Denver residents like you have proven they are great recyclers. However, according to a recent study, we are still throwing away more than 27,000 tons of valuable recyclable paper each year, and much of that is cardboard.
You can ensure that your cardboard gets recycled by doing the following:
1. Place all cardboard inside your recycling cart as instructed. With Denver Recycles’ automated collection system, only materials inside the purple carts can be lifted up by the mechanical arm and emptied into the top of the recycling truck. Cardboard and other materials left outside of your cart cannot be collected for recycling.
2. Refrain from stacking cardboard against your recycling cart or on the ground. Cardboard left outside of your recycling cart will not get recycled even if it is flattened and stacked right next to your cart. Instead, it will either be left behind or picked up as overflow trash and sent to the landfill. So if you actually want to recycle your cardboard, please put it in your purple cart.
3. Flatten and break down all boxes into pieces no larger than 2 ft. x 2ft. To ensure that you recycle all the cardboard you can, but also leave room in your cart for all the other valuable recyclable materials, please follow our simple guidelines for recycling boxes:
- Make sure the cut cardboard lays flat in your cart, so it doesn’t take up usable space; or
- Leave cardboard out of your cart until your recycling day. Then lay it flat in the cart on top of the rest of your recyclables and close the lid. This will help to ensure that cardboard doesn’t get stuck in the cart and will enable you to fit more cardboard in your recycling cart.
Thanks for doing your part and recycling all that you can! If you consistently have more recycling than will fi t in your cart, please contact us. Questions? Call 3-1-1 or visit DenverGov.org/DenverRecycles.