Recycle Smart

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Food  

Food waste can be 20 – 30% of what we throw away.  Food or organics can be composted, but it cannot go in your regular recycling cart.  Keep food scraps out of your recycling cart. 

  • There are many tools, tips and resources to help prevent food waste. Go to AnokaCounty.us/Reduce, and SaveTheFood.com
  • Anoka County has many organics drop-off locations and several cities offer curbside organics collection.  Sign up and get started today! Go to AnokaCounty.us/Organics to find out about what is accepted and how to sign up.

Batteries and Electronics

Batteries and electronics can damage equipment and harm workers collecting and sorting recycled material. Batteries are especially dangerous as they can start fires at recycling sorting facilities, particularly lithium ion batteries found in cell phones. Recycle Smart and do your part to properly recycle batteries and electronics.

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Tanglers refers to any item that can become wrapped around equipment at a recycling sorting facility, such as plastic bags, holiday lights and electrical cords. These items become tangled in sorting equipment and workers can spend hours each day removing them, causing costly processing delays. These items are recyclable at drop-off locations only.

Plastic Bags

Plastic bags and wrap get tangled in the equipment at recycling sorting facilities and workers spend hours each day removing them. Plastic bags and wrap can be recycled if brought back to a retail drop-off location. 

Recycle Smart and do your part to reduce and recycle plastic bags and wrap. Bring reusable bags with you when shopping and recycle plastic bags and wrap at drop-off locations including grocery stores, food co-ops, retail stores and community recycling centers. Find a location near you here.

Cords and Holiday Lights

Like plastic bags, these items get wrapped around equipment at recycling facilities and workers spend hours every day removing these items from the machinery.

  • You can recycle cords and holiday lights at drop-off locations throughout the County. Click here for more information about drop-off locations.