County Wants to Remind Community to “Recycle Right” This Holiday Season

Image by Drazen Zigic on Freepik

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello today is reminding residents to “Recycle Right” this holiday season by recycling at the curb and at the Monroe County/WM ecopark located at 10 Avion Drive, Rochester, NY 14624.

The key to a cleaner, safer environment is knowing what items should be recycled curbside, what should be taken to ecopark and what should be thrown in the trash.

“Holidays can generate a lot of materials that are typically thrown away that could be recycled,” said County Executive Bello. “I encourage everyone to use the tools on our website or even ask your Alexa device to “Open Monroe County Recycling” and learn what can and cannot be picked up at the curb or brought to the ecopark. Let’s do our part to properly dispose and recycle holiday items.”

Holiday items accepted in curbside bins and at the Monroe County/WM ecopark include:

• Paper including plain wrapping paper (no metal or glitter), tissue paper, gift bags and gift boxes

• Cardboard (including shipping containers and clean pizza boxes)

• Plastic bottles, jugs, jars and tubs (reattach lids)

• Metal and glass cans, bottles or jugs

Items that are only accepted at the ecopark include:

• Holiday lights and decorations that contain electronics

• Rechargeable, button and lithium ion batteries (always place alkaline in trash)

• Clean, white, block packing foam — marked as #6 only

• Christmas trees: artificial (with or without electronics, accepted in electronics) and real

• Plastic bags / film / envelopes

• Cardboard and residential recycling

• Cooking oil – No grease

• Clothing and textiles

• Items that are NOT recyclable and should be placed in the trash include:

• Bows, ribbons and gift tags

• Foil and metallic wrapping paper

• Foam materials (packaging, coffee cups, meat trays, egg cartons or packing peanuts)

• Food contaminated items

• Single use items - such as cups, straws, silverware and condiment packaging

Electronics are accepted at ecopark during regular business hours with no fee or appointment necessary.

Starting Tuesday, December 26, many towns and villages throughout Monroe County will collect real trees from residents or provide drop off sites. For a complete list of disposal sites, and scheduled pick-ups for Christmas trees, go to https://www.monroecounty.gov/des- environmentalrecycling or click here.

The ecopark is open from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays and from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. For a full list of acceptable items, or to make an appointment to drop off household hazardous waste, visit www.monroecounty.gov/ecopark.

Go to monroecounty.gov/recycling for a complete list of recyclable items