Acceptable & Unacceptable Items
Acceptable Items
Glass
- Food and beverage containers
Metals
- Aluminum foil
- Aluminum, bimetal, ferrous, and steel food and beverage containers
- Empty aerosol cans
Mixed Paper/Corrugated Cardboard
- All paper
- Aseptic/gable-top milk and juice cartons
- Catalogs
- Flattened corrugated cardboard (boxes)
- Frozen food packaging
- Hard- and soft- covered books
- Kraft paper bags and wrapping paper
- Magazines
- Newspapers with inserts
- Paper board (cereal and cracker boxes)
- Telephone books
- Unsoiled pizza boxes (boxes MUST BE free of grease, cheese and other food remnants)
Plastics
- Drinking cups
- Flower pots
- Narrow-neck containers with code identification numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7.
- Prescription bottles
- Wide-mouth containers with code identification numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 including peanut butter, yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise and whipped topping and margarine/butter tubs
Remember to rinse all food and beverage containers and to recap or place the lids in the recycling cart/bin.
Return coat hangers to the dry cleaners or place metal coat hangers in the scrap metal bins and plastic coat hangers in the rigid plastic bins at the public convenience centers.
Items Not Accepted
- Auto parts
- Broken glass
- Dishes
- Electronics
- Gloves, masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Hazardous materials
- Light bulbs
- Medical waste
- Mirrors
- Motor oil containers
- Packing foam and peanuts
- Plastic bags (resin identification #4): Effective July 1, 2015, plastic bags of any color, size or shape, and plastic film are no longer accepted in the Prince George's County Residential Curbside Single-Stream Recycling Program
- Plastic utensils
- Polystyrene/Styrofoam (#6 plastic)
- Windowpanes
Do NOT Place Plastic Bags/Film in Your Recycling Cart
We encourage you to recycle your clean and dry plastic bags at most grocery stores and other retailers instead of placing it in your recycling bin or cart. Examples of these items include:
- Any plastic bag (grocery, retail, or trash bag)
- Bread bags
- Crinkle bags for cereal, pasta, or snack bags
- Dry cleaning bags
- Wire & plastic clothes hangers
- Fruit and vegetable bags (fresh/frozen)
- Garden product bags (soil/mulch)
- Newspaper bags
- Zipper or stand-up pouches, bubble or cling wrap
- Outer wrap from cases of soda, juice, and snacks
- Outer wrap from meat or cheese products
- Outer wrap from paper towel, napkin, and diaper packages
We recommend using reusable bags or totes when shopping or opt for paper bags where available. Find ways to recycle your plastic bags/film here.
