Background

St. Louis (pop. 318,172) has introduced a major overhaul to its residential recycling program recently, providing residents ease by introducing single-stream collection for residents of both single-family and multiunit homes. Single-family home residents are provided a 96-gallon blue roll cart to place curbside, while multifamily buildings offer at least one 480-gallon alley dumpster for collection of recyclables.

Materials recycled

Paper Including mixed paper, telephone books, soft-cover books, catalogs, glossy paper, flyers, paper inserts, mixed paper, envelopes, folders, wrapping paper (without foil), packing paper, flattened paper stock, flattened corrugated cardboard, flattened paperboard, flattened chipboard and rinsed aseptic packaging (juice boxes, milk cartons, etc.; cannot be lined with wax, plastic or foil). Plastics Plastic containers numbered 1 through 5 and 7 (caps or lids not marked with the aforementioned numbers not accepted). Plastic bags are not accepted. Metals Including aluminum bottles, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, aluminum trays and plates, aluminum pull tabs/tops, steel bottles and cans, empty aerosol cans and steel lids (all must be rinsed/cleaned). Glass Any glass containers (rinsed, no lids or caps)

Frequency

Curbside pick-up occurs on a weekly basis (a collection schedule is available online). Recycling dumpster pick-up coincides with the first day of trash pick-up of the week for the area (trash is picked up twice weekly). Roll cart pick-up is on a designated day per week. Roll carts must be placed curbside by 5:30 a.m. day of collection and returned on property by 11 p.m. day of collection. Carts must be placed at least 5 feet from any obstructions and cannot weigh more than 100 pounds.

Other programs

Monthly bulk item pick-up is offered by the city. Items like automotive batteries, motor oil and appliances are placed curbside (on property) for pick-up on the designated day. More information is available here. The city also offers more than 50 drop-off recycling locations that accept any of the above items for recycling. Most are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A full listing is available on the city website.

More information

Visit the City of St. Louis Recycling Program website for more recycling program info.