Recycling Tips
Curbside Recycling is offered in all cities and towns and most populated unincorporated areas. Contact the following companies for information about curbside recycling. Please note: service areas are subject to change.
- Recology of Butte Colusa Counties - City of Oroville, City of Chico, Unincorporated County
Phone: 530-533-5868 - Northern Recycling and Waste Services - Town of Paradise, Unincorporated County
Phone: 530-876-3340 - Waste Management - City of Chico, City of Gridley, City of Biggs, Unincorporated County
Phone: 530-893-4777
What is accepted:
- Glass food and beverage containers, including wine and beer bottles, wide mouth jars
How to prepare:
- Remove metal lids and caps and place with cans
- Rinse to avoid odors and insects
- Labels do not need to be removed
Do not include:
- Window glass or light bulbs
- Drinking glasses or stemware
- Mirrors
- China, ceramics, crockery
- Porcelain, Pyrex or vases
What is accepted:
- Aluminum cans
- Tin/bi-metal cans
- Metal lids from jars and bottles
How to prepare:
- Rinse to avoid odors and insects
- Labels do not need to be removed
Do not include:
- Scrap metal
- Coat hangers
- Aerosol cans
- Propane tanks
What is accepted:
- Newspaper including inserts, newsprint publications
- Magazines including catalogs and glossy paper
- Junk mail including envelopes, white/colored office paper, binder paper, gift paper (no plastic/foil lining)
- Telephone books and catalogs
- Cardboard (flattened and bundled in 2 foot by 2 foot squares)
- Carton board (bagged or bundled) including cereal/cracker boxes (no liners), 6-pack cartons
- Brown paper bags (bagged or bundled)
- Egg cartons (paperboard only), wax milk and juice cartons
How to prepare:
- Shredded paper okay (Please bag)
- Staples and tape okay
- Plastic windows from envelopes okay
- Flatten cardboard to 2 foot by 2 foot in order to fit in truck's compartment
- Flatten carton board boxes, laundry detergent boxes okay
- Pressure sensitive (NCR) paper okay
Do not include:
- Rubber bands or plastic wrap from newspapers
- Adhesive or sticky-backed paper (e.g., "Post-It" notes)
- Carbon paper, thermal fax paper or photographs
- Napkins
- Paper towels
- Facial tissue
- Plates or soiled paper
- Books
- Greasy pizza boxes
- Waxed cardboard or cardboard saturated with poultry or meat juices
- Remove plastic/foil lining from cereal/cracker boxes
Tip: Tear a corner of your frozen food packaging. If you see no plastic microfilm layer, recycle the container with your paper. Otherwise dispose of the packaging in the garbage.
What is accepted:
- Narrow and open necked plastic containers (any color) including soda bottles, detergent and shampoo bottles
- Usually marked on bottom with plastic type #1 and #2
- Plastic tubs (margarine, yogurt type)
How to prepare:
- Rinse plastic milk jugs to avoid odors
- Flatten containers
- Remove plastic caps and dispose in garbage
Notes:
- Chico and Paradise only
- Expanded plastics collection
- Plastic food containers of plastic types #1 through 6 are accepted with the curbside recycling program; this includes narrow-necked containers and tub containers (typically used for yogurt, cottage cheese and margarine)
- No plastic bags or Styrofoam (e.g. takeout containers or meat trays)
What is accepted:
- Grass clippings, leaves, weeds, brush and branches
- Prunings less than 3 feet long and 2 inches in diameter
- Fruit and veggies form your garden
Do not include:
- Plastic, glass, cans or paper
- Poison oak, bamboo or palm fronds, dirt or rocks
- Food table scraps or animal waste
- Prunings more than 3 feet long and 2 inches in diameter
If you live in an area where curbside recycling service is offered by a commercial garbage company, here's some information that may be helpful. All items must be clean dried and empty. Do not bag your recycling, put it in loose.
What you can recycle:
- Glass bottles, jars
- Tin cans (Please rinse)
- Aluminums cans
- Plastic bottles, jars, jugs (#1 through 7)
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Junk mail
- Corrugated cardboard
- Cereal boxes (Please remove liner)
- Phone books
What should not be recycled:
- Window glass, stemware
- Pizza boxes (used)
- Food waste (much food waste can be composted, see Organics page)
- Hazardous waste containers (see the Hazardous Waste page)
- Scrap metal
- Plastic film, plastic bags
- Medical waste, used medical sharps
Those areas that offer curbside recycling through their garbage Company:
- City of Oroville, Including Kelly Ridge, South Oroville and Thermalito
- City of Gridley
- City of Biggs
- City of Chico and the greater Chico urban area as well as the Community of Durham
- Town of Paradise, including the Magalia/Upper Ridge area up to Steiffer Road
Additional areas may have curbside recycling. Contact your service provider for specific areas.
For more information on curbside recycling please contact your garbage company:
- Waste Management: 530-893-4777
- Recology of Butte Colusa Counties: 530-533-5868
- Northern Recycling and Waste Services: 530-876-3340
If you live in an area where curbside green waste recycling service is offered by a commercial garbage company, here's some information that may be helpful.
What you can recycle:
- Grass clippings, weeds
- Leaves
- Pine needles, pine cones
- Brush, small branches
What you can not recycle:
- Palm fronds
- Pampas grass
- Anything over 3 inches in diameter
- Anything over 3 feet long
- Food waste
- Lumber
Those areas that offer curbside greenwaste recycling through their garbage company:
- City of Oroville, Including Kelly Ridge, South Oroville and Thermalito
- City of Gridley
- City of Biggs
- City of Chico and the greater Chico urban area as well as the Community of Durham
- Town of Paradise, including the Magalia/Upper Ridge area up to Steiffer Road
For more information on curbside greenwaste recycling please contact your garbage company:
- Waste Management: 530-893-4777
- Recology Butte Colusa Counties: 530-538-5868
- Northern Recycling and Waste Services: 530-876-3340