Recycling is mandatory per the Town's By-laws. Southbridge is a single stream community that uses zero-sort recycling, which allows residents to place all of their recyclable material in one toter on the curb for collection. Recyclables are picked up every other week on your trash collection day.

Is your recycling toter overflowing with recyclables? Additional 18 gallon recycling bins and recycling stickers are available at the Health Department. Place stickers on overflow containers that are not marked for recycling.

Take our Recycling Survey
(bring completed surveys to the Health Dept. at Town Hall) or contact the Health Dept. if you think you have the proper trash and recycling setout.

Watch our educational recycling video.

Download these fliers and brochures:

• Zero-Sort Recycling Flier with images
• Recycling & Disposal Guidelines
• Reglamentos para Reciclado y los Articulos de Basura
• Recycling Calendar

Steps for proper recycling and setout:

1. Recycle the following items:
   Cardboard (flattened, empty and rinse cartons)
   Paper and paperboard (cereal boxes, tissue boxes, cookie boxes, etc.)
   Plastic food and beverage containers with a #1-#7 on the bottom (empty and rinse)
   Glass jars and bottles (empty and rinse)
   Aluminum and metal cans (empty and rinse)
2. Put all recyclables in clearly marked recycling toter or bin.
3. Place toter or bin at the curb by 7 AM on your colleciton day every other week.

Is your recycling toter overflowing with recyclables? Additional 18 gallon recycling bins and recycling stickers are available at the Health Department. Place stickers on overflow containers that are not marked for recycling.

The following rigid plastics can also be recycled:

• All 1 and 5 gallon buckets with metal handles attached
• All plastic drums, totes & empty garbage cans (any size; with or without metal)
• Milk/Soda crates, laundry baskets, lawn furniture
• Plastic toys & playhouses, children’s electronics, pet carriers
• Plastic pallets, shelving, coolers, closet organizers
• Plastic landscape & microwave trays, flower pots (no soil)

MassRecycling Paper Campaign
• Take the Paper Recycling Quiz!
• Watch the video 

Special Event Recycling

The Town of Southbridge has a new Lend-A-Bin program that provides 12 collapsible recycling bins to the community for special events.For more information, read the press release. Download the application. 

What happens to my recyclables?

Recycling is collected by Casella and brought to their Auburn Material Recovery Facility (MRF) where the material is sorted, bailed, and shipped to manufacturing facilities or mills for further processing. Give your material new life: RECYCLE!

• Cardboard is recycled back into cardboard, board games, paper towel, toilet paper rolls, etc.

  Depending on the grade (strength and quality of fibers) of the paper product, it may be recycled back into more paper, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.

  Plastics #1 & #2 (milk jugs, water bottles, etc.) are made back into new bottles and containers as well as items like polar fleece, carpet, etc. Plastics #3-#7 are recycled into plastic lumber, children’s outdoor toys, lawn furniture, etc.

  Glass bottles of any color are typically recycled back into more glass containers, fiberglass, or glass cutlet (broken glass pieces) that can be used as road base or landscaping as a substitute for small rocks. Glass can be recycled to make new glass tiles.

  Steel and aluminum get turned back into cans, bicycles, baseball bats, car parts, rebar and other construction material.

  Visit Earth 911 to learn more about the material.