Recycling At Home

Recycling at Home:

Alachua County recycles 60% of its waste. That's one of the highest recycling rates in the entire State of Florida!

Blue Bin

  • Plastic Bottles & Jars (including yogurt cups and margarine tubs)
  • Metal Cans, including aerosol cans (Empty first please!)
  • Glass Bottles & Jars
  • New item! Beverage cartons (Cartons such as milk, juice boxes, soy milk etc.)

Visit Alachua County Waste & Resource Recovery page for more information.

ORANGE BIN

  • Brown Paper Bags & Newspapers
  • Magazines, Catalogs & Telephone Books
  • Corrugated Cardboard and Pasteboard
  • Office Paper & Junk Mail
  • New Items! Paperback books, workbooks and soft-back textbooks. (Paperback school workbooks, textbooks and coupon books. Paperback novels that are still in good condition should be donated if possible, but damaged or unreadable paperbacks can be recycled.)
  • Visit Alachua County Waste & Resource Recovery page for more information.

Yard Waste

Yard trash includes leaves, grass clippings and small tree limbs. It does not include boards or lumber.

  • Residents can no longer put yard waste at the curb in plastic bags, instead it should be put in rigid containers or paper lawn and leaf bags
  • Limbs must be less than 5 feet in length and smaller than 6 inches in diameter.

E-Waste Items:

All electronic items can be recycled at ARC for Alachua County. Stop by Monday through Friday 8AM – 4PM, go to the front desk and tell them what you have to recycle. They are right across the street from the NW campus at 3303 NW 83rd Street. There is a small charge for CRT's only mainly due to the lead in the glass.

Household Items:

  • Baby, Food, and Clothing Items - Donate to:
    • Saints ShareWear is Santa Fe's thrift shop for men's, women's, and children's clothing, shoes, and accessories. Contact Debi McElroy at 395-5843 or visit http://www.sfcollege.edu/sharewear/ to find out more. Saints Sharewear is open every WEDNESDAY from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
    • Peaceful Paths is the certified domestic abuse network that serves survivors of domestic violence in Alachua, Bradford, and Union counties. Peaceful Paths provides a wide range of services including emergency shelter, transitional housing, crisis hotline, victim advocacy, children's programming, education and training, counseling and support groups, community awareness and intervention, violence prevention programs, and batterer's intervention programming. Items that can be donated can be found on their needs list at Peaceful Path.
    • Home Van and Citizens for Social Justice, Inc. for their work with the homeless. Call 372-4825 or email barupa@atlantic.net for more information on items to donate.
    • The Repurpose Project is a non-profit community based effort to divert useful resources from the landfill, redirect these items to the public for art and education, inspire creativity, and help us all rethink what we throw away. For a list of items visit the Repurpose Projects Item Donations page.
    • Bread of the Mighty Food Bank takes donations of food is used to help fight hunger in our community.
    • Ronald McDonald House takes donation of un-opened food. Visit their website at for more information.
  • Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) - Compact fluorescent lighting presents special disposal considerations. These CFLs contain mercury and should not be thrown out with the regular garbage. GRU recommends recycling any bulb containing mercury at any of the five Alachua County Rural Collection Centers located across the county or at the Alachua County Hazardous Waste Collection Center. Most hardware stores also accept CFLs for recycling.
  • Educational Supplies - Donate to Tools for Schools which provides Alachua County Public School teachers supplies at no cost. Visit the Tools for Schools website for more information
  • Furniture - Donate to Vetspace or Peaceful Paths. Their clients are always setting up new households and are in need of all things domestic.
  • Hazardous Wastes - Hazardous wastes such as poisons, flammable liquids, corrosives, propane tanks (less than 20 lbs), automotive fluids, batteries, antifreeze, paint products, pharmaceuticals, and CFLs can all be taken to the Hazardous Waste Collection Center at 5125 NE 63rd Ave. (2 miles north of Gainesville Regional Airport on Waldo Road). If you are unsure if an item is hazardous, please contact the Alachua County Hazardous Waste office at 334-0440.
  • Laundry Supplies - The Ronald McDonald House will take donations of laundry supplies, including dryer sheets and stain removers for its residents. A current wish list of items can be found at. Donations can be taken to 1600 SW 14th St.
  • Other Items - Alachua County's Alachua Exchange is an online way to help one person's trash become another person's treasure.
  • Pet Supplies - Unused pet supplies can be donated to the Alachua County Humane Society at 2029 NW 6th Street.
  • Used Books/DVDs - Used books can be donated to several local organizations.
    • SF Library will take donations of books. Contact Myra Sterrett at 395-5150 for more information.
    • The American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge takes donations of books and videos for patients who are staying in the lodge while undergoing cancer treatments. The Winn-Dixie Hope Lodge is located at 2119 SW 16th Street. Please contact Nancy Dohn at 352-338-0601 x5072 about donations.
    • Friends of the Library accepts books year-round and has a drop-off box accessible 24/7 at 430 N. Main St. to sell for support of the libraries and literacy projects.
    • Children's Hospital at Shands takes Children and Young Adult DVDs and Books. Contact Emily Sullivan with Streetlight for details at 352-279-9596 or e.sullivan@peds.ufl.edu.
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