City and County of Denver: Recycling Right

Help Denver reach its environmental and waste diversion goals by recycling! Recycling keeps valuable items out of the landfill by putting them back into the production cycle and helps save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions when manufacturers use recycled materials.

So, how does recycling work in Denver? Denver Solid Waste acts as a collection agency and hauler, visiting residential homes and transporting their recyclables to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). At the MRF, items are sorted into individual categories such as glass bottles, aluminum cans, metals and rigid plastics. These products are then sold to companies and manufacturers who turn your recycled goods into new items. Here in Denver, recycled aluminum cans may be purchased by companies like the Ball Corporation and transformed into new cups and cans for Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche fans at Ball Arena.

Recycling properly can seem tricky, but it doesn’t have to be! Keep it simple by putting items like glass, aluminum, paper and cardboard directly in your recycling cart. These materials are simple to recycle and produce high-quality material for manufacturers to repurpose into new goods.

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Recycling should be loose in the cart - make sure your recyclables aren’t bagged. Keep out soft plastics like cling film, bubble wrap and resealable plastic bags. To determine whether your plastic is recyclable, use the “poke test.” If the plastic is thin or soft enough to poke your finger through, throw it in the trash! Rigid plastic containers, like water bottles and laundry detergent jugs, can go in your purple recycling cart.

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Customer Resources

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Learn more about how Denver turns your trash into treasure by visiting Denvergov.org/recycling.

Watch our video about proper recycling practices in Denver.

If you’re still not sure where something belongs, check out the Waste Directory.

Ask a Solid Waste Management team member questions by signing up for a Cart Smart Chat.

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