cans, frozen food trays or disposable pie plates.

Plastics are defined as soda, milk, bleach and laundry bottles or containers.

• Crush to flatten whenever possible.
• Rinse and remove caps and lids.
• Do not recycle deli food containers, buckets and pails.

Separately Packaged Recyclables: Paper, Cardboard

Various types of paper and cardboard are to be bundled separately, as explained below.

Newspapers can be tied or placed loosely in a container that will keep them from flying. They must not be placed in brown paper bags or plastic bags.

Magazines and Paper includes any soft-cover magazines, writing paper, junk mail of all kinds, computer paper or the like. This material may be tied or placed in a separate container, not in a garbage can, and must not be placed with newspapers.

Cardboard must be broken down and flattened. It will not be picked up if it is not broken down. Cardboard includes:

• Corrugated Cardboard, all large boxes with parallel furrows or ridges used for packaging larger items or shipping products. Break, rip or flatten these boxes for recycling.
• Chipboard Cardboard, food packaging boxes that do not have wax covering, such as macaroni boxes or cereal boxes. Remove and discard inner liners and/or cellophane windows with regular garbage. NO Milk or Juice Cartons.
• Brown Paper Bags can be placed with flattened cardboard.

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Pick-Up Schedule for 2011

to view the 2011 Manufactured Recyclables Pick-Up Schedule, please click the above chart