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Get Ready to Recycle Right in Kitsap

New recycling guides are coming to households soon. Check your mail for our annual Public Works magazine, Everyday Kitsap. Inside, you'll find a tear-out guide for use in your home, garage or workplace. 

Changes were made in 2021 to our recycling list in Kitsap County that prompted the development of new household guides.

The Recycle Right Guide is available in both Spanish (Español) and English. English guides are available at County facilities. Printed Spanish (Español) guides are coming soon. Both versions are available for print in full color or a toner-saving design on our website. 

What's changed?

Lids, cartons and frozen food boxes were all removed from the list of recyclables. The decision was made due to the materials used in the packaging, or the difficulty of sorting and selling these materials.

Changes apply to all curbside recycling services and drop-off locations in Kitsap County, where clean items are gladly accepted that can be sorted at the Tacoma sorting center and sold to be made into a new product. The new recycling guide shows which items meet this criteria.

Look out for new signs

New signs have been installed at our Silverdale, Hansville, Bremerton and Olalla recycling drop-off locations since changes were made.  Signs were also provided to Bainbridge Disposal to install at their facility. Multifamily property materials are being updated with the new changes too. 

It's about the market and material

Packaging and material buyers have changed over the years. We need a market to sell recyclable material, and paper products with plastic coatings or resins embedded in the material are difficult to sell to paper pulps.

Cartons of milk, juice, soups or other liquids are now tainted with other materials. Beyond paper, they contain plastics, resin and sometimes metal. Frozen food boxes are similar. The package has a plastic coating and protective lining to prevent freezer burn. 

Lids were removed after it was found that they often popped off, causing problems in the sorting process. Loose lids are too flat and small to sort using the methods available in Tacoma.

Many low-quality plastics that people wishfully throw in recycling end up contaminating the paper and plastic loads. Workers try to remove them by hand.

Wishful waste

Throwing an item that belongs in the garbage into a recycle bin contaminates the load. We see this most often with wishful recycling.

Someone thinks, "This is plastic, There are other plastics being recycled. I'll throw this in too." What they don't realize is they've just contaminated our plastic recycling and this can prevent the sale of a material. 

When a buyer sees unwanted plastic in the load and decides not to purchase it, the load must now be disposed of in another way. We've lost valuable material and resources, and it increases costs when this happens.

Dirty items don't mix

Dirty recycling causes problems when we try to sell recycled material too. That's why it's important to empty, clean and dry your plastic, metal and glass containers.

Usually, a quick rinse and shake will do the trick. Toss the lid in the garbage after, and you've just brought us one step closer to a healthier planet. 

Every load of recyclables sold saves us from unhealthy gas emissions caused by landfills.

Keep those valuable recyclables out of landfills. Empty, clean and dry!

July 4th | Holiday Hours

Silverdale, Olalla and Hansville Recycling and Garbage Facilities are closed for the Fourth of July. Stay safe and be sure to wet, soak and dispose of your fireworks properly!

Olympic View Transfer Station remains open for regular business hours.