DPW Unveils Online Tool to Help Residents Recycle Right

Celebrating America Recycles Day, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) is pleased to unveil its Recycle Right web feature. When residents are in doubt about what to place in their recycling container, a quick visit to the Recycle Right web feature can point them in the right direction.

This new web feature helps residents quickly figure out which items to set out for single-stream curbside recycling collection or to drop off at one of DPW’s convenience centers, the Quarantine Road Landfill, or on a Household Hazardous Waste collection day.

“With the new Recycle Right web feature, residents can help make sure that accepted items are placed in weekly single-stream recycling collections, helping to reduce the City’s recycling contamination rate,” said DPW Director Rudolph S. Chow, P.E.

Contaminated recycling further increases the City’s processing costs at a time when the recycling market faces economic pressure. Plastic-bagged recyclables account for the majority of the City's recycling contaminants.

“The best way to reduce the City’s recycling contamination rate is to keep plastic bags out of recycling containers,” the DPW Director said. “Don’t use plastic bags as your recycling containers, and please don’t dispose of plastic grocery bags and plastic films in your containers.”

Additional sources of contamination include clamshell containers, Styrofoam, and bottles and jars that are not empty, tanglers (i.e., electrical cords, hoses, Christmas lights), and clothing.