Recycling is a complex system throughout Oklahoma. Thousands of citizens participate in one way or another, but what exactly is getting recycled?
“The City of Oklahoma City accepts six specific types of recyclables in its residential curbside recycling program,” says Jennifer McClintock, spokesperson for the Oklahoma City Utilities Department. “These include paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans, milk, juice, and frozen food cartons as well as basic household plastics such as plastic bottles, containers and tubes – mostly those found in the kitchen, bathroom or utility room.”
To keep it simple, OKC citizens place all items in the Big Green recycling carts and make sure everything is empty, clean and dry.
“We don’t want customers to bag their items or put any plastic bags in their carts,” says McClintock. “For a complete list of acceptable items, we encourage customers to visit our website at recycleokc.com and look at our Do’s and Don’ts page,” she continues.
Even with all those instructions, human error can, and does, occur.
“What we can say is that of the total tonnage of items collected in customers’ Big Green recycling carts, about thirty percent is considered contamination and must be sent to a landfill, because the items in those carts are either not recyclable at all – we’ve seen everything from dirt, rocks, landscape waste, toilets, garden hoses, metal cooking utensils and car parts – or they are recyclable but not accepted in Oklahoma City’s curbside recycling program,” says McClintock.
The items that can be recycled are taken to a Materials Recovery Facility, or MRF.
“Those items are then sorted by material type, baled and then bundled for transport within the state and surrounding region, where they are accepted by various recycling manufacturers,” continues McClintock.
Items not accepted or contaminated are pulled and sent to a landfill.
“Unfortunately, this can include good, recyclable items that are put in plastic bags before being put in carts – another reason we don’t want plastic bags in our carts,” she says.
While plastic bags are technically recyclable items, OKC does not accept them because they often get caught in the MRF equipment.
OKC continues to make efforts to reach out to customers to better keep them informed.
“In November 2025 we launched our new ‘What Goes Where’ online sorting tool, an interactive database that helps customers sort items by whether those items belong in their regular household trash, recycling carts, bulky waste, or be taken to the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility,” says McClintock.
Simple ways to make a difference include not putting food or liquid in the carts, setting up a centralized location in the home to collect recyclables and signing up for the city’s recycling blog.
For any items not accepted, you can always try to repurpose them.
“For example, take plastic bags to big box stores or grocers that accept them,” says McClintock. “For other items, post about them in Buy Nothing or other online groups – you never know what folks may be looking for.”
