Our curbside co-mingled recycling program is voluntary and is $10 per month (with 65-gallon recycling rolling cart provided). Recyclables can be discarded together; they will be separated with an air-sorting process at WestRock Recycling Center on County Services Parkway in Cobb County. (Please note: our recycling program is curbside only, not at the house).
Recycling Schedule
Recycling is picked up on your trash pickup day in a different truck.
Items We Recycle and Instructions
- Paper: newspaper, magazines, phonebooks and junk mail.
- Plastics #1 and #2 (rinse).
- Drink and food cans (rinse).
- Beverage and food cartons (rinse).
- Cardboard.
Please do not put anything in your recycling container that is not listed above.
We do not put your recyclables in the trash.
>> See a complete list of acceptable & unacceptable items <<
As of July 1, 2016, recycling loads with glass in them will be rejected by WestRock and sent to the landfill.
Customers can take glass to WestRock Atlanta West on County Services Parkway for recycling, but glass cannot be delivered there with our other recyclables because glass broken in truck compactors is difficult to separate and can damage WestRock’s separation equipment.
In the past, the recycling center paid as much as $18/ton for recyclable materials; now WestRock charges us $51.00/ton tipping fees. The $6 monthly charge for recycling helps us recover some, but not all, of our costs for providing the service.
Demand for recyclables has diminished. As WestRock explains: “The industry has seen declines of more than 20% in fiber (paper/cardboard) value, while decreases in petroleum prices are driving plastics prices down from 30% to 50% on some grades of plastics.”
Recycling Policies & Procedures
Recycling is all about doing what is best for our environment. With that in mind, please follow these guidelines to make our efforts together have the greatest impact.
- Remember the Carbon Impact of our Trucks.
- If you just have a small amount of Recycle material, please hold it until your Recycle can is ¾ full. Stopping at every stop and running the Packer increases our Carbon output.
- Please collapse all cardboard boxes allowing us to run the packer less often.
- Please stack cardboard boxes in a way that our crew may easily “Grab & Go”. Some keep an open box and place collapsed boxes in it. Others tie and bundle with string.
- The more efficient our Recycle Run is the less Carbon it produces.
- Always use our “Tippable” Can for everything other than large Cardboard. We require all new customers to use our 65 gallon blue Recycle Can now. If you do not have this can, please look into getting one. Open containers create havoc on windy and rainy days, more stops and more work for our crew.
- Please be SUPER EFFICIENT in following the LIMITED accepted RECYCLE guidelines
(see WestRock Recycle Residential Single Stream Guidelines).
For Recycling, These Items Are NOT Acceptable:
Even though items are marked, “RECYCLE” that does not mean the Cobb County Recycling Center managed by WestRock accepts it.
- Air Filters
- Aerosol Cans
- All Styrofoam – any type
- All Plastic Bags – any type
- Appliances
- Batteries
- Bottle Caps
- Boxes with Plastic/Styrofoam
- Chemicals, Solvents & Oils
- Cylinders
- Egg Cartons
- Electronics
- Flooring, Tile, Wood, Construction Debris, Limbs & Yard Waste
- Food Waste
- Glass – any type
- Hose/Wire/Cable
- Most Metals (only aluminum cans and steel cans are accepted -clean, empty and without labels)
- Most Plastics (only #1 PET bottles and #2HDPE jugs & bottles are accepted – clean, empty and without labels)
- Paint & Paint Cans
- Pizza Boxes (considered contaminated by grease even though pictured in guidelines)
- Tires/Wheels
- Also see: WestRock Recycle Residential Single Stream Guidelines