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South Lake Refuse
& Recycling Services

Residential Recycling Service

South Lake Refuse & Recycling provides a blue cart for the weekly roadside collection of single-stream recyclable items. 

As of January 1, 2022, you must sort your recyclables and organic waste including paper, cardboard, yard waste, food scraps, and food soiled paper from the garbage. It’s the law!

BLUE Recycling Cart

  • Put only recyclables (empty, clean & dry) into your blue cart. Please do not place food or garbage in in the recycling carts.
  • Do not overfill; make sure that the lid closes securely when placed at the curb for collection.
  • Please place recycling carts at the roadside with the wheels away from the road roadside the night before your collection day. Leave 3 feet between carts and place them 3 feet from cars.
  • Materials placed outside of the recycling cart will not be picked up unless you have called the office and arranged for a special collection.
  • Recycling carts are only available in the 96-gallon size.

For set out rules and how to stop, start or change service, visit the Residential Services page.

What Belongs in Recycling

Only place recyclable materials that are empty, clean & dry in the recycling cart. 

Paper

Metal

Plastic

Glass

What Doesn’t Belong in Recycling

No food, yard waste, garbage, or household hazardous waste in recycling carts.

Below are a few of the things that do not belong in recycling. 

*Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) items such as fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) or tubes, batteries, paint, pesticides, cleaning products or electronics should be taken to a Lake County Hazardous Waste Collection event.

**E-Waste can be dropped off at the Recycling Center.

Contamination

We know that it can be difficult to determine what materials are recyclable. All materials in the blue carts and recycling bins go to the South Lake Recycling Facility where the items are hand sorted and the non-recyclable items (contamination) and are separated from the recyclable materials. Only clean/dry recyclables can be sold to vendors who will turn them into a feedstock that can be used and made into other products.

Why Reducing Contamination Matters

Contaminants can have serious negative consequences for a recycling program. Here are just a few examples:

  • Reduced recycling rates – Contamination can cause materials that would otherwise be recycled to be landfilled. For instance, bottles and cans can get lodged in film wrap or plastic bags and will end up landfilled instead of sorted.
  • Lower material values – Contamination will lower the quality of the recyclables, which in turn makes them less valuable and may even make them unsellable.
  • Damage to recycling machinery – Not all recycling machinery is equipped to take all types of material. Some items, like plastic film/bags, can jam up sorting equipment if it is put in the recycling container.
  • Safety hazards for recycling workers –Medical waste like needles or electronic waste with heavy metals or chemicals can be a very dangerous the health of workers who are in direct contact with these broken items.
Keep these items out of your recycling cart!

What is Recycling Contamination?

Contamination is the term used to describe anything that renders your recycled items non-recyclable. Besides ruining good material, contamination increases labor costs at processing facilities and decreases value of the materials, as workers try to separate contaminated material from good material.

Contamination happens when:

  • Non-recyclable items are put in collection containers. Often due to “wish-cycling” or hoping the item really can be recycled.
  • Food waste or liquids are left on recyclables put in recycling containers.
  • Bags of actual garbage is dropped into containers because there is no more room in the garbage cart.

Common Recycling Contaminants

  • Plastic bags and packaging (should go into trash)
  • Garbage bags (only garbage goes into garbage bags, do not bag your recyclables)
  • E-Waste (drop off at the Recycling Center or take to a Lake County Hazardous Waste drop off event.)
  • Food (should go into your compost cart)
  • Styrofoam® (should go into trash)
  • Diapers (should go into trash)
  • Clothing (donate or goes into trash)

How We Manage Recycling Contamination at South Lake Refuse & Recycling

Recycle carts WILL NOT be emptied if contaminated with trash or non-recyclable materials.

If the driver notices contamination, he/she may not be able to empty your container. If this happens, a Non-Collection Notice will be left on the container letting you know why the cart was not collected. You will also get an OOPS TAG which will tell you what contamination was found so will know the next time. You will be given the opportunity to clean up the container so it can be emptied on your next service say. Or you may opt to request a special pickup (for a fee) after removing the contaminants from the container.

What You Can Do To Help Prevent Contamination

Review the list of what materials CAN be recycled.

Unfortunately, when in doubt, it’s better to throw it out (in the garbage) than to risk contaminating your recycling cart.

To make sure that your recyclables are ready for recycling, please be sure they are: EMPTY, CLEAN, and DRY.

To make sure that your recyclables are ready for recycling, please be sure they are:
EMPTY CLEAN DRY

Missed Collection

We make every effort to emptying your container(s) on your service day, but on occasion, we may miss you. We apologize if this happens.

  • If our driver skips collection, please call our office within two business days so we can return at no cost to you.
  • If your miss is discovered after office hours, you can leave us a message through our contact form.
  • We are all human and may accidently forgot to set-out our containers for collection. If this happens, please call our office hours and let us know. We can offer a one-time courtesy fee waiver and allow you to set out an extra bag the next pick-up day equal to your missed collection without charge. If you cannot wait until the next week to set-out extra garbage, we can go back and empty the cart(s) for an additional $25 per cart and $75 per bin.
  •  There are other instances when your container(s) may not be emptied. This may be because the container was not out, or it was blocked by something that prevented us from safely emptying it, or the container had prohibited items. If this was the case, we will leave you a notice with instructions on how to correct the problem (such as the cart was not out, the container was blocked, or the contents of the container had prohibited materials). We can return to empty the container for an additional fee per container.

Contact South Lake Refuse & Recycling

South Lake Recycling Center Drop Off

Did you know you can also drop off recyclables at the South Lake Recycling Center?

Bulky Item Pickup

Got a piece of furniture or other bulky item that you need to dispose of? You can call us to collect a single bulky item (twice a year) at no cost to you!

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)

Dispose of materials like batteries, paints and household cleaners properly at a collection event for residents in Lake County.

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