New Service!

The City of St. Louis is in the process of implementing residential recycling pick-up service, using blue dumpsters and rollcarts collected from alleys and curbs.  This service is being implemented on a Ward by Ward basis.  Your participation and feedback are vital to the success of this service.  We thank you for your efforts and support in making the City of St. Louis a cleaner and greener place to live.

Additional Information

Why Implement Residential Recycling Pick-Up Service?

The City of St. Louis Refuse Division collects approximately 200,000 tons of waste each year (i.e., from City residents, City Government facilities and public spaces, special events, etc.).  Annually, this is costing our City almost $7 million in landfill tipping fees.  To collect solid waste from our City's residences, we manage about 30,000 trash dumpsters (brown, 300- to 600-gallon) that are located in alleys, and about 20,000 trash rollcarts (green, 96-gallon) that are located on streets and in alleys.  In 2010, from just those residential alley and curb dumpsters and rollcarts, we landfilled 140,494 tons of solid waste, costing us $4,854,051 in just fees to bury that waste in the landfill.  By reducing the amount of waste that we generate, reusing materials as many times as possible, and recycling these resources, we can avoid those landfill tipping fees.

We understand that many residents are still willing to use drop-off recycling sites, which continues to be an option.  However, some residents don't have the physical ability, vehicles, time, etc. to use drop-off recycling service.  Therefore, to increase the likelihood that residents will recycle instead of throwing valuable resources in the trash, it's important that we offer pick-up recycling service.

Recycling Benefits

• Recycling avoids disposal costs.  We pay a fee for each ton of waste we bury in a landfill.
• Recycling conserves energy.  It is more energy-efficient to manufacture with recyclable resources than virgin materials.
• Recycling minimizes pollution.  Manufacturing with recyclable resources causes less pollution (i.e., air, water, soil) than virgin materials.
• Recycling creates more jobs.  Every one job in a landfill equals about ten jobs in a Materials Recovery Facility where recyclables are processed.
• Recycling minimizes litter and illegal dumping, because those materials have value (e.g., someone buys them; someone accepts them without any fee; someone has a use for them, even if they don't buy them, etc.).
  

Flyers, Brochures, and Presentations

Feel free to photocopy and distribute the flyers and brochures listed below (e.g., New Resident or Welcome packets), post them on your website, include them in your newsletters, etc.  We can also provide you (e.g., to distribute to your neighbors, street, block, etc.) with print copies; simply let us know which ones, how many you need, when you need them, and where to send them.  We also bring print copies with us to meetings, special events, etc.

• "New Service - Residential Recycling Pick-Up!" brochure - PDF 
  
• "Your New Recycling Service" tri-fold - PDF
• • This flyer is U.S. Mailed to each household after blue recycling dumpsters and/or rollcarts have been delivered.  Additionally, when each blue recycling rollcart is delivered, one of these tri-folds is clipped to the inside of the rollcart lid.
    
• "Help Yourself, Your Neighborhood, Your City" flyer - PDF
  
• "Residential Recycling Pick-Up Service" postcard - PDF
  
• "Residential Recycling Pick-Up Service" presentation - PDF
• • This PowerPoint presentation lasts approximately 20 minutes, plus the amount of time you would want to set aside for a question and answer session.  To schedule this presentations, please contact the Citizens' Service Bureau (CSB) as noted below, under the "Contact Information" section.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about our outreach, education, and promotion methods for this new residential recycling pick-up service, please contact the Recycling Program.

Is There A Recycling Fee?

As of July 2010, a fee of $11.00 per household/unit per month is charged to households using Refuse Division services.  These services include twice-per-week solid waste pickup, once-per-week yard waste pick-up, once-per-month bulky (e.g., furniture) and B.O.A.T. (i.e., automotive batteries, motor oil, appliances, tires) pick-up, and once-per-month drop-off of one standard pick-up truck load of any of the above materials at one of our Transfer Stations.

For answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" about the new solid waste services fee, please visit http://stlcin.missouri.org/collector/refuse-fee-department-faq.cfm.

Buy Recycled Products

Continue the Cycle

To fully recycle, you must also buy products that are made from post-consumer recycled materials.  True recycling is a closed-loop system.  If you're not buying post-consumer recycled content products, there are no markets for your recyclables, so collecting them becomes pointless.

Fortunately, there are already many post-consumer recycled content products available for you to purchase.  Simply check the packaging of the products you buy.  Look specifically for "post-consumer recycled content" on the labels.  Wherever you shop, ask for post-consumer recycled content products.  For more information about where you can buy post-consumer recycled content products, visit our website at http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/street/refuse/recycle/buy.cfm.

Other Recycling Pick-Up

Since the 1990s, the City of St. Louis has offered automotive battery, motor oil, and appliance recycling.  Residents can place them out for once-per-month collection with bulky materials.  Check the signage on your trash/yard waste dumpster/rollcart for your regular Bulky/B.O.A.T. collection week (e.g., 1st Monday, 2nd Monday, etc.).  Bulky/B.O.A.T. must be placed behind your property/at your curb (not in, on, or around alley/curb dumpsters/rollcarts) by 6:00 a.m. on the Monday of your regularly scheduled collection week.  Details about this service are posted on our website at http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/street/refuse/bulky-boat-items.cfm.

Contact Information

To Request A Service, Report A Problem, And/Or Offer A Compliment

For Questions or Comments (That Are Not Service Requests or Problem Reports)

Funding Sources

This Residential Recycling Pick-Up Service has been made possible by funding from the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the City of St. Louis.