Our Environment - Recycling - Please Get Involved
Bottled water companies work hard to protect the environment, and urge those that enjoy the products to do the same.
- Recycling Overview
- Recycling at home
- Recycling away from home
- Curbside Recycling
- Drop-off Recycling
- Resources - State Recycling Agencies/Contact List
- Resources - Top 50 Municipal Recycle Agencies/Contact List
Recycling Overview
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Americans recycled 68 million tons of solid waste in 2001, the latest year for which complete figures are available. This resulted in an overall national recycling rate of 29.7% for all recyclables.
Today, consumers are able to recycle a wide variety of items, including:
¨ Batteries
¨ Beverage/food containers
¨ E-waste (electronics such as computers, printers, etc.)
¨ Organics (scrap food/yard waste)
¨ Paper (computer, newsprint, magazines, corrugated and telephone books)
¨ Tires
¨ Heavy Appliances
Recycling came into wide acceptance with the general public in the early 1990s as more and more communities developed local recycling programs. While collection and recovery rates grew in the early part of the decade, for the most part, recovery rates have declined in recent years.
Did you know that?
- 100% of bottled water containers are recyclable, where facilities exist.
- The larger bottles found on the water cooler at home or in the office are sanitized and can be reused an average of 50 times before the bottled water company recycles them.
We are committed to actively participating in recycling and educating the public about the importance of recycling bottled water containers and all recyclable materials. Recyclable materials are in high demand and help to create new goods out of old ones. It is important for everyone to do their part and below you will find where you can obtain recycling bins for your own home, office or community.
Recycling at home
For consumers that have recycling programs available through their municipality or locality, check your local phonebook to contact them and learn about recycling programs in your community and how to obtain the curbside recycling bins.
Recycling away from home
For specialized recycling bins that are made for the office, church, school or special events, click on the link below to view the many options available.
Curbside Recycling
Curbside recycling is by far the most convenient way to recycle a wide variety of materials today. Consumers and homeowners alike prefer the convenience of recycling literally at the end of their driveway each week.
Since the early 1990s, over 9,400 American cities and counties (according to Bio-Cycle magazine) have developed curbside recycling programs. These programs collect a wide variety of materials, including aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper and plastic containers. Curbside programs serve literally millions and millions of homes.
Drop-off Recycling
Drop-off recycling centers are located primarily in urban neighborhoods, where they serve multi-family housing areas that cannot be served by curbside recycling programs, and in rural areas where curbside recycling service does not make economic sense due to the high cost associated with providing these services in sparsely populated rural areas.
The first step in curbside recycling - filling the recycling bin at home with PET bottles.
Curbside recycling trucks pick up recyclables at the curb once every week in most American cities.
Today, there are more than 10,000 drop-off recycling centers in the United States. An effective drop-off recycling center is one that is well located and well lighted, with multiple storage bins with adequate capacity for the various recyclables.
In order to find the closest curbside and/or drop-off recycling program, consumers should call their city or county recycling department (commonly listed in the government section of the telephone book under recycling, or department of solid waste).
Consumers can also be directed to an interesting new Web site, www.earth911.org , which provides a ZIP-code based system to learn about local recycling programs, locations and other useful recycling information for their specific community.
Resources/State Recycling Agencies
Most every state has an official state recycling office or agency. Officials in these offices can provide information concerning recycling activities in their respective states, along with information on state and local contacts, end use markets, etc. States which have an official recycling office are listed in the following chart (please note that with periodic government reorganizations, some recycling departments may be moved to another department or division of state government from time to time; the following directory was accurate at press time):
State Agency/Organization Contact
Alabama Department of Environmental Division of Education Management 1400 Coliseum Blvd Montgomery, AL 36110 Phone: (334) 271-7700 www.adem.state.al.us
Alaska Department of Environmental Pollution Prevention Conservation Cordova Street Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: (907) 269-7500 http://www.dec.state.ak.us/
Arizona Office of Environmental Quality 3033 North Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85012 Phone: (602) 207-2300 www.adeq.state.az.us
Arkansas Department of Pollution Control Recycling Division P.O. Box 8913 Little Rock, AR 72219 Phone: (501) 682-0812 www.adeq.state.ar.us
California Integrated Waste Management Board Department of Conservation 8800 Cal Center Drive Sacramento, CA 95826 Phone: (916) 255-2826 www.ciwmb.ca.gov 801 K Street, MS 24-01 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 322-1080 www.consrv.ca.gov
Colorado Office of Energy Conservation 1675 Broadway, Suite 1300 Denver, CO 80202-4613 Phone: (303) 620-4292 www.state.co.us/oemc
Connecticut Department of Environmental Bureau of Waste Management Conservation 79 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106-5157 Phone: (860) 424-3365 http://dep.state.ct.us/
Delaware Solid Waste Authority P.O. Box 455 Dover, DE 19903 Phone: (302) 739-5361 www.dswa.com
Florida Department of Environmental Solid Waste Division Protection 2600 Blair Stone Road Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400 Phone: (850) 488-1234 www.dep.state.fl.us
Georgia Department of Community Affairs Division of Recycling 60 Executive Park South, NE Atlanta, GA 30329 Phone: (404) 679-4950 www.dca.state.ga.us
Hawaii Department of Health Office of Solid Waste Management 919 Ala Moana Blvd Room 210 Honolulu, HI 96814 Phone: (808) 586-4240 http://www.state.hi.us/health/
Idaho Department of Health & Welfare Division of Environmental Quality 1410 North Hilton Boise, ID 83706 Phone: (208) 373-0502 www.state.id.us/deq
Illinois Department of Commerce & Office of Recycling Community Affairs 325 West Adams, 3rd Floor Springfield, IL 62704 Phone: (217) 785-2800
Indiana Department of Environmental Solid Waste Management P.O. Box 6015 Indianapolis, IN 46206 Phone: (317) 232-8603 www.state.in.us/idem
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Waste Management Division 502 East Ninth Street Des Moines, IA 50319-0034 Phone: (515) 281-8941 www.state.ia.us/dnr
Kansas Bureau of Waste Management Forbes Field Building 740 Topeka, KS 66620 Phone: (785) 296-1600 www.kdhe.state.ks.us/waste
Kentucky Division of Waste Management 14 Reilly Road Frankfort, KY 40601 Phone: (502) 564-6716 www.waste.ky.gov/recycling
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Solid Waste Division P.O. Box 82178 Baton Rouge, LA 70884-2178 Phone: (504) 765-0249 www.deq.state.la.us
Maine State Planning Office Waste Management Program 38 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333 Phone: (207) 287-5300 www.state.me.us
Maryland Department of the Environment Division of Recycling 2500 Broening Highway Baltimore, MD 21224 Phone: (410) 631-3315 www.mde.state.md.us
Massachusetts Division of Solid Waste Management One Winter Street, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02108 Phone: (617) 292-5960 www.state.ma.us/dep
Michigan Solid Waste Alternatives Program P.O. Box 30241 Lansing, MI 48909-7741 Phone: (517) 373-2730 www.deq.state.mi.us
Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance 520 Lafayette Road 2nd Floor St. Paul, MN 55155 http://www.moea.state.mn.us/
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Pollution Prevention Division P.O. Box 10385 Jackson, MS 39289 Phone: (601) 961-5241 www.deq.state.ms.us
Missouri Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Management Program P.O. Box 176 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176 Phone: (573) 751-5401 www.dnr.state.mo.us
Montana Department of Environmental Quality P.O. Box 200901 Helena, MT 59620 Phone: (406) 444-5307 www.deq.state.mt.us
Nebraska Department of Solid Waste Litter Prevention Program P.O. Box 98922 Lincoln, NE 68509 Phone: (402) 471-4210 www.deq.state.ne.us
Nevada Department of Environmental Capital Complex Protection 333 West Nye Street Carson City, NV 89710 Phone: (775) 687-4670 www.ndep.nv.gov/
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services 6 Hazen Drive Concord, NH 03301 Phone: (603) 271-2901 www.state.nh.us
New Jersey Department of Environmental 120 South Stockton Street Protection Trenton, NJ 08625 Phone: (609) 292-3131 www.state.nj.us
New Mexico Environmental Department 1190 St. Frances Drive Santa Fe, NM 87505 Phone: (505) 827-2883 http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/
New York Department of Environmental 50 Wolfe Road Conservation Albany, NY 12233-7253 Phone: (518) 457-7337 http://www.dec.state.ny.us/
North Carolina Department of Environment and 1639 Mail Service Center Natural Resources Raleigh, NC 27699-1639 Phone: (919) 715-6500 http://www.p2pays.org/
North Dakota Division of Waste Management 1200 Missouri Avenue Bismarck, ND 58506-5520 Phone: (701) 328-5166 www.health.state.nd.us
Ohio Division of Recycling & Litter 1889 Fountain Square Court, F-2 Columbus, OH 43224 Phone: (614) 265-6333 www.dnr.state.oh.us/odnr/recycling
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality 1000 NE 10th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73117-1212 Phone: (405) 271-7353 http://www.deq.state.ok.us/
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality 811 SW Sixth Avenue Portland, OR 97204 Phone: (503) 229-6823 www.deq.state.or.us
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Bureau of Land Recycling & Waste Protection P.O. Box 8472 Harrisburg, PA 17105 Phone: (717) 787-7382 www.state.pa.us
Rhode Island Department of Environmental 235 Promenade Road, Suite 330 Management Providence, RI 02908 Phone: (401) 277-3434 http://www.dem.ri.gov/
South Carolina Department of Health & 2600 Bull Street Environmental Control Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 898-3432 http://www.scdhec.net/environment/
South Dakota Office of Waste Management 523 East Capitol Street Pierre, SD 57501 Phone: (605) 773-6498 http://www.state.sd.us/denr
Tennessee Department of Environment & 401 Church Street Conservation Nashville, TN 37243 (888) 891-TDEC (8332) http://www.state.tn.us/environment/
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality P.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087 Phone (512) 239-1000 http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/
Utah Office of Planning & Public Affairs P.O. Box 144810 Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4810 Phone: (801) 536-4477 www.deq.state.ut.us
Vermont Environmental Assistance Division 103 South Main Street Waterbury, VT 05671-0411 Phone: (802) 241-3589 www.anr.state.vt.us/dec
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality 629 East Main Street Richmond, VA 23219 Phone: (804) 698-4000 www.deq.state.va.us
Washington Department of Community Trade & P.O. Box 47600 Economic Development Olympia, WA 98504-7600 Phone: 1-800-RECYCLE http://www.ecy.wa.gov/ecyhome
West Virginia Department of Environmental 1356 Hansford Street Protection Charleston, WV 25301 Phone: (304) 558-6350 http://www.dep.state.wv.us/
Wisconsin Office of Reduction & Recycling P.O. Box 7921 Madison, WI 53707 Phone: (608) 267-7566 www.dnr.state.wi.us
Wyoming Solid Waste Management Division 122 West 25th Street Cheyenne, WY 82002 Phone: (307) 332-6924 www.state.wy.us
Resources/Top 50 Municipal Recycling Agencies
As previously mentioned, over 9,400 cities and counties operate curbside recycling programs. Most every community that operates or oversees a municipal recycling program also has a recycling coordinator to manage the program. Usually, the recycling coordinator serves within a community's solid waste, environment or public works department. A call to a community's information telephone line (or main switchboard) will generally result in quick confirmation as to who the appropriate person is.
Most of the larger cities have sophisticated departments with multiple staff members who perform a variety of tasks in support of the recycling mission. Following is a listing of the nation's 50 largest cities and their recycling department contact information (Note: in some cases, community Web sites do not list specific street addresses or telephone numbers; instead, the reader is invited to visit the community's Web site in order to obtain the information needed):
City Agency Contact
New York City Department of Sanitation www.ci.nyc.ny.us
Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation 800/773-2489 www.ci.la.ca.us/SAN/srcrd/index.htm
Chicago Department of Streets & Sanitation www.egov.cityofchicago.org
Houston Solid Waste Management Department www.houstontx.gov/solidwaste
Philadelphia Recycling Office 215/686-5560 www.phila.gov/streets/recycling
Phoenix Public Works 602/262-7251 www.phoenix.gov/GARBAGE/recycle
San Diego Environmental Services Department 858/694-7000 www.sandiego.gov/environmental-services
San Antonio Environmental Services 210/207-6440 www.sanantonio.gov/enviro/solidwaste
Dallas Sanitation Services Department www.dallascityhall.com/dallas/eng/tml/recycling
Detroit Environmental Affairs 313/471-5100 www.ci.detroit.mi.us/environaffairs
San Jose Environmental Services 408/277-2700 www.sjrecycles.org
This information is provided by the International Bottled Water Association. Visit their site: www.bottledwater.org for more information about bottled water.
Recycling
