Residential Recycling

All City of Tampa residents with curbside garbage service also have weekly curbside recycling service. All residents receive a 14 gallon blue bin with a brochure. With curbside recycling you can now recycle paper, glass, aluminum cans and plastic bottles in your blue bin with just a short trip to the curb. A paper grocery bag can be used for extra newspapers (please do not put plastic bags in your blue box - they may be taken to your local grocery store for recycling). Recycling is collected once a week on your assigned recycling day (the day is printed in the brochure that came with your box). A separate truck will come by to collect the recyclables. The recycling truck collects recyclables between 6:00am and 5pm.

Curbside Recycling Guidelines Brochure

Why Recycle?

• It's good for the environment; recycling conserves energy
• It saves the earth and resources for future generations
• It is the right thing to do!
• It's easy to participate

What can be recycled curbside in the blue recycling bin?

• Phone Books
• Paperback books
• Junk mail
• Cereal boxes
• 6-Pack soda boxes
• Office paper
• Cardboard
• Magazines
• Newspapers & inserts
• Catalogs
• Plastic containers # 1-7
• Aluminum and steel cans (including empty aerosol cans)
• Gable-top beverage containers (juice & milk containers)
• Glass bottles & jars (all colors)

Preparation of Recyclables:

• Please remove caps and lids and place in box separately
• Please place all paper in a brown paper grocery bag
• Please remove the vellum windows from all envelopes
• No need to remove labels
• Please rinse all containers before placing them in your bins

Cardboard must be flattened and cut down to fit in your blue bin (maximum of 11" X 17"). If you have large quantities of cardboard, you may take it to the McKay Bay Refuse-To-Energy Facility at 107 N. 34th St. for free drop off.

What can't be recycled at this time?

Here are a few tips of what to leave out of your curbside recycling bin:

• Used motor oil and motor oil containers (please place the containers in the garbage); To find a location for recycling used motor oil, call the Florida Department of Environmental Protection at 1-800-741-4337.

• Paint (open up cans to let paint dry or use newspaper to soak up any remaining paint), fluorescent bulbs, pool chemicals, mercury thermometers, chemicals, household cleaners, televisions, computer equipment - take to one of the City's biannual Household Chemical & Electronics Collections (call 813-348-6515 for more information), or to a Hillsborough County household chemical collection center. Contact the Hillsborough County Department of Solid Waste at 813-272-5680 for dates, times and locations.

• Batteries: Button and nickel cadmium batteries from cell phones etc should be taken to a participating store such as Radio Shack, Target, Home Depot etc., or to a Household Chemical Collection event.

• Plastic bags* (these should go back to the grocery store for recycling - make sure to remove paper receipts from the bags before recycling them as paper can contaminate the final recycled plastic bags resulting in weakness and easy breakage.)

• Styrofoam (some supermarkets offer recycling)
• Pizza boxes or any other type of waxed paper box

• Large quantities of corrugated cardboard (larger than 11" X 17" which is the maximum size for cardboard collected curbside in your blue bin). Residents can drop off cardboard free the McKay Bay Refuse to Energy facility. If you have a very large quantity, call a local paper recycler.

Frequently Asked Recycling Questions

Need a new blue box? Request a new one.
Missed Blue Box pickup? Let us know.

Recycle your old blue bins: Leave your cracked, broken blue bins curbside on your pick up day for collection (please leave a note on the bin stating that you would like it replaced). The old bins will be taken to the processing facility and recycled.