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A few of Portland’s recycling rules have changed to align with new statewide recycling guidelines. Here are the updates.
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New items allowed in recycling
Pizza boxes
Recycle: Empty pizza boxes (grease is OK).
Before you recycle:
- Make sure the box is completely empty.
- Remove paper liners and plastic pieces and put them in the trash.
- Remove leftover food like cheese, crusts, and toppings.
Don't recycle:
- Cheesy, saucy pizza boxes: Put these in your residential compost cart or the trash.
- Frozen pizza boxes: Put them in the trash.
Why?
- Empty pizza boxes can be recycled into new cardboard. Cardboard is in high demand, and clean or greasy boxes can be turned into new cardboard many times. Today's pizza box might become tomorrow's delivery box, then a shoe box, and eventually paper towels or tissues.
- Boxes with stuck‑on food can't be recycled. Cheese, sauce, and other food can cause mold and contamination in the paper‑recycling process.
Keep plastic screw caps on plastic bottles
You can now recycle plastic caps if they're screwed onto plastic bottles or containers.
Recycle these (with the caps screwed on):
- Plastic bottles (soda, ketchup)
- Plastic jugs (milk, laundry detergent)
- Plastic jars (peanut butter, mayonnaise)
Before you recycle:
- Empty the container.
- Pour out any leftover liquid
- Scrape out peanut butter or other food
- Give it a quick rinse
- Shake dry
- Screw the cap back on.
Don't recycle:
- Caps on paper cartons (milk or juice cartons)
- Snap-on lids (yogurt, margarine, sour cream)
- Loose caps or lids
Why?
- Caps on plastic bottles get recycled together. Plastic bottles and their caps go to the same plastic recycling facility, so keeping them together increases the chance that both will be recycled.
- Caps on cartons don't get recycled. Cartons go to paper mills, where non‑paper items—like plastic caps—get screened out and thrown away.
- Snap‑on lids don't stay put. Unlike screw‑on caps, they pop off easily during sorting.
Paperback books
Recycle: Paperback books.
Better yet: Donate or give away books in good condition.
Don't recycle: Hardback books. Donate if they're usable; otherwise, put them in the garbage.
No longer allowed in recycling
Shredded paper
Don't recycle: Shredded paper (even if it's bagged). Put it in the garbage.
You can recycle shredded paper at select drop-off locations. More drop-off locations will be available in the coming year.
Why? Shredded paper turns into confetti when bags pop or tear during sorting. The tiny pieces scatter, mix with dust and debris, and end up as trash.
5 tips to avoid shredded paper
- Go paperless: Choose email statements and online billing for credit cards, utilities, and other accounts.
- Stop credit and insurance offers: Visit optoutprescreen.com or call 1‑888‑567‑8688 to opt out for five years.
- Reduce promotional mail: Register at dmachoice.org and pay a small fee to limit unsolicited mail for ten years. Sign up at catalogchoice.org to reduce most catalog mail.
- Avoid new mailing lists: When signing up for services or making purchases, uncheck boxes for promotional mail.
- Remove personal information and recycle the rest: For any paper bills or documents you do receive, tear off or cut out account numbers or other personal details. Then recycle the remaining pages.
Other changes to recycling guidelines
Smaller scrap metal size limits
Recycle: Scrap metal that's 18 inches or smaller and 10 pounds or less. This is smaller than what was previously allowed.
Don't recycle:
- Metal that is longer than 18 inches
- Metal that weighs more than 10 pounds
You can take larger pieces of metal to recycling drop-off locations.
Why? At the recycling sorting facility, larger pieces of metal can harm workers and damage machinery.
Bonus tip: Make sure small metal pieces, like metal bottle caps, get recycled by putting them in a soup can and crimping the lid shut.
Aerosol cans must be completely empty
Recycle: Aerosol cans that are completely empty.
Before you recycle:
- Press the nozzle until nothing sprays out.
- Shake the can to check that it's empty.
Don't recycle: Aerosol cans that still have product in them.
If the can isn't empty, use it up, take it to a local household hazardous waste facility for free, safe disposal, or (as a last resort) place it in the trash.
Why? If aerosol cans aren't empty, they can explode when crushed in the recycling truck or at recycling sorting facilities. This can injure workers and damage equipment. If too many non-empty cans are found in curbside recycling, aerosol cans will no longer be accepted.
Aluminum foil must be balled
Recycle: Clean aluminum foil tightly packed into a ball the size of a baseball or larger.
Before you recycle:
- Make sure the foil is clean and dry.
- Remove food, grease, and stuck-on residue.
Don't recycle: Small pieces of foil.
Why? Small pieces fall through sorting equipment and become trash. A baseball‑sized ball stays together and gets recycled.
Plastic containers must be at least 2x2 inches
Recycle: Plastic bottles, tubs, buckets, and jugs that are at least 2 inches by 2 inches in two directions.
Don't recycle: Plastics that are smaller than 2 inches by 2 inches. For example:
- Many prescription bottles.
- Loose caps and lids.
Why? Small items fall through the sorting equipment at recycling facilities and get lost or thrown away. Keeping to the 2x2‑inch rule ensures items make it through the sorting system and actually get recycled.
See the full recycling acceptance list
Why did Portland's recycling rules change?
Portland's recycling rules changed to match new statewide recycling rules under Oregon's Recycling Modernization Act.
The state will keep updating what goes in the recycling bin, so Portland's rules may change from time to time. The good news is that most updates should add more items to recycling as local facilities modernize with funding from the Recycling Modernization Act.
Thank you for following the guidelines of what's allowed in recycling. By recycling right, you're saving natural resources, reducing pollution, and creating jobs.
Learn more about Oregon's Recycling Modernization Act
Stay up to date
We'll share future updates in our quarterly newsletter. Sign up to learn when new items are added to Portland's recycling list and when new drop‑off options become available.