Residential Recycling Services

We care about a cleaner environment and are increasing our efforts to make recycling in your area easier and more convenient. Please note: Anything outside of your container is considered extra waste and will not be removed unless the account owner has contacted the office beforehand to request pickup.

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Residential Recycling

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Check the recycling service availability in your area and get a clear pricing structure.

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Start your journey towards a greener lifestyle with our recycling program.

We’re proud that each year most of our customers recycle! Our customers have two different ways to recycle, determined by their community. While the shift toward single stream recycling makes recycling incredibly easy (single stream = all items going into one bin or cart) a few of our service areas are serviced by the co-mingle or dual-stream system. No matter how you recycle, when Mountain Waste & Recycling picks up your recyclables, they are taken away to one of two sorting centers that are as far away as Denver, Colorado.

‍Please note: Anything outside of your container is considered extra waste and will not be removed unless the account owner has contacted the office beforehand to request pickup.

Roaring Fork Valley Communities

The recyclables we collect from Aspen through Glenwood Springs to Silt are taken to a single-stream sorting facility in Denver –Altogether Recycling (about 180 miles away). Using just one collection bin for all your recyclable items increases the ease and convenience of recycling so that more people participate and more resources are saved also making recycling easier for you — at home or at work. Material Recovery Facilities (called MRFs, which rhymes with “smurfs”) have gotten pretty good at doing that sorting for you with a combination of machines and human manpower.

For a look behind the scenes, watch this video of the MRF that serves the Roaring Fork Valley.

Rifle Area

A large portion of the Rifle Colorado community is still serviced with the dual-stream system. This means that residents keep paper in one container and other recyclables—such as plastic and metal—in another. These recyclables are taken to the Eagle County processing center in Wolcott, CO (about 60 miles away). This facility requires us to sort all recyclables into two major groups:

- Fiber (paper, cardboard, cereal boxes, etc.)
- Co-mingle (plastic, glass and metal mixed together)

In both cases, recyclables collected on route are loaded into a larger truck and hauled to one of the two processing centers. We reduce transportation costs and fuel use, as well as improve operation efficiency, through the transfer station, which helps ensure trucks are full on each trip to the processing center. We are working toward using only the single-stream method to collect recyclables; for now, we will continue to use two methods.

Please Recycle

Newspapers (including inserts)
Mixed paper
Phone books
Steel or tin cans (rinsed)
Aluminum foil
Plastic milk jug (with caps)
Corrugated cardboard (flattened)
Chipboard (cereal and tissue boxes)
Plastic #1-6 (if not labeled do not recycle)
Empty aerosol cans
Pie tins
Magazines
Office paper
Brown paper bags
Aluminum cans (do not crush)
Glass bottles and jars (rinsed)
Detergent bottles
Bulk or junk mail
Clam shells #1-6 (No PLA)

Download your recycling guide here!

‍Recyclable Guidelines Spanish | Recyclable Guidelines English

Things to Keep Out of Recycling Bins

Please, NO PLASTIC BAGS. We cannot accept them, and they gum up the processing machines. Even if other recyclables are put inside a plastic bag, we still cannot take them. Plastic bags among otherwise recyclable materials can cause us to have to dump the entire batch of recyclables into the landfill instead of taking the load to the processing facility.

NO Plastic bags!!!
NO Packing material (bubbles, plastic, foam…etc.)
NO Shredded paper
NO Food
NO Broken glass & dishes
NO Styrofoam
NO Scrap metal
NO Light bulbs
NO Caps and lids (loose)

NO Pizza boxes
NO Hazardous waste
NO Electronics (call for electronics options)
NO Plastic plates, forks, spoons or knives
NO Six pack holders
NO Oils, paints, or batteries
NO Hazardous or bio-hazardous waste products such as needles or syringes
NO ceramics or Pyrex containers
NO Windshield glass

We cannot recycle things like: bowling balls, couches, radios and electronics, clothing, chain link fencing, most athletic equipment, or houseplants. If you have furniture that’s in relatively good condition, consider donating it to Habitat For Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley, taking it to a nearby thrift store, listing it on local internet sites where people sell and trade goods, or giving your well-used couch to a person in college whose front porch is un-cushioned.

Helpful Tips on Recycling Certain Products

Not sure whether the item is recyclable or not? Here are some quick rules of thumb to consider for each type of material many would consider recyclable:

‍Plastics: Only recycle plastic bottles and tubs. This is typically a #1 through #7 plastic and only pertains to the bottles and tubs. Here are some examples of plastic bottles that are okay to recycle:
‍

Soda, water, and juice bottles
Liquid detergent and other cleaning supply bottles
Condiment bottles (ketchup, mustard, etc)
Milk jugs and orange juice jugs (no paper cartons)
Shampoo bottles and liquid soap dispensers
Peanut butter jars (please rinse out)
Butter and yogurt tubs

Steel: Please make sure any aerosol cans are completely empty. This includes containers such as shaving cream and hairspray cans. Labels are okay.

‍Office Paper: All types of office paper are accepted. If you can tear it, we can take it. All colors are fine as well. Don’t worry about paper clips, staples, tape, and sticky notes. These are all okay in the mix. NO TYVEK (polyethylene fiber) plastic or overnight mailing folders.

‍Bulk or Junk Mail: This material is okay as well. Do not worry about any stamps or staples or sticky notes in this material, either. Remember, if you can tear it, we can take it. Again, NO TYVEK (polyethylene fiber) plastic or overnight mailing folders.

‍Magazines, Catalogs, Phone Books: Please discard plastic bags around these items and items such as CDs and magnets. Everything else is okay.

With Single-Stream Recycling, You No Longer Have to Sort

We currently provide Single-Stream recycling as a part of our recycling program from Aspen to New Castle. Silt and Rifle Remain on Dual-Stream recycling and will transition to Single-Stream recycling in the future.

Single Stream recycling allows all recycling to be placed in one container with sorting done at the recycling plant. This makes it easier for anyone to make recycling part of their daily routine.

With Dual-Stream recycling, residents use one container for paper and another container for all other recyclables.

Recycling Costs

This area of the country poses transportation challenges when it comes to recycling. There are no local processing centers, which means we have to transport loads of recycling materials at least 60 miles to the nearest sorting center. Additionally, these locations charge a fee to deposit recycling materials, which is based on weight. The more we bring to recycle, the more it costs. Much of the material collected in the Roaring Fork Valley must be sent to other cities where it is further prepared for ultimate re-use or taken to manufacturing facilities directly. All of these factors affect the cost of our recycling service.

Learn more about the Challenges of Recycling

Mountain Waste is fully committed to doing our part for the planet by reducing waste and recycling by providing affordable convenient recycling services to customers throughout the area.