Maricopa County Waste Resources & Recycling

Recycling Information

recyclable materials

Recycling with Maricopa County is a drop-off service designed to help residents reduce the amount of waste deposited into local landfills and illegal dump sites.

You collect your recyclables at home and drop them off at our recycling facilities where we store and later transfer your recyclables to a materials recovery facility (MRF). At the MRF recyclables are sorted and bailed, then transferred to a reclamation facility where the recyclables begin their transformation into something new before returning to a retailer and back to you.

Maricopa County residents generate over 3 million tons of the national waste. The average person generates 4.6 lbs of waste daily. That is almost 1700 lbs in one year for just one person.

How can I help?

Many recyclable materials, such as aluminum and glass, paper, a variety of plastics, even electronic equipment are accepted free of charge. See our detailed listing of accepted recyclables.

Effective May 15, 2013, Waste Resources & Recycling will discontinue our Light Bulb Recycling Program

  1. Be sure to rinse containers or wipe them clean before recycling. Leaky soda cans or food containers could attract ants.
  2. Be sure to empty all contents from containers before storing them.
  3. Be sure to separate your recyclables based on the guidelines of the facility; hauler, charity or business provides you. It is recommended you separate your recyclables in the proper containers (glass in the glass container, plastics in the plastics container, etc.) to make recycling much easier and quicker at the drop-off site.
  4. Do not mix recyclables unless you are instructed to do so, mixing can destroy the processing equipment, and contaminate and reject an entire load of recyclables, making hundreds of residents recycling efforts pointless.