How to Recycle: Paper

As always, when looking to see if we accept certain items or not, please be sure to consult your area location page.

     papertypes

Accepted and Not Accepted items are determined by what your Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) will and will not take. This is not to say that some of these common items are not recyclable at all, just generally not accepted with curbside recycling. We are developing a hard-to-recycle items program called Recyclops+ that is currently available in select areas. Here is a general list of paper items that are accepted in most areas:

  • Office Paper, Index Cards, & Post-it Notespaper2
  • Greeting Cards & Announcements 
  • icons-27Non-Glossy or Semi-Gloss Gift Wrapping paper (no high shine, metallic foil, or glitter wrap)
  • Packing papernewspaper2
  • Construction Paper & Cardstock
  • Paperboard items i.e. cereal boxes, snack boxes, cosmetic boxes, etc. 
    • These items must be bagged in order to be collected. This is not considered as cardboard that can be left outside of the bags
  • Junk Mail, Letters, & Envelopes
  • Magazines & Newspaper
  • Books (hardcovers removed) 
  • Paper Pamphlets 

Please ensure that all items are free from any contaminating residues (inks & glues are okay) and food debris for collection and bagged in the designated 13-gallon blue/teal Recyclops bags (if required by your area). 

Pro Tips:

  • Crush your paper items to save space in your Recyclops bags
  • Spread out paper items amongst bags to decrease chances of one bag being weighed down by large amounts of paper items
  • Opt for electronic copies vs. paper 
  • Opt out of mailer lists to reduce intake of junk mail
  • Keep a stack of scrap paper to reduce usage of new paper and reuse old paper