How to Place Your Solid Waste Carts at the Curb
In order for us to quickly collect your carts, please put all solid waste carts at
least 3 feet away from each other and surrounding items at the curb, such as:
cars, mail boxes, fences, fire hydrants and basketball hoops.
3 feet
3 feet
Garb
age
3 feet
Recy
cl
ing
3 feet
Mail
3 feet
Place carts next to the curb (within 2 feet of curb).
You may also
put carts in the
street, if you
place them
immediately
against the face
of the curb (or a
couple feet out).
STREET
How to Recycle Items Not Collected at the Curb
Large Stack of Cardboard from a Recent Move
If you recently moved and have a large pile of cardboard boxes that won’t fit into your
blue recycling cart, you may bring them to the City’s Transfer & Recycling Facility or
you may call to schedule a special curbside pick-up, which takes place on Thursdays
only of each week. Remove ALL packaging material or styrofoam. Call 224-6201.
All cardboard boxes must be broken down and neatly stacked at the curb.
Televisions, Computers, and Other Electronic Equipment
TV’s and computer monitors have cathode ray tubes, which contain lead, and are
banned from the landfill. You may recycle these and other electronic equipment at the
City’s Transfer & Recycling Facility for no charge! Limit:10 items per day.
Household Hazardous Waste
Residents that have used or leftover hazardous waste (old paint, batteries, used motor
oil, filters, anti-freeze, pesticides, solvents, etc.) may bring them to the City’s Household
Hazardous Waste facility, free-of-charge. This program is not available for businesses
at this time. The Household Hazardous Waste facility is open three days a week -Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Always call before you come
to the facility. Occasionally, our hazardous waste staff are called out for emergency
response. The phone number is 224-6209. Five gallons or 50 pounds maximum per trip.
Appliances
Household appliances are accepted at the City of Redding Transfer & Recycling Facility
for a fee. Staff will properly remove and recycle the refrigerant, compressors, oil,
mercury switches, and then recycle the scrap metal. Some examples are: refrigerators,
freezers, washers, dryers, stoves, window-mount air conditioning units and water
heaters. Note: window-mount A/C units only. No large air conditioners. This service
is for households only - no business waste at this time.
Scrap Metals
You can recycle scrap aluminum, copper, tin, iron and brass items at the City of Redding
Transfer & Recycling Facility. Some examples are: aluminum gutters, insulated copper
wiring, copper piping (water pipes), metal bed springs, radiators, tire rims, and metal
fencing.
Dear Customer,
The Solid Waste Utility Staff is please to present you with your new blue cart
for the curbside recycling program. There is no extra charge for the blue cart.
After careful planning the curbside recycling program was implemented and
has resulted in lower costs over the long haul. The blue carts are collected by
an automatic process, keeping route injuries down and increasing the speed at
which the material is handled.
The curbside recycling program, also known as “single stream recycling,”
enabled us to achieve a state mandate that requires us to divert 50% of the
waste from the landfill. The blue cart’s large capacity allows you to wheel
items to the curb and the curbside recycling program allows for more types
of items. Now you can recycle junk mail, magazines, plastic containers (#1
& #2), and many boxes you have in your pantry, such as boxes for cereal,
cookies, crackers, dog biscuits, etc. All these items are combined into the
single blue recycling container, making it easier than ever to recycle, a benefit
to the community and to the environment.
We want to provide the best possible service at the lowest cost, and appreciate
your cooperation to keep contaminants out of the cart. Proper cart placement
is essential to efficient service. Please take a moment to review this brochure
and to familiarize yourself with what’s acceptable to recycle and how the blue
carts work. Keep this brochure as a handy guide to help educate everybody
about recycling.
Thank you for you participation,
From the Solid Waste Utility
The Solid Waste Utility offers recycling carts to singlefamily homes, multi-family homes
and businesses, too!
This publication is partially funded by a grant from the
California Department of Conservation, Division of Recycling
Tires
Tires can be brought to the City of Redding Transfer Station for a fee. The City sends
them to a local cement company which incinerates them as an alternative fuel. No tires
larger than 46” diameter x 12” wide.
Re-printed in May, 2009, on post-consumer recycled paper
Put it ALL Together:
Three Easy Steps to Use Your Recycling Cart
1
Combine everything loosely in your cart so it empties freely into the recycling truck. Please DO NOT separate items or put them in a plastic bag,
paper bag or “nest” items inside each other.
Put only recyclables in your blue cart.
Please read the list of contaminants below and keep them OUT of your recycling
cart. Contamination is costly, can damage the recycling equipment and leads to rising
residential garbage rates. Help yourself by knowing what can and can’t go in your
recycling cart.
NOTE: Recycling carts with repeat problems of contamination will be removed.
Every truck is equipped with a camera to see what’s being dumped inside. If
contamination is found before your cart is dumped, the cart will be left behind and
tagged with a notice for you to remove the contaminants. Customers that do not remove
the contaminants may be charged to have the cart dumped as garbage.
2
What Kind of Paper?
List of Acceptable Items:
Plastic Bottles & Jugs:
• Plastic bottles & jugs #1 - #2
• Labels are okay.
• Empty and lightly rinse.
• Lids are ok.
• No motor oil or antifreeze bottles.
Load the cart loosely so that it will empty.
 Glass Bottles & Jars: Soda, beer, wine, juice, pickle jars, etc.
 Tin Cans: Soup, tuna, canned fruit & veggies, cat/dog food, etc.
Place your recycling cart properly at the curb the night before
your collection day.
Carts must be placed at the curb no later than 6:00 a.m. on your collection day. Review
the diagram on the back of this brochure for proper cart placement. It is a good idea
to put your cart out the night before your collection day. We start our routes at 6:00
a.m. - this will help avoid missed pick ups. Redding Municipal Code requires that you
remove all carts from the curb within 12 hours of collection and store them behind a
fence or alongside your house to help keep our neighborhoods beautiful!
Plastic Bottles & Jugs: #1 - #2. Think... beverage containers, bottles & jugs. Example: Soda pop bottles, water bottles, milk
jugs, laundry detergent, shampoo bottles.
 Aluminum: Aluminum cans.
Please break down all cardboard boxes. Large pieces can jam in the cart and prevent
it from emptying completely. Large pieces should be cut into smaller sections to fit
into cart. Remember, the lid must be closed when you set the cart at the curb.
3

Newspaper & Paper Egg Cartons. No styrofoam egg cartons.
 Magazines, Catalogs, Junk Mail & Envelopes.
Glass Bottles & Jars
 Pasteboard Boxes: Cereal, Kleenex, cake mix, cracker and shoe
boxes. No boxes with foil overlay. Be sure to remove all plastic
liners and packaging material.
• Remove lids.
• Labels are okay.
• Empty and lightly rinse.

CONTAMINANTS -Please DO NOT put these in your recycling cart:
Flattened Cardboard Boxes: Do NOT cram boxes into cart!
Break down large boxes & remove packaging material.
 Office Paper, Computer Paper, School Paper, Manila Folders.
NO SHREDDED PAPER.
 Paper Rolls: toilet paper rolls, paper towel & wrapping paper rolls.
Please do NOT put any of these items in your recycling cart. They are either
incompatible with our mechanical sorting equipment or are not recyclable:
NO PLASTIC BAGS
NO styrofoam: cups, fast food boxes, or packaging peanuts
NO aluminum foil or pie plates
 NO containers with food residue (please thoroughly rinse out peanut
butter, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and cat/dog food containers)
 NO napkins, paper plates, paper towels, tissues, diapers, etc.
 NO waxed boxes, waxed paper, (orange juice, milk cartons, ice cream
containers)
 NO decorative bows, no paper with foil design on it
 NO mirrors, windows, drinking glasses, ceramic, china, pyrex, or
light bulbs
NO aerosol cans, paint cans, motor oil or antifreeze bottles, syringes
 NO hard-bound books
NO plastic toys, Tupperware, or other miscellaneous types of plastic
NO clothing
 NO scrap metals (pots & pans, lawn chairs, pipe, etc.)
NO wire, rope, chain or garden hoses.
A Word About
Recycling
Paper
 Wrapping Paper & Cards. NO foil printing or lining.
Aluminum, Steel, & Tin Cans
• Labels are okay.
• Empty and lightly rinse.
• NO aluminum foil or pie plates.
Newspapers, Brown Bags, Cardboard, &
Other Clean Paper:
• Remove plastic wrapping or bags around newspapers and magazines.
• Remove any plastic liners, packaging & styrofoam peanuts.
• Flatten cardboard and cut up large boxes into smaller pieces.
• Paper grocery bags are OK!
You can recycle almost
any office or school
paper - glossy or flat.
NO shredded paper.
Make it Easy! These
items don’t have to
be removed from
your office paper:
plastic windows in
envelopes, labels, paper
clips, staples, tape, or
sticky notes.
Please REMOVE:
any plastic covers or
bags on magazines and
newspapers; the black
carbons from carbon
forms; and foil designs
on cards before recycling
them.
Examples of Office or
School Paper: Paper
used for computers,
copying, typing, writing,
folders, envelopes, fax
machines, printers,
carbonless forms,
reports, advertisements,
posters, brochures, etc.
* Shredded Paper:
We DO NOT take
shredded paper in the
mixed recycling carts.
Strip-shredded paper can
be brought to the transfer
station or added to an
office paper recycling
program. Confetti
shredded paper must
be thrown away.