All materials collected from recycling carts are sent to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in San José for sorting. Recyclable materials are baled and shipped to their respective end markets to be used as a resource for manufacturing new products. Curious to see what happens after your recycling cart gets picked up? Watch the short videos using the links below.

What happens to your recycling in San José?

Why Recycling Right is Important?

Recycling contamination includes items that are not on San José’s list of recyclables and/or recyclables on the list that are too dirty to be sold on the commodities market. Recyclable materials that are too dirty to recycle must be landfilled, which reduces the opportunity to recover materials, save natural resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from trucking the waste to landfill. Contamination also increases the cost of residents' garbage and recycling rates due to additional processing and landfill disposal.

Visit SanJoseRecycles.org to find out what goes into your garbage, recycling, or yard trimmings carts.

When contaminated recyclables mix with clean ones in the collection truck and are compressed, they can contaminate the clean materials, making them non-recyclable. There are increased costs when service providers process and landfill non-recyclables. The cleaner the recycling stream, the more materials can be recovered and sold to be repurposed instead of being landfilled.

A high contamination rate means that San José’s recycling service providers cannot sell these items through the recycling market. Instead of reusing them to make new products, they are landfilled. Landfilling material lowers the City’s recycling rate and ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and comply with state regulations. It also costs the service providers more to process contaminated material and dispose it of at landfill, which can impact ratepayer costs.  

The chasing arrow triangle on an item does not mean it is recyclable. Certain items that are recyclable in another city or area might not be accepted for recycling in San José, and vice versa. This is due to different recycling haulers' responsibilities for collection and processing in various cities, as well as the market for recyclables.

Visit SanJoseRecycles.org to look up what's recyclable. Download and print a recycling guide by visiting our resource page to help you remember what goes where. 

Recycling can be confusing. Here are three easy tips to recycle right.

1. Recycle plastics #1-5 and 7 (unless labeled compostable).
2. No food, no liquid. Empty and scrape containers before recycling.
3. Empty and scrape containers before recycling.

Look up what’s recyclable at SanJoseRecycles.org. Recycle Right to keep fees low, workers safe, and protect the environment.

1. Soft plastics such as plastic to-go bags, packaging, produce bags, film (plastic wrap).
2. Textiles (clothes, shoes, rugs/carpets, doormats, curtains and cloth bags).
3. Tissue and toilet paper (used/new), and to-go coffee cups.
4. Yard waste and other organics such as food scraps.

A Fall 2022 study found that the citywide average contamination rate among single-family homes was 57%, with some recycling  routes having as much as 87% contamination. City staff use multiple approaches to reduce recycling contamination, and this effort has helped reduce contamination. Assessing cart contents and leaving tags is a common practice used by many cities.

The project’s goal is to change recycling behavior and promote proper recycling practices by providing direct and specific feedback to households on how to recycle right and decrease recycling contamination. Information gathered from this project will inform  future outreach initiatives and help City staff determine if leaving cart tags results in lowering contamination and increasing the quantity of clean recyclables recovered

On collection day, City staff will lift the recycling cart lid to visually assess cart contents without sifting through items. They will record their findings of cart size, cart fullness, percentage of the cart contents are contaminated (non-recyclable or too dirty with leftover food and/or liquid), types of contaminants found, and take a photo of contents. Personal information will not be collected or documented.  

No, residents will not be issued a fine. The cart tags are intended to serve as public education and outreach to help residents recycle right.

Yes, carts will be collected unless hazardous waste is found by staff. Hazardous waste includes batteries, electronic devices with embedded batteries, paint, motor oil cans, and aerosol cans. If hazardous waste is found, staff will alert the recycling service provider who may leave a Non-Collection Notice. Hazardous waste does not belong in recycling or garbage carts. Please visit HHW.org or call (408) 299-7300 for free appointments and drop-off locations. 

You can provide feedback through a survey. To access the feedback survey, you can either scan the QR code on the cart tag or visit our survey here.