Hartford provides all 1-6 family properties blue recycling carts for free! The carts are to be set out by residents on their regular trash day alongside the trash cart.

As required by law, the gray cart is for trash and the blue cart is for acceptable recycling items that are listed under Acceptable Recyclables section of this webpage. The blue cart should not be used for anything but clean recyclables. The items that are unacceptable include:

• NO Regular trash. The blue carts are for recyclables only.
• NO leaves, NO grass, NO tree limbs (Get a permit for the Bulky Waste & Recycling Center)
• NO building materials, NO sheet rock, NO lumbar (Call for private pickup)

• NO small appliances like coffee pots, toasters, etc (Get a permit for Bulky Waste & Recycling Center)
• NO household hazardous waste-no paints, motor oil, etc (Check HazWaste Collection Day Schedule)
• NO car parts (Deliver to private scrap dealers)

The NO items listed above can be disposed of in other proper ways by checking the Public Works website or calling 311 for additional information.

The blue recycling cart, when used for clean recyclables, means you will have less regular trash in the gray cart. You will not have an overflow of trash if you pick out recyclables and place them in your blue cart.

• You can also earn points by signing up for Recycle Bank Rewards by calling 1-888-727-2978 to register your blue cart.
• After you register your blue cart, Public Works trucks will weigh your recycling cart and points will be recorded in your Recycle Bank account.
• You will be able to get coupons based on the number of points that you can use to buy merchandise in local Hartford stores and national retail chains like Wal Mart.

When you use your blue recycling cart, you also help the City save tax dollars! Instead of paying $69 per ton to burn trash, Hartford will pay $0 to recycle all the items you put in your blue recycling cart!