Acceptable Items for Recycling
Rumpke Recycling offers residential customers a convenient, comprehensive recycling program to enhance the recycling effort and reduce the amount of material sent to the landfill.
While the full list of acceptable materials may vary slightly in some locations, residents can typically recycle the following:
- Glass Bottles & Jars (all colors)
- Metal Cans: Aluminum cans, steel cans and lids, empty aerosol cans with the lids and tips removed
- Plastic Bottles (empty, crush, reattach lid): Bottles and jugs that have a small mouth and wider base, such as milk jugs, soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles, water bottles, shampoo bottles and contact solution bottles
- Plastic Tubs: Containers for butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, Jello and fruit slices would fall into the tub category. Lids should be reattached prior to recycling
- Plastic Cups* (remove/discard straw, reattach lid): Fast food beverage cups
- Paper: newspaper, magazines, cardboard, mixed office paper and envelopes, paperboard (cereal boxes), pizza boxes free of food debris and grease, telephone books and catalogs
- Paper Cups (remove/discard lids, straws and stoppers): Fast food beverage cups, coffee cups, Dixie cups
- Cartons: food and beverage cartons, such as milk, juice, soup, wine, broth and other cartons.
*No cups will be accepted in Central Kentucky
See more on plastic recycling.
Recycling Tips
- Mix all items together – no separation required
- Empty all bottles, jugs and cans
- No need to remove labels
- For plastic bottles, empty, crush and reattach lids
- For cartons, remove plastic caps and straws
- NEVER place medical sharps or needles in the recycling
- DON’T use plastic bags
NOT for Recycling
No plastic bags, cassette tapes, bed sheets, hangers, metal chains, garden hoses, batteries, needles, syringes, electronics, polystyrene foam, buckets, car parts, food, yard waste, light bulbs, drinking glasses, ceramics, pots, pans, and scrap metal.
If you are in need of a flyer detailing accepted recyclables, you can find a printout here.
To see what happens to your recyclables, check out these videos.
