What We Do and Why We Do It

The Department of Public Works manages two recycling programs:

•  Residential Recycling Collection 
•  Commercial Recycling Education and Enforcement.

Most items that we use every day especially containers, are made of materials that can be used again. The more residents and businesses recycle, the less trash the city sends to landfills and incinerators, and that helps create a healthier environment.

For its residential program, DPW adopted “single stream” recycling, which put an end to the tedious chore of separating paper products from glass, plastic and metal items. This best practice helped boost the recycling diversion rate. Recyclables are taken to the materials recycling facility (MRF) where they are separated and prepared for market. To arrange a trip to the MRF, call (202) 673-6833 weekdays between 8:30 am and 4 pm. In 2007, DPW sifted through 16 tons of trash looking for gold, in the form of recyclables. And we found many missed opportunities to recycle – 22 percent of items thrown away by residents with DPW collection service are recyclables accepted by the District’s recycling program. This survey was conducted after beginning single stream recycling, which means convenience is only one aspect of motivating residents to recycle. Increasing paper and metal recycling offers the greatest opportunities to increase the residential recycling diversion rate. In fact, if all possible materials were recycled, our diversion rate could rise from 17 percent to 36 percent. What’s the next step? Challenge yourself and your family to increase what you recycle. Add a new item to your bin or cart each week, especially aluminum beverage cans and cardboard such as cereal boxes and paper towel and tissue rolls. You might find that you recycle more than what you throw away.

For Residents

DPW provides free recycling collection for single-family homes and small residential buildings (with up to three living units). To make it easier for residents to recycle, most areas of the District have been provided with a free blue, 32-gallon mini-Supercan container. Residents with narrow alleys and limited outdoor storage space use recycling bins provided for free by the District. If you need an additional or replacement cart or bin, call the Mayor’s Citywide Call Center at 311. In once-a-week trash collection neighborhoods, recycling is collected the same day as your trash. In twice-weekly trash collection neighborhoods, recycling is collected on either the first or second collection day. DPW has provided a Twice-Weekly Collection: Recycling Boundary Map* that displays your street’s recycling schedule.

For Businesses

By law, recycling is required in all commercial establishments – including residential buildings with four or more apartments, retail and grocery stores of all sizes, office buildings, churches and schools/colleges. DPW’s commercial recycling investigators educate the business community on the city’s recycling laws and work with them to develop a recycling plan that will help them conserve natural resources. Fines are assessed for violating the District’s recycling laws. The fine amounts are printed on the ticket. If your building does not recycle, please call the DPW Recycling Office at (202) 645-8245 to learn what you can do. Business owners and building managers may go to www.recycle.dpw.dc.gov, then click on “Commercial Recycling” for information about establishing a recycling plan and a list of licensed recycling haulers.

Public Space Recycling

DPW, in partnership with the Capitol Hill and Downtown DC Business Improvement Districts (BID), began two public space recycling pilot programs in 2008. There are six recycling cans in the Capitol Hill BID and 25 in the Downtown DC BID, which are blue and are co-located with trash receptacles. These initiatives target busy commercial areas where significant amounts of recyclable materials are being deposited in trash receptacles and entering the waste stream. The recycling receptacles look similar to the current street litter cans but have a special lid with signage indicating they are for recycling only. The containers will accept paper, aluminum cans, and plastic and glass bottles.

What to Recycle

The District recycles:

• Aerosol cans
• Aluminum foil and aluminum pie pans
• Aluminum food and beverage containers
• Books (including paperbacks, textbooks, and hardbacks)
• Brown paper bags (Kraft)
• Cardboard and paperboard boxes (including cereal boxes without liners)
• Computer printouts
• Corrugated cardboard boxes
• Ferrous and bimetal food and beverage containers
• Glass containers such as jars and bottles
• Junk mail
• Magazines and catalogs
• Milk and juice cartons
• Narrow-neck plastic containers (other than for motor oil) that carry plastic resin identification codes 1 through 7
• Newspapers (including all inserts)
• Non-metallic wrapping paper
• Office paper (including typing, fax, copy, letterhead, and NCR) and envelopes
• Plastic bags, e.g., grocery bags, newspaper bags, and shopping bags. Please put your plastic bags into one plastic bag then place it in your recycling container. We will accept more than one bag of plastic bags.
• Rigid plastics including plastic milk/soda crates, plastic buckets with metal handles, plastic laundry baskets, plastic lawn furniture, plastic totes, plastic drums, plastic coolers, plastic flower pots, plastic drinking cups/glasses, plastic 5-gallon water bottles, plastic pallets, plastic toys, and empty plastic garbage/recycling bins
• Telephone books
• Wide-mouth containers such as peanut butter, margarine/butter tubs, yogurt, cottage, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, mayonnaise, whipped topping, and prescription (remove the identification label) and over-the-counter medicine bottles. (note that the lids and caps do not need to be removed.) Please do not include Styrofoam meat trays, lunch “clamshells” or foam packaging, such as “peanuts.”

How You Can Help

• Reduce: Buy only what you need and use all that you buy.
• Reuse: Many items, such as clothing and books can be enjoyed by others when you no longer need or want them.
• Recycle: Loosely place all newspaper, cardboard and other paper items as well as rinsed out food and beverage recyclables, into your city-provided, residential recycling cart or bin (no separating necessary).
• Prevent identify theft. Use your shredder to shred all personal documents and remove labels containing personal information including your name, address, Social Security number and account information. Put the shredded material in a paper bag or envelope and close it before
  putting the bag(s) into the recycling container Residents also can have their personal documents  shredded for free at the District’s trash transfer stations each Saturday between 8 am and 3 pm. See “Household Hazardous Waste/E-cycling/Document Shredding” for details.
• To ensure your trash and recycling are collected, place trash and recycling containers out for collection no earlier than 6:30 pm the night before collection and no later than 6 am on your collection day. Residents are required to remove trash and recycling containers from public space by 8 pm on your collection day.
• Do not put recyclables into plastic bags. Overflow may be placed into brown paper grocery bags and set next to your recycling container(s). If you need an additional recycling container, call the
  Mayor’s Citywide Call Center at 311.
• Visit DPW’s homepage and click on “Recycle DC” for information such as a complete list of items that can be recycled, to learn how to prepare the “perfect residential recycling container,” or to download an online commercial recycling guide, plan application and other resources.
  If you think a commercial establishment is not recycling, call the Recycling Hotline at (202) 645-8245.