Who can use the Hillsborough County curbside recycling program?

Hillsborough County offers curbside recycling to all single-family homes within unincorporated Hillsborough County. Recycling collection is once per week.
(Unincorporated Hillsborough County includes the following general areas: Odessa, Lutz, Citrus Park, West Chase, New Tampa, Town N’ Country, Forest Hills, Lithia, Fishhawk, Thonotosassa, Lake Magdalene, Seffner, Valrico, Brandon, Gibsonton, Apollo Beach, Sun City Center, Ruskin, Wimauma, Dover , Balm and Durant.)

If you are a resident of the City of Tampa, visit this Web site to learn about recycling in your neighborhood.

If you are a resident of the City of Temple Terrace, visit this Web site to learn about recycling in your neighborhood.

If you are a resident of the City of Plant City, visit this Web site to learn about recycling in your neighborhood.

How do I find out if I live in unincorporated Hillsborough County?

To find out if you are eligible to receive curbside recycling service from Hillsborough County, visit this Web site.
Once there, enter your home address into the fields provided. If you live in Hillsborough County, the program will pull up information on your home and let you know who your service provider is and when your recycling and trash collection days are.

Or, you can call (813) 272-5680. Here is a map that will show you Hillsborough County’s recycling service areas.

I do not live in Hillsborough County. Can I still recycle?

Absolutely! Go to www.earth911.org and use their zip code search feature to find out how to recycle in your neighborhood.

Where can I find information about other recycling programs in the area?

Visit www.earth911.org to find out general information about recycling all over Tampa Bay, the state and even the country! For information specific to the area, see below.

• You can find out information about the City of Tampa’s recycling program by visiting this Web site.
• You can find out information about the City of Temple Terrace’s recycling program by visiting this Web site.
• You can find out information about Plant City’s recycling program by visiting this Web site.

I live in Hillsborough County, but I live in an apartment complex.
Can I participate in the County’s curbside recycling program?

At this time, only residents living in single-family homes are eligible to receive curbside recycling service. HOWEVER, some apartment and condo complexes have a drop-off center on the property that will accept recyclable materials. Contact the management office to find out more. If they don’t have one, try organizing your neighbors to encourage the property owner or manager to offer this service in your community. To see more information on how to start a recycling program, visit this Web site.

What other recycling services are offered in Hillsborough County?

The County has two recycling drop-off locations:

Hillsborough Heights Facility
6209 Mango Road
Seffner, FL 33584
Phone: (813) 744-5533

Northwest County Facility
8001 W. Linebaugh Ave
Tampa, FL 33625
Phone: (813) 264-3816
 
These facilities are open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 am - 5:30 pm and accept the same materials as our curbside recycling program.

What if I have more questions about recycling in Hillsborough County?

If you have questions about our curbside recycling program or about recycling in general, please visit our contact us page.

How do I get my curbside recycling bins?

We offer two bins for curbside recycling, a blue bin and a green bin. The green bin is for containers like bottles and cans and the blue bin is for paper items like magazines and newspaper. If you don’t have bins – not to worry! Ordering a set of FREE bins, or even replacement bins is a snap. Go here to complete your request on-line.

When do I put my recycling bins out at the curb?

Curbside recycling is picked up once a week, excluding major holidays. Go to this Web site to look-up your recycling collection day.

What can I recycle?

The County provides two recycling bins for curbside collection: blue and green, to make separation easy. By separating your materials into these two containers you are helping our collectors more efficiently collect and process materials and helping to keep program costs down. Thank you in advance for your help!

Blue Bin: (Think: Paper)
• Newspaper and Newspaper inserts – remove any plastic wrappings.
• Magazines, catalogs and telephone books
• Junk mail and envelopes – remove any plastic wrapping and non-paper items
• Office paper – contain all shredded paper in brown paper bags
• Corrugated cardboard – flatten and cut to a maximum of 3 ft. squares
• Paperboard – thin cardboard like cereal boxes, shoe boxes and soda and beer cartons
• Paper bags
• NO: pizza boxes, frozen food boxes, milk or juice cartons

Green Bin: (Think: Containers)
• Aluminum and steel food and beverage cans
• Remove all caps and lids and place them in trash
• Labels on cans and bottles do NOT have to be removed
• Plastic bottles and jugs - with necks or screw-on caps (Numbers 1 and 2 only)
• Check the bottom of the container for the number
• Glass bottles and jars – clear, brown and green
• NO: aluminum foil or foil containers, plastic or metal hangers, household batteries, Styrofoam, or plastic bags

What if I lose or damage my recycling bin(s)? Can I get a replacement?

Yes! We ask that each household limit their use of bins to just what you need (they should ONLY be used for recycling!), but if one needs to be replaced or is damaged, you can order a new one on-line.

What holidays do you not offer recycling collection?

Occasionally, your designated recycling collection day will fall on a holiday. If this occurs, you may place twice the amount of recyclables out on your next scheduled recycling collection day. For example, if your recycling day is on a Monday, the FOLLOWING Monday, you may place out as much recycling as you have. If it’s been awhile, this may even mean using a separate container (like a large plastic storage bin), if your bins are full, which is ok, as long as our drivers can tell it is for recycling and do not take it as trash.

Official County holidays are:
• New Year’s Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas Day

Why recycle?

Environmental issues and “going green” have gotten a lot of attention lately. Everyone agrees that something must be done NOW to minimize the impact we are having on the environment. But what many may not know is that recycling is one of the easiest and cheapest ways for people to go green.

Consider this:
• Every year, Americans trash over 180 BILLION tons of recyclable materials like newspapers and aluminum cans. That equals $6.4 billion dollars, 540 billion cubic yards of landfill space and $12 billion in lost energy!
• The EPA estimates 66 percent of the materials we trash every day could be recycled. Only approximately 25 percent actually is being recycled.
• Every year, we waste one billion trees by throwing away our newspapers and other paper products.
• Recycling 35 percent of our trash would reduce global warming emissions equal to taking 36 million cars off the road.

Aren’t there any better ways to help the environment?

There are tons of ways to help the environment including reusing shopping bags, walking or biking to work or taking shorter showers. But recycling truly is the easiest way to minimize your environmental footprint. As a resident of Hillsborough County, you have access to curbside recycling that is weekly and convenient. Why not take advantage of that?

Isn't Recycling Hard?

Recycling really just takes a simple adjustment in your daily habit. Just think before you throw, “Can this material be recycled?” Put your recycling bins right next to your trash can, so you’ll be reminded to recycle every time you go to throw something away. Not sure what materials are recyclable? Check out our brochure. Or, just look above!

Does recycling have other benefits, like saving water?

When you recycle, you are helping the environment in many ways, including conserving water. And we all know that every drop counts! Recycling also helps extend the life of our landfills, among other benefits that you can read about here.

Consider this:
• A ton of paper made from recycled fibers conserves 7,000 gallons of water.
• Recycling 5 lbs of paper will conserve enough water to “offset” the water used in a typical shower.
• Last year, Hillsborough County recycled over 20,344 tons of paper. By recycling this much paper, we saved 142.4 million gallons of water. That’s enough water to fill almost 6,000 swimming pools! How’s that for getting your feet wet?
• Last year, Hillsborough County residents recycled enough materials to save 91,000 cubic yards of landfill space.

Do you have any recycling tips?

Sure, we have lots. Try these on for size:

• Make sure you have enough bins to collect everything you recycle in a week. Each household gets two bins (blue and green). You can also ask for a new set if yours get damaged.
• Keep your bins in a kitchen pantry or by a trash can so they are convenient for family members.
• Set out bins in high-traffic areas at parties to encourage guests to recycle—and make your clean-up easier!
• Keep a small grocery bag in your car to bring in recyclables such as cans and water bottles so they don’t get trashed.

Where do the recyclables collected at the curb go?

When recyclables are picked up from your house they go to several processing facilities around the area, depending on who your collector is. There they are sorted, prepared for markets and shipped to various paper mills and plastic, glass or aluminum plants around the region. For a child-friendly description of the recycling “loop”, check out these materials developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

I saw a truck that looked like a trash truck, collect my recyclables. Is Hillsborough County taking my recyclables to the landfill?

Absolutely not! We take recycling seriously and so do the three companies we have partnered with to collect your trash and recyclables. Many recycling trucks resemble trash tucks so do not be alarmed. Even if you see them combining your recycling before it goes in the truck, don’t be alarmed. One of our three collectors (Waste Management) actually does that because they are able to process them all together at their facility in Orlando. This is known as “single-stream” recycling. Not all of our collectors are able to offer that at this time so we ask that you still separate out your recyclables.

Where can I find more facts about recycling in Hillsborough County?

We’re so glad you asked! Check out some printer-friendly facts here.

Can I still participate in the "Famous Bins" contest?

The contest closed on November 30, 2009 at 11:59 pm. Winners will be notified by December 11, 2009. To see a list of the "Famous Bins" click here.