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1. How do I recycle in Pasco County?

In Pasco you can provide your own container (bin, can or cart) or call your hauler to order a cart.  The Residential Curbside Recycling Program is available to single-family residential units or multifamily units being serviced as a single-family.  This means if you're paying for twice-a-week curbside garbage pickup, you already have recycling service. 

Recycling is voluntary, but we encourage you to participate in order to help reduce our waste stream.  Your garbage hauler is required to provide you with a schedule for your recyclable pickups: it may or may not be on the same day as your garbage pickup.  Pasco recycles the following items: 

• Aluminum cans
• Metal cans (food cans)
• Plastic bottles, jugs, and small containers
• Paper and cardboard

Please throw away caps, lids, and spray bottle nozzles, and make sure your items are clean and dry.  Put everything in the same recycling container and place your recycling at the curb the night before your recycling pick-up day.

2. When is my recycling day?

Pasco County doesn't pick up your recycling.  Your trash hauler picks up your recycling and brings it to the county facility.  Your trash collection and recycling days are set by the private hauler you selected.  Please contact your trash hauler to determine your recycling day.  Click here to see trash hauler contact information in Pasco.

3. Where do I get a recycling cart, and how much will it cost?

The private company you pay to pick up your trash will provide a cart, and can let you know how much it will cost.  Pasco County does not have access to individual account information.  Please click here for trash hauler contact information in Pasco.

4. When does once-a-week recycling begin in Pasco County?

Private trash haulers in Pasco County have 90 days from the Board of County Commissioners' June 4, 2019, decision to start weekly recycling; however, some haulers are offering the service sooner than that.  Please contact your hauler for more information.  Click here to see trash hauler contact information in Pasco.

5. Why is recycling, including glass, less expensive in some other areas?

Trash collection and recycling service costs are a local issue.  Different jurisdictions (states, counties, cities, etc.) have different trash and recycling systems, and different revenue and funding sources.  Pasco understands that other counties might do things differently, but we must work within the system and its constraints to ensure you receive the services you need.  The material you recycle is a matter of what local markets will accept. In Pasco, glass goes to the Waste-to-Energy plant where it will likely be used in future, sustainable public works projects.

6. Why does Pasco County no longer recycle glass?

Glass contaminates the rest of your recycling.  The glass dust and glass shards get into other materials making them less recyclable.  This isn't a new problem; however, the standards for recycling material keep rising, and glass is making it more difficult to recycle other things.  Also, there is no viable market for glass in Florida.  And eliminating glass from Pasco's recycling program is more environmentally-friendly.  Instead of ultimately being buried in a landfill due to contamination and low quality, glass now goes to Pasco's Waste-to-Energy plant where it will likely be used in future, sustainable public works projects, leaving less of a carbon footprint.  Removing glass from Pasco's recycling stream will improve our recycling efforts.

7. Is recycling mandatory?

No, you do not have to recycle in Pasco County; however, recycling helps reduce the burden on the County’s Waste-to-Energy facility and prevents unnecessary items from being dumped in a landfill.  Recycling also helps protect the environment, so we hope you'll take part!

8. Where can I take glass to be recycled?

Pasco County is not aware of any local glass recycling collection locations.

Tossing your glass in the trash sends it to our Waste-to-Energy plant where it can be used in future, sustainable public works projects, leaving less of a carbon footprint.  Removing glass from Pasco's recycling program is more environmentally-friendly!

9. Where do recyclables go?

Materials go to an intermediate processor to be prepared for markets and then are shipped to various manufacturers. For example, newspaper is baled and then shipped to a paper mill to be shredded, pulped and made into new products.

10. How often is my recycling picked up?

Weekly recycling is coming soon!  As of June 4, 2019, trash haulers have 90 days to implement once-a-week recycling.  Call your hauler for a new pick-up schedule.  Click here for a list of private hauler phone numbers in Pasco.

11. What if there’s a problem with my recycling pick-up?

Please contact your hauler at the number listed on your bill.  If that does not resolve the issue, please contact Pasco County Recycling at (727) 856-4539.