Red Bird Waste

What goes in the recycling cart

Red Bird Waste picks up curbside recycling every week in Delavan, the Town of Beloit, and the Town of Clinton, WI — a $3/month add-on to any trash plan. Everything goes to the Waste Management Janesville Materials Recovery Facility. Here's what they can process.

✓ Accepted

Paper & Cardboard

  • Newspapers, magazines, catalogs, junk mail
  • Office paper, envelopes (windows OK)
  • Cardboard boxes — flattened
  • Paperboard (cereal boxes, shoeboxes, tissue boxes)

Plastic #1 and #2 only

  • #1 PET — water bottles, soda bottles, juice bottles
  • #2 HDPE — milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles, shampoo bottles
  • Rigid plastic cups and tubs (yogurt, sour cream, butter)

Metal

  • Aluminum cans (soda, beer)
  • Steel / tin cans (soup, vegetables, pet food)
  • Clean aluminum foil and pans

Glass

  • Bottles and jars, any color — rinsed

✗ Not accepted

  • •Plastic bags / film (grocery bags, bread bags, bubble wrap) → grocery store drop-off
  • •Bagged recyclables — everything goes in LOOSE, never in a plastic bag
  • •Food waste, liquids — empty, rinse, let dry
  • •Greasy pizza boxes (tear off clean top, toss greasy bottom)
  • •Styrofoam / foam packaging
  • •Plastics #3–#7 (clamshells, yogurt tubes, straws, utensils)
  • •Shredded paper (too small for sorters)
  • •Tanglers: hoses, cords, chains, string lights, rope
  • •Electronics, batteries, light bulbs → drop-off locations
  • •Scrap metal, appliances, tires, waste oil → drop-off locations
  • •Diapers, pet waste, medical waste
  • •Hazardous: paint, chemicals, automotive fluids

Three rules, every week

  1. 1. Empty, clean, dry. Rinse food residue out.
  2. 2. Loose in the cart. No plastic bags, ever.
  3. 3. Flatten cardboard.

Bagged recyclables can shut down the entire sorting facility. One household's contamination can send a whole truckload to the landfill.

Recycling pickup in your town

Recycling rides the same truck as your trash, on your regular route day:

Items the cart can't take — electronics, tires, batteries, scrap metal — have local homes on our drop-off locations page.

Add recycling for $3/month

Trash + recycling combo: $32/mo for a 96-gallon cart or $30/mo for a 65-gallon cart. One truck, one stop, no contracts.

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