Items properly placed in your curbside recycling carts (wheeled cart, like your garbage can on wheels) are sorted and baled at the city’s Salt Lake City facility for sale to reuse.

UPDATE!! As of Nov. 15, 2025

As of this date, you can place paper cups, for hot or cold beverages, as well as plastic polypropylene cups, i.e. soda cups, in your blue carts. But REMEMBER TO EMPTY LIQUIDS from your cups before you put them in the carts!

In addition, now residents can put cartons in their blue cart, including refrigerated cartons such as those used for milk, or “shelf stable”, unrefrigerated cartons used for foods like soup.

Three things to know

1. Do NOT put plastic bags, films, or wraps in the blue recycling cart! Collect it and return to grocery stores – most offer bag recycling. Here’s more info on that topic.
2. In addition, do NOT BAG RECYCLABLES, using plastic garbage bags, before you put them in your blue recycling cart. This risks landfilling valuable material.
3. Just a little food and liquid waste can contaminate your entire blue recycling cart, forcing the city to landfill recyclables. Rinse food and empty bottles and cans. Don’t overdue it – conserve water as well.

Yes! Put these items in blue recycling carts

• Cartons (refrigerated and “shelf stable” aseptic cartons)
• Plastic polypropylene cups (like soda cups)
• Paper cups (like from a coffee shop)
• Newspaper and newspaper inserts
• Cardboard boxes, shoe boxes, cereal boxes, paper tubes
• Magazines and phone books
• Aluminum cans
• Steel (tin) food cans
• Plastic containers (like milk jugs, plastic bottles, plastic cups, yogurt containers, etc)
• Junk mail, office paper, envelopes
• Aerosol cans – please make sure they are drained by turning them upside down and releasing the pressure.

No! Don’t put these in blue recycling carts

• Glass (Sign up for curbside glass recycling or take yours to a community drop-off location.)
• Plastic bags
• Styrofoam, including take-out containers and block foam
• Food, food residue, or food wrappings – empty all food and food residue from containers
• Construction materials and waste
• Napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates
• Scrap metal
• Clothing
• Electronics, computers, small appliances
• Yard waste
• Toys, garden hoses, plastic swimming pools
• Shredded paper

Why recycle?

• It’s not only good for the planet, recycling costs less. We only have so much space in our landfill, and selling recyclables helps the city offset recycling costs. Once we run out of landfill space, city residents pay to transport waste further.
• The City Council passed a joint resolution in 2011 to get to Zero Waste by 2040, understanding the environmental, economic and social advantages this will bring. We need help to reach that goal!

Related

Contact

• 801-535-6999
• mySLC online, scroll down and click on Waste & Recycling
• For up-to-date info visit SLC Green on X (formerly Twitter) https://x.com/SLCgreen
• 2010 W 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104
• Hours: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.