Effective Saturday, June 15, 2019, Howard County’s Department of Public Works’ Bureau of Environmental Services will no longer accept curbside recycling placed in plastic bags. Items should be placed loose in the county assigned recycling bin/cart. Any plastic bagged recyclables will not be collected curbside.
Plastic bags and plastic film foul machinery, getting wrapped around recycling equipment and jamming the screens. Small plastic fragments also become air- and water-borne litter. Due to these factors, our contracted processor no longer accepts plastic bags. This includes loose and bundled plastic bags. The regional marketplace has contributed to this change.
County residents will be receiving a postcard in the mail alerting them of this change.
In addition, the Alpha Ridge Landfill Residents’ Convenience Center will no longer accept items for recycling bagged in plastic. If you choose to transport your items in a plastic bag, please empty your items into the recycling compactor and take the bag with you.
County residents who wish to recycle their clean plastic bags and film may do so at participating local grocery stores, big box stores and other retailers who have collection bins set up, normally inside the store’s front entrance.
Click on the map for plastic bag & film recycling locations near you!
When in doubt, leave it out (of the blue bin)
Quality is the key to successful recycling!