Recycling is a process, a choice, and a way of life. Whether you recycle just one item or a whole cart full, recycling is something you can feel good about. Recycling conserves energy and natural resources, supports jobs, and makes Hillsborough County's communities more sustainable.

Nearly one-third of all materials that households send to Florida recycling facilities are not actually recyclable and ruin loads of items that otherwise could be recycled. This "wish-cycling," well-intentioned recycling of the wrong materials, ends up creating more problems than solutions. While the intentions are good, these mistakes are costly, potentially dangerous to staff, and time-consuming - sometimes shutting down processing plants for hours at a time or causing contaminated loads of recycling to end up as trash.

To help residents recycle the right way, Hillsborough County Solid Waste teamed up with Newspaper in Education to create the Hillsborough County Recycling Guide in English and Spanish. Inside the Recycling Guide, readers will find an overview of the County's recycling program and process, the waste-to-energy process, and other solid waste programs and services. These include backyard composting classes, the anti-litter campaign, proper disposal of household hazardous waste, utilization of the Community Collection Centers to dispose or recycle items not collected curbside, and more. The guide was distributed to local schools and added to editions of the Tampa Bay Times and Creative Loafing.

Items to recycle curbside:

• Dry, flattened cardboard
• Dry paper, newspaper, and junk mail (no shredded paper)
• Dry, flattened paperboard (such as cereal boxes and paper towel and toilet paper rolls)
• Clean and empty plastic bottles and containers (caps on)
• Clean and empty metal food containers
• Clean and empty aluminum cans
• Clean and empty milk and juice cartons
• Clean and empty glass bottles and jars (caps/lids in the trash)

Always place recyclables loose in your cart, never bagged. Recyclables should be clean, dry, and rinsed free of food and liquid residue. Recycling rules vary by jurisdiction, so please check with your local recycling service provider to ensure you are recycling correctly.

Solid Waste Management also offers free presentations to schools, businesses, homeowners/neighborhood associations, and any group interested in learning more about waste reduction and recycling. Presentation content and length can be tailored to fit each group's individual needs.