Village of Tarrytown Recycling Reminder & Tips

The Village of Tarrytown wishes to remind you that the recycling of newspapers, cardboard boxes, glass, metal containers and plastic containers (PETE and HDPE) is mandatory and lowers the Village's charges for refuse disposal, removes a significant tonnage of material from the solid waste stream and helps to conserve natural resources.

Recycling Tips

1. KNOW BEFORE YOU THROW   

Recycling markets are rough right now. China's policy of not accepting U.S. generated recyclable materials is a wakeup call to the U.S. to work on lowering the contamination rate (level of unacceptable material) found in recyclable bales. All of those efforts will help us produce the best final product and maintain a healthy recycling industry.

Tarrytown is still recycling all of your accepted materials. Non-recyclable materials thrown into the blue recycling bins are sorted out at the Westchester County Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and sent to be processed into reusable items.

2. LEAVE ITEMS LOOSE

Don't bag your recyclables. Leave items loose in your recycling bin. Most of the contamination is due to plastic bags which also clogs up the processing equipment. Keeping materials loose allows them to be sorted appropriately at the MRF. Plastic bags wrap around the MRF equipment and end up in final product bales as "residue", lowering market value and demand for our materials. When wrapped around equipment, materials can't fall through at the appropriate equipment locations for sorting. The recycling system must shut down while team members harness up to cut the bags out. 

3. FLATTEN BOXES

Remember to break down and flatten cardboard boxes.

While we are all shopping from home, there are a TON of cardboard boxes waiting at the curb these days. Some boxes are too large to fit into the back of our trucks, leading to more worker time on the street and at the back of their Sanitation vehicles trying to fit boxes inside.

Flat boxes also compact much easier than full boxes, which can take up a lot of room and cause trucks to make multiple trips to the Material Recovery Facility. Not only will flattening boxes help you fit more recyclables in your container, but it helps our drivers work quickly and safely on their routes. 

4. EMPTY AND RINSE

Food and beverages are considered contaminants in your recycling bin. Food residue in containers are sorted as trash, but decomposing food can contaminate other clean materials. This may lead to more products being redirected to the landfill or lowering the value of those marketable recyclable materials. 

So remember to empty and rinse out your jars, bottles and other food and beverage vessels. If there's too much food that you can't remove, it's best to place in your garbage can or better yet…. 

5. FOOD SCRAP DISPOSAL

The Village of Tarrytown has established a drop-off location for household food scraps on Green Street (near train station). There are specially marked bins in place to collect food scraps from the residents of the Village of Tarrytown. The collected food scraps will be transferred to a commercial composting facility upstate to be recycled into nutrient-rich compost.

Any person who violates any provision of the Recycling Law (Chapter 327 of the Village Code) shall be subject to a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $250.