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
  • 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.
  • Bins, bags, or bundles should not weight more than 40 pounds.

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

Household Items:

  • Baby, Food, and Clothing Items - Donate to:
    • Saints ShareWear is Santa Fe College's thrift shop for men's, women's and children's clothing, shoes and accessories. Contact csc@sfcollege.edu or visit Saints ShareWear (sfcollege.edu) to find out more. Saints ShareWear is open every Wednesday and Thursday 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 Paths.
    • 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 provides housing and case management to veterans.
    • 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. 
  • 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.  Visit the Alachua County Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Website for more information.
  • Used Books/DVDs/Video game consoles - Used books, DVDs and video game consoles can be donated to several local organizations.
    • SF Library will take donations of books. Contact Myra Sterrett at 395-5150 for more information.
    • 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.
    • The Streetlight program at Children's Hospital at UF Health takes Children and Young Adult DVDs, books and gaming consoles. Contact Emily Sullivan with Streetlight for details at 352-273-9596 or e.sullivan@peds.ufl.edu.
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