Blog

With the New Year, comes new recycling laws for many of us in the South Hills. Are you ready, do you know the new rules, and are you equipped with the materials you need to make the transition?

Who is affected? 20 communities in the South Hills Area of Council Government are affected by the new recycling laws. Robinson and West Mifflin are the only 2 communities that did not participate. As a result the following areas are affected: Baldwin Boro, Baldwin Township, Bethel Park, Brentwood, Castle Shannon, Dormont, Elizabeth, Findlay, Heidelberg, Jefferson Hills, Moon, Mt. Lebanon, Mt. Oliver, Peters, Pleasant Hills, Scott, South Fayette, South Park, Upper St. Clair, and Whitehall.

What are the changes? Waste Management's new contract with the South Hills communities are accepting only the following items: Plastics (labelled with a 1 or 2), aluminum cans, paper and cardboard. Pizza boxes (because of their greasy insides), glass of any kind, and plastic shopping bags will no longer be accepted. If these types of items are found in the recycling, your bin may be tagged as "unsuitable for pickup" and left at the curbside for correction. The restrictions have been to reduce the amount of contamination in each load and avoid any penalties that might occur because of the contamination.

Are you equipped? We have a large selection of waste and recycling bins to provide you with bins ranging in all sorts of sizes up to 70 gallons. Since recycling is being picked up less frequently in some neighborhoods, consider grabbing a larger bin to hold items for 2 weeks. We have recycling stickers for Mt. Lebanon and Dormont that are free of cost, so grab some of these if you can convert a bin that you already have into recycling. Because glass is now going into the trash, consider strong trash bags to hold up to the added weight and puncture chance with glass items. We have a huge selection of trash bags, including flexible bags and heavier weight bags to hold up to the demands of trash hauling.

For more information on these changes, here is a link to a recent article published in the TribLIVE.