Portland's convenient curbside program now allows you to recycle a majority of your weekly trash including newspapers, magazines, bulk mail, letters, food boxes, cardboard, glass, aluminum, and a majority of your household plastics (all plastics #1 through #7). The City's recycling is collected by City of Portland employees and is brought to ecomaine where it is sorted and sold to companies who use recycled material in the manufacturing of their products.

WHAT CAN I RECYCLE?

• PAPER: Newspapers, magazines, books (hardcover and soft cover), phone books, old mail, greeting cards, flyers, brochures, envelopes (with or without windows), manila folders, postcards and paper bags. More or less, you can recycle anything that previously came from a tree.
• PAPERBOARD: Clean food boxes with liners removed (cereal, rice, cake mixes, etc.), paper towel tubes, writing pad backs, medicine and toiletry boxes.
• CORRUGATED CARDBOARD
• GLASS, CANS & ALUMINUM: Metal food and beverage containers, aluminum foil, aerosol cans with the lids removed, clear and colored glass bottles and jars. No Pyrex dishes please.
• PLASTIC: All plastics with the recycling symbol (ex. or ) can be placed in your bin. Styrofoam containers cannot be recycled, period.
• WE CANNOT ACCEPT: Motor oil, pesticide bottles or other hazardous wastes please., heavily soiled paper and cardboard or medical wastes such as syringes. To find out what to do with Household Hazardous Wastes, click here.

Want to know when your trash and recycling is picked up?
Click here to find out what day your trash and recycling is picked up.

Want to see the Single Sort Recycling Public Service Announcement written and performed by Portland High School’s Ecology Club? Click here to watch it.

Need a new blue recycling bin?
Recycling bins can be purchased during normal business hours (8:00 am - 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday) at the Department of Public Works, 55 Portland Street, or at Riverside Recycling Facility, 910 Riverside Street. Each bin costs $7.00.

Want to learn more about composting?
Do you like saving money? Do you like gardening? Click here to learn more about composting to reduce your trash disposal costs and becoming more environmentally friendly at the same time.

Want to learn more about purchasing cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternatives to household hazardous waste?
Do you want to save money and be more ecologically friendly at the same time?  Click here to learn more about alternatives to household hazardous waste.

Please set you bin where the recycling crew can reach it easily and have it out no later than 6:30 AM. Do not place trash bags in your recycling bin. You can call 756-8189 for more information about your recycling program. Click here to learn more about statewide recycling efforts. Please call the Recycling Hotline at 756-8189 for more information.

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