How to Recycle Just about Everything in Marin County

Marin Recycle !

Twenty years ago, sadly I threw almost everything in the trash can.  These days we have the smallest trash can you can use and rarely fill it.  However all three of our recycling bins are constantly overflowing.   What could feel better than recycling?   Recycling is easy and efficient.  Recycling is hip!   However, it is can be hard to understand what to recycle where.  Therefore I attempted to put together a simple list of what to recycle and where.  This list is slightly unusual in that it is an alphabetical list. Below the alphabetical listing please find the various Categories which may give you more detail.  Marin Recycle.  Please Save Our Planet!

Marin Recycle

Recycle Just About Everything:

Acids: likely Hazardous Waste.

Aerosol cans: likely Hazardous Waste.

Aluminum and Aluminum Cans:Recycle in your plastics and bottles Bin.

Antifreeze: likely Hazardous Waste.

Asbestos: Hazardous Waste.

Aseptic Juice: Hazardous Waste.

Batteries: Many county and city fire stations are outfitted with a blue box to accept these.

Beer Bottles: Recycle in your plastics and bottles Bin.

Beer Cans:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Readable Books:  Donate to a Library, Church, of Salvation Army.

Unreadable – Unsable Books: Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Boxes (Not Pizza Boxes):  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Car Batteries: Possibly Hazardous Waste.

Cardboard:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Catalogs:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Cell Phones: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below.

CFL Lightbulbs: Hazardous Wasted or your Ace Store may recycle them for you.

Cleaning Products: Hazardous Waste.

Clippings:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Christmas Trees:  County, City Specific – many towns in Marin have pickup days.  See Below.

Computers: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below. I advise on fully and professionally emptying the hard drive.

Dog Poop:  Although it would seem logical that you place this in the Green Bin, alas this must be thrown out in the garage.

Drugs: see Pharmaceuticals.

Electrical Switches: Hazardous Waste.

Envelopes:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Flammables:Hazardous Waste.

Food Scraps:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Fluorescent lights and Fluorescent light bulbs.

Fruit:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Gas cylinders, Compressed, Propane Tanks for Camping BBQ: Hazardous Waste.

Glass: Recycle in your plastics and bottles Bin.

Grass:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

HerbicidesHazardous Waste.

Household Goods:  Goodwill and or Salvation Army.  Obviously there are lots of worthy organizations taking goods.

Junk Mail:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Leaves: :  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Laptops: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below.  I advise on fully and professionally emptying the hard drive.

Lithium Ion Batteries: Unclear at the time of writing this post.  Possibly at the Fire Stations, Electronics Recycling, or Hazardous Waste.

Logs: :  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Lumber, Pressed or Treated: possibly Hazardous Waste.

Magazines:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Medical Waste (for personal use): ask your prescribing doctor.  They may be willing to recycle them at the office or its likely Hazardous Waste.

Metal, Scrap: Call your community or go to Envirometal in Santa Rosa.

Milk Cartons:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Milk Jugs: Recycle in your plastics and bottles Bin.

Monitors: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below. I advise on fully and professionally emptying the hard drive.

Motor Oil: Hazardous Waste.

Needles:Hazardous Waste or Recycle at your prescribing physician.

Newspaper: :  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Oil, Motor Oil and Such: Likely Hazardous Waste.

Oil Filters: Hazardous Waste.

Oxidizers:Hazardous Waste.

Packaging Materiel: UPS Store for Reuse.

Paints:Hazardous Waste.

Paper towel rowels or unused paper towels: :  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Photo waste:Hazardous Waste.

Paper, Paper Bags  and Paperboard: :  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Paintings, in usable condition:Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Pictures – Picture Frames, in usable condition: Goodwill and Salvation Army.

PCB materials:Hazardous Waste.

Pesticides:Hazardous Waste.

Pizza Boxes:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.  Yes you read that right, put it in with the yard clippings.

Pharmaceuticals:  Some local police departments have days to accept them.  Also Jack’s Drug Store will accept them possibly.  The Marin County Sheriffs Department will accept them in the Coroners office on Los Gamos Drive in San Rafael, CA.

Phones, Cell phones or otherwise: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below.

Phone Books:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Poisons: Hazardous Waste.

Plastic: Recycle in your plastics and bottles Bin.

Paper:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Personal Care Products: Hazardous Waste.

Printer Cartridges:  Some suppliers include mechanisms to recycle them where you purchase them.  Also Staples may accept them for reycling.

Solvents:Hazardous Waste.

Soy and Soup Boxes: Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Stationary Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Steel Cans: Recycle in your plastics and bottles Bin.

Styrofoam Peanuts: UPS Store for Reuse.

Tablet Computers: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below. I advise on fully and professionally emptying the hard drive.

Telephone Books:  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Tires:  Not technically considered Hazardous, none the less not allowed in garbage cans.  Have your Automotive Store Recycle these.

Toilet Paper Rolls: :  Recycle in your Paper Recycling Can.

Thermometers: Hazardous Waste.  These often contain mercury.

Toys:  The Community Alliance, Salvation Army, or Goodwill.

TVs: Recycle as Electronic Waste, see below.

Weeds:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Wood and Wood Materials, (Non Processed Lumber):

Wood. Processed or Pressed and Treated Lumber:  Possibly Hazardous Waste.

Vegetables:  Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Yard Debre: Recycle in your Green Recycling Bin.

Zero Waste Marin:

For more exact information based on where you live see: http://zerowastemarin.org/assets/PDFs/RecycleGuide2011-13.pdf.

Electronics Waste Recycling:

Recycle your old TV monitor and computer:  ewaste Collective – Novato Location.

Household wares Recycling:

Recycle household wares:  Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Hazardous Waste Recycling:

Hazardous waste, including but not limited to: Fluorescent lights, Computers, thermometers, aerosol cans, acids, oxidizers, gas cylinders, antifreeze, poisons, flammables, paints, solvents, motor oil, needles, PCB materials, pesticides, herbacicdes, photo waste, :   Cal Recycle – Home Haz Waste  – Read Hazardous Waste PDF.

Hazardous Waste Site in Marin: Marin Household Hazardous Waste Facility – 565 Jacoby Street San Rafael, CA 9490.

Christmas Tree Recyling:

Recycle your Christmas Tree:  Marin County Christmas Tread.

Recycle those Batteries in Marin:

Battery Recycling:  Marinwood Fire and Other Marin Fire Station Community Network

Recycling Pharmaceuticals:

Pharmaceutical Recycling:  Save SF Bay – Pharmaceutical

Marin County locations:  Medical Waste Marin County Click on the First Arrow: Household Sharps and Pharmaceutical FREE Waste Drop-Off Locations for a list.

Other Reycling Ideas:

Freecycle:   The Freecycle Network.

Nextdoor, See the Classifieds and Free section:  Nextdoor – membership required

Reuse and Recycling Guide for Novato.

Common Sense Required:

Please use an ounce of common sense when referencing this list.  If a book is dipped in paint, it likely becomes a hazardous waste not a paper recycle situation.  Not all things that can be recycled are listed. Not everything that falls within a category can be recycled for all sorts of various reasons.  When in doubt – call your recycling center and ask.   If you notice any errors on this post, kindly contact me directly to correct it:  scott@marindependent.com – 415-294-5454

Recycle Everything in Marin

About How to Recycle Just about everything in Marin County:

This post is intended for the benefit of the community.  Marindependent Insurance Services is not a recycling nor garbage expert.   Rules and regulations concerning garbage can and will change.   Recycling laws can be national, state, and local driven.  Please check your location for more rules and regulations.  Marindependent is a local Marin green business and is certified with the county of Marin as such.  But that does not give us any recycling authority.  Although this post does not speak of insurance – kindly read our disclosure concerning insurance and insurance sales.  Always seek the licensed advice from an insurance agent in your state when considering purchasing, changing, dropping, cancelling, or amending any form of insurance.  California License 0K10734.  Thank you for reading Marin Recycle.

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