We offer a variety of services to make it easy to Recycle ‘Round the Rock!
Curbside Recycling Guidelines
- Recycling is collected every other week.
- Collection occurs 7 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. If services are not performed by 6:30 p.m., please contact Republic Services.
- Carts may be curbside starting at 7 a.m. the day before collection and removed by 7 p.m. the day after.
- Position carts with wheels against the curb.
Holiday Schedules
Republic Services, the City’s solid waste contractor, is closed on the following holidays:
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
- New Year’s Day
When Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, or New Year’s Day falls on a weekday, there is no collection that day, and collection slides one day for the remainder of the week.
For example, Thanksgiving is on Thursday. Thursday pickup will happen on Friday and Friday on Saturday.
Regular collection occurs on all other holidays, including Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day.
When is my collection day?
Recycle Right
While recycling is the right thing to do, if it isn't done right, it can do more harm than good.
Recycle it ONLY if it is recyclable
Verify below or send an email to Is it Recyclable. Misplaced items cause contamination, and the materials have to be sent to the landfill.
Detach unlike materials
Remove metal lids from glass jars, plastic liners from cereal boxes, foil from yogurt tubs, etc. Although recyclable, the recycling process is different for each material and when attached, the materials cannot be separated properly at the recycling facility.
Remove food, sauces, and juices
Rinse aluminum, plastic, and glass. It helps prevent contamination and odors and less likely to attract bugs to your cart.
Save space
Crush cans and plastic bottles and flatten boxes. Do not break glass as it jams equipment.
Plastic bags and broken glass
These are among the most problematic materials for recycling facilities. Plastic bags wrap around conveyor lines and broken glass jams equipment and mixes with other materials, resulting in recyclables being categorized as contaminated and sent to the landfill.
Accepted Curbside
- Aluminum foil
- Beverage cans and caps
- Foil baking tins
- Pet food cans
- Soup and vegetable cans
- No paint cans (see HHW events)
- Beverage packaging
- Cardboard egg cartons
- Packaging (toys, electronics…)
- Food boxes (cereal, pasta, frozen food…)
- Gift, shoe boxes
- Paper tubes (paper towels, toilet paper tubes…)
Shipping, moving boxes
- No pizza boxes
- No wax-coated cartons
- No Styrofoam
- Cooking oil bottles
- Mason jars (remove lid)
- Pasta sauce jars (remove lid)
- Soda and juice bottles
- Wine, beer, liquor, and spirits bottles
Other clear, green, blue, or brown jars and bottles
- No broken glass
- No window glass
- No light bulbs
- No dining ware, ceramics, Pyrex, etc.
- Brochures, flyers
- Catalogs, magazines
- Junk mail, letters, envelopes
- Office paper, folders
- Paper bags
- Newspaper
- Shredded paper (must be in PAPER bag and stapled closed)
Telephone books
- No laminated paper
- No food-contaminated items (paper plates, etc.)
- Beverage bottles (water, soda, etc.)
- Butter, cream cheese, yogurt tubs (remove foil liner)
- Cooking oil bottles
- Detergent, cleaning bottles
- Milk jugs
- Plastic lids
- No plastic bags (Please take to your local grocer or reuse at home)
Not Accepted Curbside
- Automotive fluids / batteries (accepted at Recycling Center)
- Broken glass
- Ceramics / Dinnerware / Pyrex
- Clothing / Textiles (accepted at thrift stores)
- Electronics (Texas Recycles, Greener Gadgets, Recycling Star, EPA Resources)
- Food soiled paper/cardboard (paper plates, pizza boxes)
- Irrigation/sprinkler controllers (recycle at Ewing Irrigation stores)
- Light bulbs
- Medical waste (household syringes, needles – TCEQ Disposal Tips; Sharps Compliance)
- Nails or screws
- Paint cans (see HHW Collection)
- Paper tissue (napkins, Kleenex)
- Plastic bags (accepted at local grocers)
- Styrofoam
- Tires (accepted at tire dealerships)
- TVs (Best Buy, 1-800-GOT-JUNK)
- Water hoses
- Wax coated milk or juice cartons
- Window glass
- Yard waste (see Brush Recycling)
Why Recycle?
Why not?! Many recyclables are taken to the landfill when they could have been recycled and served a whole new purpose.
Everything you throw in the trash is taken to the landfill – a hole in the earth that is filled with trash, a burial ground for any and everything dumped in it. It’s the end of the road for many things that could have been reused or recycled into something else, instead they slowly decompose, or rot, into the earth’s soil. Landfills have composite liners; however, they eventually leak and their toxic leachate, or garbage juice, can seep into and contaminate soil and groundwater supplies.
How long does it take to decompose?
- Aluminum can, 80-200 years
- Disposable diapers, 450 years
- Foam cup, 500 years
- Glass bottle, 4,000 years
- Nylon fabric, 30-40 years
- Plastic bag, 10-20 years
- Plastic bottles, 450 years
- Styrofoam, Never
- Tires, 50-80 years
- Tin can, 50-100 years
Paper and cardboard come from trees, plastics from oil, metals from rocks (ores), and glass from sand. Recycling means that we don’t have to chop down, extract, or mine to collect more raw materials for making the things we use every day.
Savings from one ton of recycled…
Glass: over a ton of raw materials, 5 gallons of oil, 2 cubic yards of landfill space, and uses 30% less energy.
Recycling conserves our natural resources and uses significantly less energy, which results in less burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Recycling just one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours!
Two gallons of recycled motor oil can power an average home for one day, cook 48 meals in a microwave oven, blow dry a person’s hair at least 216 times, or power a television for more than seven days straight!
Recycled glass creates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than glass made from raw materials!
Recycled cardboard creates 35% less water pollution and 74% less air pollution!
Manufacturing recycled material generates less air and water pollution than using raw materials. Recycling reduces emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons, that contribute to global climate change.
It not only costs money to take waste to the landfill but when it could have been recycled (80% of landfill waste) we throw away products that still have a purpose; therefore, they still have value. Furthermore, additional money, resources, and energy are required to extract, manufacture, and transport more raw materials. All the environmental benefits, such as reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, have economic value as well.
- Curbside – most items can go in your green recycling cart.
- Recycling Center – drop off non-Freon appliances, automotive products, propane tanks, and more.
- Shred for a Paws Cause – safely recycle confidential documents, hard drives, CDs, and more. Items are shredded and recycled offsite.
- HHW Collection Events – dispose of paint, fertilizers, cleaners, and other common household chemicals.
Recycling makes a big impact; however, you make the most difference by first reducing the amount of waste you generate, then reusing what you have, and lastly recycling what’s left.
When you reduce the amount of waste you generate, less new products have to be made. Making a new product requires a lot of materials and energy – raw materials must be extracted from the earth, and the product must be fabricated then transported to wherever it will be sold.
- Precycle. Buy products in packaging that can be recycled or is biodegradable.
- Say NO to junk mail. Easily cancel unwanted catalogs at catalogchoice.org.
- Use reusable bags. Recycle used plastic bags at a nearby grocery store.
- No Styrofoam! It is not recyclable and does not breakdown in the landfill.
- Avoid single-serve containers.
- Bring your own utensils and cup to work instead of using disposable items.
- Drink tap water instead of bottled water. It’s safe, cheaper, and tastes great!
- Only buy what you need and use all of what you buy.
Reusing gives old products new life with little or no energy used for repurposing. Recycling requires less energy than making new products; however, it still requires substantial energy.
Reuse Ideas:
- Buy and sell used. Thrift stores and online apps are increasingly popular for used furniture, toys, etc.
- Donate unwanted items to thrift stores, churches, and schools.
- Borrow, rent or share items used infrequently i.e. party décor, tools, etc.
- Refurbish or re-purpose furniture.
- Check for Free Re-Usable Products including paint, fertilizers, cleaning products, and more.
- If it’s broke, fix it… or take it to someone who can.
- Use reusable over disposable whenever possible – dishes, bags, etc.
Recycling creates a closed-loop system where unwanted products go back to manufacturers for use in new products. Much more can be recycled curbside and at the City’s Recycling Center than what is being recycled!
Recycling Tips:
- Remove food, sauces, and juices from recyclables.
- Save space – flatten boxes, crush cans, and plastic bottles. Do not break glass as it jams equipment.
- Detach unlike materials. Separate metal lids from glass jars, liners from cereal boxes, foil from yogurt tubs, etc. Although recyclable, facility equipment cannot properly separate the materials, therefore they are considered contaminated and are taken to the landfill.
- Recycle it, if it’s recyclable. If you aren’t sure, check the items accepted curbside and at the Recycling Center or send an email to Is it Recyclable?.
- The recycling facility and the landfill both have disposal fees. When non-recyclable items are placed in the recycling cart, they have to be transported from the recycling facility to the landfill, resulting in two costly disposal fees.
What Recyclables Can Become
Just about anything in your home, office, or school that cannot be reused CAN be recycled into something else and used for many years. Today a plastic bottle may contain juice or soda… but what it can become after you use it may surprise you!
Aluminum foil, baking trays, cans, bottle caps and more can be recycled over and over without losing its quality or strength. Aluminum is one of the most recyclable materials on the market today! However, nearly $1 billion worth of aluminum is thrown away every year in the US.
- Appliances
- Bicycles
- Airplane parts
- Automotive parts
- Building parts
- Rebar
- Wire and tubing
- New cans and more
The best way to recycle cardboard is to re-use or re-purpose it. Boxes are great for storage, packing groceries, or arts and crafts activities – endless possibilities for children – magic castles, pretend cars, fortresses, and whatever else their imagination has in store.
- Paper
- Paper bags
- Sound-proofing material
- Insulation
- Paperboard
- New cardboard and more
Like aluminum, glass can be repeatedly recycled without losing its quality or strength. Glass is one of the longest-lasting man-made materials – great for recycling but not for the landfill. It’s estimated that it takes 1 million years for a glass bottle to decompose in the environment.
- Countertops
- Fiberglass insulation
- Flooring
- Bricks
- Highway marking beads
- Landscaping stones
- New bottles, jars and more
Office paper, paperboard, magazines, newspaper, junk mail, and more can be recycled in your green recycling cart. Shredded paper cannot be recycled at the curb, however you can have your confidential documents shredded and recycled during the City’s semi-annual Shred for a Paws Cause.
- Paper towels and napkins
- Toilet paper and tissues
- Greeting cards
- Egg cartons
- Sheetrock
- Kitty litter
- Books
- New paper, paperboard and more
Milk Jugs & Other Plastic Containers – Bottles and containers used for milk, shampoo, laundry detergent, and household cleaners are lightweight and tough – but they usually are made from a different type of plastic than beverage bottles.
- Playground equipment
- Plastic lumber
- Picnic tables
- Lawn furniture
- Recycling bins
- New bottles, containers and more
Plastic Bags, Films, and Wraps – Although these are not accepted at the curb – dry-cleaning bags, bread bags, bubble wrap, and wraps from paper towels, bathroom tissue, diapers, and more can be recycled at many grocery and retail stores.
- Plastic lumber
- Backyard decks
- Park benches
- Fences
- Playground equipment
- New plastic bags and more
Beverage Bottles – Plastic bottles used for soft drinks, juice, and water are convenient when you’re out and about… but a recycling bin may not be. Resist the temptation to toss it in the trash, there are so many new things it can become!
- T-shirts
- Sweaters
- Fleece jackets
- Insulation for jackets and sleeping bags
- Carpeting
- New bottles and more
Plastic Bottle Caps – Even though they’re made with a different type of plastic than the bottles, the caps should be put back on bottles before you toss them in recycling bins.
- Car batteries
- Garden rakes
- Storage containers
- Reusable shopping bags
- Brooms
- Yarn and ropes
- New bottle caps and more
Commercial Recycling
The City of Round Rock has transitioned to a single provider refuse collection program. All commercial garbage and recycling collection services are performed by Republic Services (previously Central Texas Refuse).
Republic Services
512-255-4980 or 800-664-2833
customerexperience@republicservices.com
Motor Oil, Commercial
Fuel Blenders – 512-365-1920
H&H Waste Oil – 512-990-1823
Midstate Oil – 866-387-2171
Tire Recycling, Commercial
Lakin Tire West of Colorado
510 E. 51st Ave.
Denver, CO 80216
Tel: 800-488-2752
https://lakintire.com/scrap-tire-collection/
Commercial Refuse Rates
Republic Services
512-255-4980
EMAIL
City of Round Rock
512-218-5554
SERVICE REQUEST
Brush Recycling
512-218-5540
Recycling Center
512-218-5554
EMAIL
