Recycling Update

Here's a message from the Department of Public Works:

Simple Recycling, the company responsible for picking up the pink bags, has notified us that they are suspending the program for an indefinite amount of time as they are not considered a “COVID-19 essential businesses” under Governor Baker’s executive order (COVID-19 Order No. 13). If you are planning to clean out your closets while at home, please keep your clothing goods for now and plan to drop them off at one of the school bins or local drop-off sights when things are open again, or wait until Simple Recycling resumes pickup. Please do not travel to these bins now as they may overflow with new limited pickup schedules. Thank you for your understanding and we apologize for the inconvenience. 

While pink bag pickup is temporarily halted, all other trash and recycling will remain on schedule. Please put out your garbage and recycling bins on your normal trash day. Refrain from putting it out before 5 pm the night before pickup as animals may get into the container and we want to avoid further issues with trash pickup and keep Melrose free of litter. 

Recycling should only contain approved recyclable materials. Please remember that plastic bags, wires, Styrofoam, rigid plastics, textiles, cardboard and milk, juice and soup cardboard cartons are not considered recyclable. Your recycling will be left if these items are in your bin. Recycling left with an orange contamination sticker will not be scheduled for re-pickup. Pickup will occur the following week as long as there is no contamination. Further, currently we are not allowing items to be dropped off at the City Yard as we are not open to the public. 

Please know that recycling goes through a complex process of screens, blades, scanners, fans, air jets and even magnets. These are meant to remove all non-recyclable materials and other forms of contamination. Even with all of these things, there are inevitably some materials that will slip through and cause contamination. There are some easy things that everyone can do to decrease the amount of contamination. 

• Put your recyclables in your bin loose (not in plastic bags) 
• Clean all food residue out of cans and jars 
• Keep your plastic goods as clean, empty and dry as possible 
• Toss any food soiled items (napkins, tissues, paper towels, pizza boxes) in the trash 
• Keep trash OUT of your recycling bins

We thank you for your efforts in keeping recycling materials clean and appreciate your understanding!