Solid Waste Utility

About Solid Waste

The Solid Waste Utility integrates various programs and services to manage the City of Columbia’s waste stream. Solid Waste handles refuse, recyclables, yard waste and composting for residential, commercial and industrial companies. Solid Waste also provides household hazardous waste disposal for residential customers.

The Solid Waste Utility has regulations on curbside refuse and recycling collection, bulky-item pickup, dual-stream recycling and the disposal of household hazardous waste in order to ensure quality service as well as to protect the environment. Cooperation with the City’s Solid Waste programs will enable us to provide efficient, dependable service.

NOTE: Residential curbside recycling is scheduled to resume on an every-other-week schedule starting March 18. Routes have not changed.

Customers can verify their schedule by entering their address into the Utility’s Recycling Routes map.

Collections will be on your regularly scheduled refuse pickup day. Mixed containers should be in a blue recycling bag, and mixed fibers should be bundled in a box or paper bag.

The route schedule and further details will be announced at a later date.

CoMo Recycle and Trash App

Recycling

NOTE: Residential curbside recycling is scheduled to resume on an every-other-week schedule starting March 18. Routes have not changed.

Customers can verify their schedule by entering their address into the Utility’s Recycling Routes map.

Collections will be on your regularly scheduled refuse pickup day. Mixed containers should be in a blue recycling bag, and mixed fibers should be bundled in a box or paper bag.

The route schedule and further details will be announced at a later date.

Recycling and waste diversion evaluation

RRT Design & Construction, a consultant for the City, has completed an extensive evaluation of the City of Columbia’s recycling system.

City of Columbia Utilities and the City Council discussed the consultant’s recommendations at a Jan. 22 work session.

How to recycle

Recycling provides numerous benefits to our community and environment, including conservation of resources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. But recycling can be inefficient and costly if it is not done correctly. Contamination — putting the wrong items in the wrong recycling receptacle — makes the system counterproductive. If there are too many different materials mixed together and the bundle can’t be hand sorted efficiently, it ends up being sent to the landfill.

For the Solid Waste Utility’s dual-stream program to work most productively, correct separation in the home, office or community is an essential first step. In Columbia, fibers and containers are collected separately. Whether via curbside collection or at a large bin at an apartment building or a drop-off site, residents are asked to use the appropriate container to keep the streams from commingling.

Containers such as glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans and rigid plastics — plastics you cannot wrap around your fingers — can be recycled in Columbia. Black and dark plastics cannot be accepted at our facility. To ensure glass is recycled, please use the purple glass-only bin at the State Farm Parkway recycling drop-off center. Containers should be lightly rinsed.

recycling mixed fibers which includes cardboard, office papers and envelopes, newspapers, magazines and catalogs, boxboard and chipboard

Boxes should be flattened. It is not necessary to remove staples, address windows or packing tape from the fibers, but customers should remove plastic wraps and liners.

 

non recyclable waste which includes Styrofoam, plastic bags and wrappers, aluminum foil and pie pans, beverage and food cartons and paper products

Plastic bags can be recycled at local grocery and box stores. Please visit our CoMo Recycle & Trash App for tips on disposal of other items.

Commercial customers

Event recycling

Are you organizing an event?

First, you’ll need to submit an Event Application with Special Events.  

Once your event is approved, we can help with your recycling needs. Depending on the size and location of your event, the Solid Waste Utility has collapsible recycling bins and recycling bags available at NO COST!  We also have an event recycling trailer that can be dropped-off at your event at no cost. Please note that the recycling trailer requires 2-3 parking spaces or a similar-size, grass lawn.

Portable recycling bends

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are plastic bags recyclable at many retail or grocery stores, but not recyclable with the City?

Plastic bags can only be recycled when they are completely clean and sorted from other materials. Retail and grocery stores can offer collection bins for plastic shopping bags because they are already clean and not mixed with any other materials. Those bags are sent directly to a processing facility (not the City of Columbia). The blue recycling bags that are used in curbside collection often have food and beverage residue stuck to the plastic. This would not be a problem for other materials (e.g. aluminum cans), where contaminants get incinerated before the material begins to melt in a furnace. If a banana peel were mixed with recycled plastic bags, the plastic would just melt around the banana peel and cause issues for processing equipment.

Should caps be removed from glass or plastic bottles?

The caps or lids on glass bottles/jars are made of metal. These are not recyclable and should be disposed as trash. This is different from plastic bottles, where the caps should be left on the container to recycle both items. The plastic bottle and cap are often different types of plastic, but they can no be separated mechanically at the processing facility. The labels can remain attached to glass or plastic containers.

Is there a way to recycle any day of the week?

The City’s Recycling and Yard Waste Drop-off Centers are open 7 days/week and can be used by any resident.

Is aluminum foil recyclable?

No. The aluminum beverage cans that are recyclable in the City of Columbia are considered a different material from aluminum foil. We do not have the space at our recycling facility to separate another material type and it would take a long time for a city with Columbia’s population to collect enough aluminum foil for a shipment. Aluminum foil is often covered in cooking fats, oils, and greases, and sometime include uneaten food. These contaminants would attract wildlife and create an unsafe work environment at our recycling facility, and the volume of waste diverted from our landfill would not be worth the additional costs.

How clean do items need to be for recycling?

Beverage bottles can be rinsed, but it is not necessary – they will be cleaned at the processing facility. Glass jars might require some cleaning to remove sauces, jams, and peanut butter. If there is food residue stuck to the item that is larger than a quarter, it should cleaned or not recycled. The same is true for cardboard pizza boxes. Here are some general guidelines to follow… If the item is losing shape due to grease, it should not be recycled. If the item has uneaten food, it should be emptied into a trash container or compost site and then get recycled. Any cheese or sauce stuck to an item should not amount to more than a quarter in size.

Does it matter if there is no recycling symbol on a plastic item?

No. The City of Columbia recycles all plastics except styrofoam and plastic film/bags. This means that if you can identify those two exceptions, it does not matter what type of plastic you are trying to recycle.

Can the blue recycling bags be recycled?

No. The blue recycling bags cannot be recycled in the City of Columbia. Once the bags arrive at the Material Recovery Facility, two workers break open the bags and place the loose material on a conveyor line to be sorted. The empty plastic bags are set to the side and would then be transported to the landfill.

Can I recycle envelopes with plastic windows or cardboard with packaging tape?

Mail envelopes with a plastic window can be recycled. You might choose to remove the plastic window, but it is not necessary for recycling the paper. Cardboard boxes might contain packaging tape or staples. These also do not need to be removed, but we still request that you fold the boxes, if possible.