Residents
Get your solid waste management questions answered here!
The Department of Environmental Conservation’s Waste Management and Prevention Division oversees the use, treatment, and handling of hazardous and solid waste in Vermont.
The Alliance helps its residents understand Vermont’s recycling laws providing resources to reduce, reuse, and dispose of solid waste through education, outreach, and other programs to meet its goals and missions.
Where to Start?
Recycling
In Vermont, aluminum, steel, glass, paper, cardboard, and plastics #1 and 2 are banned from the landfill so they must be recycled. Single-stream recycling (includes all the banned items previously mentioned and plastics labeled #1 through #7) is available through private commercial haulers or can be dropped off at your local transfer station (Fees apply to either of these methods.) All items should be clean and dry!
Food Scrap Diversion
In Vermont, food scraps are banned from the trash. They may be either composted at home (meat and bones can be placed in the trash if composting at home), picked up by a private commercial hauler, or dropped off at your local transfer station. Not familiar with composting? Visit our composting page to learn how to turn your food scraps into a rich soil amendment for your lawn, garden, and house plants.
Household Hazardous Waste
Substances with labels that say CAUSTIC, TOXIC, CORROSIVE, POISON, FLAMMABLE, DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION, USE IN AN OPEN ENVIRONMENT are generally classified as hazardous waste and should be disposed of at household hazardous waste collection events scheduled at three different locations during warmer months of the year.
Special Recycling
Special recycling programs through Extended Producer Responsibility have been designed to keep certain hazardous items from being disposed of in landfills. The following items are recyclable but NOT in your mixed recycling bin:
Other items they can be recycled or that are disposed in a different manner include:
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