New Rules for Recyclables

The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation is asking residents to keep plastic bags out of their blue recycling carts.

Residents can now place recyclables in the blue carts by themselves. Anything in a plastic bag will not be collected.

The new rule helps lower operating costs and reduces damage to recycling equipment.

Recyclable items collected by the city with weekly waste collection includes:

• Plastic containers (plastic bottles and containers with 1,2,3,4,5 or 7)
• Glass (jars and bottles)
• Metal (aluminum, tin, or steel cans, foil and pie tins)
• Cartons (milk cartons, juice cartons and aseptic containers)
• Paper (cardboard boxes - flattened, office paper, file folders, magazines, catalogs, newspapers, junk mail, telephone books, non-metallic wrapping paper, etc.)

Recycling is available to single-family residences, two and four-unit residential buildings.

Visit Streets and Sanitation for more information about the new recycling program.