It’s never been easier to recycle than with curbside commingled (mixed) recycling: you put your recyclables in the cart and your trash service provider picks it up for you.
The top 7 things you should know about curbside pick-up!
Here’s the simple list for commingled (mixed) recycling:
- Paper — office printer paper, junk mail, paperboard, and cardboard. NO paper designed to hold liquid.
- Aluminum — soda and beer cans, tuna, and bean cans.
- Plastic — bottles, tubs, and jugs. NO plastic bags. (Also, keep your recycling LOOSE in the container — don’t bag it in plastic!)
We do not recycle by number in Deschutes County. The recycling symbol just tells us what type of chemicals are in a given plastic material.
Glass is recycled separately for those who live within the city limits of Bend and Redmond only. Glass is collected at transfer stations and recycling centers.
Recycling Guide – Bend and Redmond
Recycling Guide – City of Sisters
If you live in the city limits of Bend, Redmond, or Sisters and have curbside garbage service, you can recycle as well. If you live outside city limits or in La Pine or Sunriver, you can drop off your commingled recyclables at a transfer station or recycling center.
Contact your garbage service provider for more information.
A “wishful recycler” is someone who puts items in your cart even if you are unsure or if you think it’ll make the recycling system change. All it does is jam up the system.
In Deschutes County, we recycle bottles, tubs, and jugs, but do not refer to the number. The number inside of the chasing arrows symbol tells us what the material is made of, but does NOT mean the material is recyclable. Not sure? Ask us!
Clean and dry, please!
Dirty recyclables can contaminate clean recyclables. Please rinse your recyclables before putting them in the cart.
Put your loose (NOT bagged) recyclables into your curbside cart. Plastic bags and other plastic film of any kind is perhaps the worst of all contaminants.
Glass recycling is available (and collected separately) inside of Bend and Redmond city limits. Please do NOT put glass in your commingled bin.
Follow your recycling:
Recyclables get baled up and trucked over the mountains to a Materials Recovery Facility )MRF) where they are sorted mechanically and by hand. From there, materials are sold to markets where they get recycled into new products.
- You drink your beer.
- You collect your glass bottles.
- Your hauler picks it up at the curb.
- It gets taken to a NE Bend location where it is crushed up into “cullet”
- The cullet gets trucked to “Glass to Glass” a plant in portland that has an optical sorter that sorts the cullet by color!
- The vast majority of the sorted cullet goes to the Portland Owens-Illinois plant where it is melted down and turned back into bottles.
