Business Recycling is Changing

For your business, the end of the recycling process is likely when material gets put into a dumpster to be taken away. But for us, that is just the beginning. Check out our slideshow below to see what happens after your material is picked up. 

Frederick County's recycling program is changing. To meet  the needs of global industry, and so that we can ensure that more of your material is actually recycled, it's important that you understand the rules for recycling. 

This page is intended to give you some insight and explain what is changing. After you have reviewed the info here, if you still have questions regarding recycling program changes, or how to ensure the success of your business's recycling efforts, please call our Commercial Recycling Program Analyst at 301-600-7230.

Click here for a print friendly page about how recycling is changing to share with your staff! 

You can also view or print the list of what is accepted in Frederick County for single-stream recycling.

Single stream recycling only works if the materials are easy to COLLECT, SORT and SELL to processors to be used again. Recycling is changing so that sorting material will be more effective, which in turn makes it cheaper and easier for manufacturers to buy the sorted products to turn them into something new.

So what has changed? 

  • Bag of bags are no longer accepted

    - Film plastics or "bags of bags" are no longer accepted material. The film gets caught in the machinery at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and it can't be sorted. However, if this material is collected separately, it has market value.  

  • Shredded paper is no longer accepted

    - Shredded paper is not easily sorted. Not only can the material not be contained, but it also ends up contaminating other material streams like glass,, plastic and metal. Shredded paper can be recycled via a paper shredding company. Since the material does not need to be sorted, it is easily recycled by these companies. Non- shredded paper is still accepted in single stream recycling.

  • Bagged material is no longer accepted 

    - All recyclables must arrive at the Frederick County Transfer Station loose (not in bags). If recyclable materials are transferred to the MRF in bags, the materials will be considered contaminated and will be disposed of as trash. If you must use bags to collect material, please ensure that the material is emptied from the bags into your recycling dumpster.

Shredded Paper, Plastic Film and Bagged Materials are no longer accepted