Curbside Recycling Program
The Basics
Recyclable
materials accepted for monthly pick-up include:
ALL PAPER: office paper, magazines, junk mail, newspaper, computer paper, notebook paper, phone books, paperback books, construction paper, brown paper bags.
ALL BOXES: milk or juice cartons (empty), cardboard boxes, food boxes (clean - no food). All boxes should be broken down.
ALL PLASTIC CONTAINERS #1-7: drink bottles and their caps, detergent & cleaner bottles and their caps, yogurt/cottage cheese and other dairy "tubs" and their lids (please empty containers) and plastic trays, such as the lunchable type containers (any color except black trays - optical sorting machines can't see them).
ALL METAL & ALUMINUM CANS: food and drink cans (please empty cans).
DO NOT RECYCLE: plastic bags, black plastic trays, clamshells (fast food take out), or Styrofoam.
Glass bottles should be taken to one of the drop-off or convenience centers operated by the Division of Waste Management. Want more information on recycling in Nashville? Download our brochure.
If you plan to help make Nashville cleaner and greener by recycling, pledge to participate today! Public Works also provides a reminder service that makes it easy to remember your pick-up day. If you'd like to receive a reminder message via e-mail each month, you can sign up to get reminders online.
To
find out more, click on a topic below...
Household
Service
Your Cart
Recyclables for Your Cart
Have Other
Household Recycling Questions?
E-mail
Curby or call 880-1000.
Eligibility
If you live in a single-family home in Nashville's Urban Services District,
your household is eligible to participate in the household recycling
program. A good indicator of whether you live in the Urban Services
District is your garbage service; if you don't pay a separate bill for
garbage pick-up, then you probably live within this area. To find out
if you live in the Urban Services District, call 880-1000.
Cart
Pick-up Schedule
Because monthly collection is more cost-effective than weekly pick-ups,
your recyclables will be picked up monthly. Recycling pick-up day.
Collection of recyclables will occur from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on your collection day. Weather, traffic, and the volume of material collected may cause the actual collection time to vary.
Holidays
Recycling
is not collected on New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving
Day or Christmas Day. Any collection day that falls on one of
these holidays will be picked up on Saturday of that week.
Cart
Placement
You should
place your cart in the same place you currently put your trash
(curb, alley, etc.). It should be at least three feet from any
stationary object such as a car, mailbox, utility pole, etc.
Cart
Size and Overflow
The 96-gallon recycling carts are large enough to allow the average
household sufficient container space for one month's worth of recyclable
material. If you have more material than will fit into your cart, please
take those items to a local drop-off site
or Metro Convenience Center. You can also order a second cart for
free by calling 880-1000.
Accepted
Materials
Materials that
can be placed in your cart include -any kind of clean, dry paper:
cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes, freezer boxes, and 12-pack
soft drink boxes, but not pizza boxes), paper bags, office paper,
envelopes, junk mail, catalogs, magazines and phone books.
-aluminum cans, metal food cans and plastic bottles and containers
# 1-7 (remember that some materials may sit in your cart for a
month, so please rinse cans first).
You can put all items in the cart together - no
separation is required.
Materials not accepted in carts are glass, and soiled food containers such as pizza boxes, black plastics, plastic toys, plastic bags and clamshell plastic containers.
Materials
Preparation
You can put
all accepted items in your cart together - you
do not have to separate any materials. Please rinse cans before
putting them in your cart, as some materials may sit in your cart
for a month. To maximize the use of your cart, you may want to
break down all cardboard boxes, but you do not have to remove
any staples from paper or plastic windows from envelopes.
Materials
Not Allowed in Carts
Glass is not
allowed in the curbside program.
Household Recycling is designed to eliminate materials that make
up the largest percentage of waste. Since glass makes up a smaller
portion of the waste stream than paper, plastic and metals, it
is not accepted as part of the household program.
Glass can
be recycled at your nearest drop-off
or convenience center.
Also not allowed
in the curbside program:
- Plastic bags
- Plastic
toys and household items
Service
problems and questions
If you have
problems with your service, or questions about the program or
recycling in general, call 880-1000 or e-mail
Curby. You can also talk to one of our friendly attendants
at the Metro Convenience Centers.
