What goes in the recycling cart
Your recycling goes to the Waste Management Janesville Materials Recovery Facility (340 Black Bridge Rd, Janesville, WI). 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. Empty, clean, dry. Rinse food residue out.
- 2. Loose in the cart. No plastic bags, ever.
- 3. Flatten cardboard.
Bagged recyclables can shut down the entire sorting facility. One household's contamination can send a whole truckload to the landfill.