Celebrate Global Recycling Day

Published on March 18, 2025

Happy Global Recycling Day to all who celebrate, and the City of Charlotte hopes that includes you! Every March 18, the world acknowledges Global Recycling Day. Now in its eighth year, the international event encourages environmental responsibility and sustainability.

To mark Global Recycling Day, we want to give residents the resources to make recycling the easy choice. 

Top Tips and Tricks

• Print a copy of the 2025 recycling calendar to hang on your fridge!
• Since your plastic bags, plastic film, plastic wrap, and similar items aren’t eligible for curbside recycling, drop them off at retail stores such as Harris Teeter and Walmart.
• Donate your plastic and wire hangers to a recycling clothing store like Goodwill or return them to the cleaners.
• If you want to drop off your own recyclables, there are four full-service and five self-service locations you can visit.
• When in doubt, leave it out! Check out the list of acceptable and unacceptable items.
• Learn to compost from the Environmental Protection Agency. 
• Find new homes for any items that are no longer of use to you by hosting yard sales or donating.
• Try out reusable cleaning materials.
• Invest in a reusable water bottle. (No more plastic bottles, but if you do use one, remember to recycle it!)
• Next birthday or holiday season, wrap gifts in recycled or reused paper.

City of Charlotte Recycling Guidelines

Recyclables are collected every other week on the same day as garbage and yard waste collection. To find your collection day and recycling week, visit the My Charlotte Lookup. If you enter your address in the top right corner and select it from the dropdown menu, your collection information will appear.

• Do not bag recyclables. Place them loosely in the green, city-issued recycling cart.
• Do not overfill carts or place items outside of the cart. Items outside the rollout cart will not be collected.
• Please place recycling cart within 6 feet of the curb and with the handle facing toward your property. Do not block the sidewalk.
• Please allow 3 feet of space between collection items and other obstacles such as mailboxes, phone poles and vehicles.
• Place recycling cart at the curb no later than 6 a.m. on your scheduled collection day and no sooner than the day before collection. The cart must be removed from the curb by midnight on the day of collection.

From everyone at the City of Charlotte, including those at Solid Waste Services, thank you for your dedication to making an impact here in the Queen City and across the globe. You can find recycling information year-round on the city’s website.