I live in an apartment complex, and we don't have any recycling programs here! There used to be a few public recycling dumpsters nearby, but they took them away. I think too many people were dumping their trash there and not recycling. I feel so horrible throwing away newspapers, bottles and other things that could be recycled, but we don't have any other options.

So, how are the recycling programs near you? Hopefully better than here!

We have trash dumpsters, recycling dumpsters and green waste dumpsters where I live (CA).

The small town where I live in Mo just brought back the recyling dumpsters. But they just do glass,cans, and plastic. I guess that's better than nothing. 

I'm not very impressed with our recycling, but it is better than nothing.  I would love it if they started a curbside pickup program, but they keep saying that there is no public interest in it.  So now I have to drive it all to the recycling center every week or 2.

They take:

Any paper

Cardboard

1 & 2 plastics (no bags or other #s)

"tin" cans

The do not take glass, which bugs me (but I can understand).

Electronics and hazardous items are taken once a year by the Toyota plant in our town.

I thought mine wasn't very good - but I am beginning to see that I don't have it too bad.

We have curb pickup of glass, #1 and #2 plastic, aluminium cans, cardboard and paper.Most of the warmer months  they also pick up yard waste and compost it.

Recycling is mandatory where I live. There's no curbside pickup for anything - recycling or trash - which is a pain, but not too much of a problem, since I lve about two minutes from the recycling center (which also takes trash).

Curb pickup, which is nice.  If the company that did it wasn't so sleazy I'd be happy.  As far as I know they recycle properly, but their business practices are iffy.

We recycle a couple types of plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, newspaper.

There is somewhere in town we can also take our lawn wastes.  It annoys me because they charge both for dropping stuff off and for buying the resulting mulch.  I think one of the two should be free.   So I wait and send mine the couple weeks they do curbside for free.

Because I live near the center of the city, curbside recycling is not available (there are dumpsters in the alley).  There used to be a newspaper recycling bin at the supermarket, but they took that away.  My only option is to take all the paper (don't really get much plastic), etc. to a recycling center.  The closest one would be about 30 minutes away so I have to balance recycling and using up more gas, or not recycling paper/plastic products. 

[Sorry...nothing was happening when I went to submit the post above,  so clicked again and it entered it twice!]

It did it again!!!. 

We have large round cans for yard, recycling and trash.   In the recycling you can put almost anything except plastic bags and sterofoam.   In the recyling one you just throw it all in together and the machines sort it.    It's great but we also pay a pretty penny for it. 

Here in the Coral Gables area of Miami we have a decent recycling program.  They accept aluminum, glass, tin cans, newspaper, and some cardboard at the curb.  The grocery stores in the area all have receptacles for plastic bags.  I am having difficulty finding a place to recycle paper and my paper board stuff like creal boxes.  Not bad though for being a city, the program here is a hell a lot better than in Chicago.

What is the program in Chicago?  I didn't think we had any kind of recycling.  I'd be interested in figuring it out though!

I did not see any form of public recycling in Chicago and that is why I mentioned it.  I use a lot of sarcasm. 

It is a shame in Chicago because they have alleys for trash collection which could easily accomodate a recycle bin or two.  There are also many empty areas and the city could easily find some space for public drop bins.  I guess it was just a question of money for the city and they went for bottom line over going green.

Here in South Texas, we have green recycling bins that we put out at the curb every other week.  We can recycle newspaper, mixed paper and cardboard, plastic #1 & 2, and tin cans.    They no longer take glass.  

Each home owner gets one bin but you can go and buy more.   I have a total of 4 bins that I set out.    Our largest item to recycle is mixed paper, which includes all junk mail once I get the name/account info etc. cut off/shredded, I recycle all the rest of the junk mail.    There are only about 3 houses on this entire street that recycle.    At our house - we keep them in business.    It is amazing how much cardboard and mixed paper we get.  And pet food cans, soup cans, etc.  

Aluminum cans we save and bag and take them to the recycling center.   Right now they only pay 30 cents a pound but we still take our cans in.  I wish Texas would do things the way my home state (Vermont) does with the deposit and return.

i live in the country but the town closest to where i live has a recycling center with dumpsters lined up for cardboard, newspapers and mags, paper, #2 plastic and #1 plastic, tin cans, aluminum cans, glass, and shopping bags. you just drive up and sort your stuff and put it in the designated dumpsters. they do have curbside pickup also, but i take mine in myself since i live in the country. it has cut down a lot on our trash bill! also we have a bus that is called recycle to ride and you pay in cans, etc to be recycled instead of money. it is neat!

Here in central FL, we have curbside recycling (once a week)  for paper (newspaper, magazines, junk mail, that sort of thing), aluminum cans, tin cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars.  Also once a week, the yard trash (clippings, branches, etc) get picked up.  Plastic bags (when they do make their way into the house), stryrofoam egg cartons and vegetable trays and paper bags get recycled at the supermarket.  I'd say we're doing as well as most, even if it's not up to CA standards.

Our city in Utah instituted mandatory recycling a few years ago. This means that in addition to the black garbage cans for regular trash, every household has pay for a blue can for recyclables as well. Of, course, whether a family actually chooses to use the blue reclycling can is up to them, but I always see a lot of blue cans on the curb on trash day.

I moved about a year ago and the town I moved to has less recycling than I'm used to. They don't recycle styrofoam or bigger pieces of cardboard here, so I gave a lot of my moving boxes away and plan to put the rest on Craigslist or Freecycle sometime. I found out about a place nearby that reuses foam takeout containers, so I will have to load up the car sometime. And I shop at a local organic foods co-op that does some recyling and reusing of egg cartons, yogurt containers, batteries, etc. so I take those there.

I'm surprised and disappointed to hear about the number of communities in our country that have such poor recycling programs.  We just moved to a new town and their recycling program is phenomenal!  After reading several of your posts, I feel lucky. 

We have weekly curbside pickup for our trash and recycling.  We're limited to one 32 gallon trash can a week which, in a lot of ways, is nice - you either limit your trash or you pay extra to have it hauled away.  On the other hand, you can put out as many recycling containers as you please.  They take plastics #1-7, glass, aluminim, steel, newspaper, cardboard (incl. cereal boxes, pizza boxes, etc), office paper, magazines, junk mail - you name it, they seem willing to collect it. 

The borough also has several dates throughout the year (almost once a month I believe) that they have curbside pickup of green waste (tree branches, grass clippings, weeds, leaves, etc).  Two or three times a year they have curbside pickup of white goods (appliances) as well. 

Even still, our county waste program offers a drive-thru drop off facility near the county seat that takes any kind of hazardous waste you may have like paints, oil, lawn & garden chemicals, light bulbs, tvs, computers, batteries, etc.

These other towns, cities, boroughs really need to get on board.  Why should their citizens be responsible people if they're not willing to set the example first? My recommendation - if you don't like your community's recycling program - SPEAK UP!

They take plastics #1-7, glass, aluminim, steel, newspaper, cardboard (incl. cereal boxes, pizza boxes, etc), office paper, magazines, junk mail - you name it, they seem willing to collect it.

Excellent. Ours has recently improved to accept almost most of these. They won't take pizza boxes and many food containers, though.

The post office here in Coral Gable, FL now has locked garbage cans for the recyclling of mail which is part of the Read, Respond, Recycle program.  I read on the USPS web site that there are a bunch of these bins placed in POs around the U.S.  I bring all of my paper to be recyled to the PO now because of the convenience and lack of anywhere else to recyle paper and such.

The bins in my PO are located in the 24 hour lobby so it is most convenient to drop off my books to be sent out and to recycle my papers and wrappers anytime I want.

Go check it out.

My husband is in charge of the recyling for our county; quite frankly, I never knew our county had a recycling program until he took this position!  The city we leave near has a recyle center, but it's not really public knowledge that our county(we are a rural area) had a program!

So now, of course, we recycle everything we can!  I'd suggest calling your city or county officials, and ask them what programs are out there.  My husband takes recycle trailers to various small towns through-out our county, on a schedule; I've discovered that many in our area didn't know this.  We didn't, until he took the position.

I have to admit that I get tired of the various containers we have in the garage, but hey...I'm a big believer in being green!  So I deal with it!

Kathy, RVT