Why & How to Recycle

Why Recycle?

Please click here for our residential single-stream recycling subscription form.
Please click here for our residential single-stream recycling protocol poster.
Please click here for our residential single-stream recycling welcome letter.

Recycling in DeKalb County 

• Over 91,000 of the Sanitation Division's more than 150,000 households serviced are subscribed to the single-stream recycling program. More than half of the solid waste that goes into the county-owned Seminole Road Landfill is residential waste that could have been recycled. 
• DeKalb is the first county in Georgia to introduce an official glass recycling drop-off program in an urban area, with 16 county-operated glass recycling containers throughout the County.
• The average American creates 1,600 pounds of garbage a year. The typical DeKalb household that recycles saves 662 pounds of materials from going into the Landfill.
• The DeKalb County Sanitation Division is working to increase residential single-stream recycling participation to 60 percent by 2020.
• ​If more residents recycle, it will help control rising sanitation costs, decrease the amount of solid waste sent to the Seminole Road Landfill, and create more green jobs in DeKalb County.

How to Recycle

The DeKalb County Sanitation Division offers a free, subscription-based, curbside residential single-stream recycling program. The single-stream feature allows for recyclable items to be commingled and loosely placed in a county-issued 40-gallon recycling bag, 18-gallon recycling bin, or 35- or 65-gallon recycling roll cart.

Glass Recycling

The County no longer accepts glass in curbside single-stream recycling. Recycled glass will only be accepted at county-operated glass recycling drop-off locations. Please click here for more information.

Acceptable Recyclable Items

-Newspapers, magazines, phone books and catalogs
-Small and large cardboard boxes (flattened); not packaging materials
-Cereal and pantry item paper boxes
-All types of paper, including copy and wrapping paper
-Frozen food containers (remove food liners and foil)
-Tissue and paper towel cylinder cores (no tissue or paper towels)
-Coated paper inserts
-Books, circulars, brochures, manila folders
-Envelopes, junk mail, shredded paper (must be bagged and tied prior to placing at curb)
-Plastics 1-7 that held food or beverage
-Aluminum cans

Unacceptable Recyclable Items

-Styrofoam
-Paper towels, tissue, paper plates and cups
-Waxed paper, cellophane paper and plastic wrap
-Aluminum and tin foil
-Foam rubber material and packing material
-Plastic grocery and department store bags
-Dry cleaning bags; paper slips
-Cereal box liners, frozen food liners and foil
-Ceramic and aerosol containers
-Pane glass windows and mirrors
-Pesticides and herbicides
-Plastic and metal containers
-Petroleum and oil
-String, twine and strapping material
-All kinds of glass (while glass is not acceptable in curbside single-stream recycling, it can be recycled through the County's official glass recycling drop-off program.) Please click here for more information.

Please click here for more information on the curbside single-stream recycling program’s preparation and collection procedures.