Curbside Recycling

Voluntary, Single-Stream, Curbside Recycling

How to Sign Up for Curbside Recycling

This is a voluntary, single-stream, curbside recycling program in which residents can sign up at any time.  The fee is $3 per month for one 96-gallon blue rollout container that is collected twice per month.  If a resident needs additional recycling containers, each one is an additional $3 per month charge.  The fee appears on the property owner’s Paducah Water bill.

To sign up for curbside recycling, click the Recycling logo or call the Public Works Department at 270-444-8511.  The Paducah Water account number associated with the address is required in order to complete the registration process.  The person responsible for that account must be the one who requests the recycling service.

Accepted and Not Accepted Items

This is a single-stream program which means that all accepted recyclables can be placed in the recycling rollout together.  There is no need to sort.  The recyclables are taken to Freedom Waste Service in Paducah, a private company that has contracted with the City of Paducah for the transfer and proper disposal of solid waste and the transfer of recyclables to a processing facility.

Accepted items for recycling are office paper, newspaper, junk mail, catalogs, shredded paper, steel cans, aluminum cans, pasteboard (cereal boxes, etc.), #1 and #2 plastics, and cardboard.  Residents are encouraged to rinse and crush containers.  Please place items loosely in the recycling rollout and try not to use plastic bags since bags can get caught in the mechanical parts during the single-stream sorting process.

Items that should NOT be placed in the recycling rollout are electronics, batteries, household and medical hazardous waste, Styrofoam, waste oil, tires, and glass. 

About the Curbside Recycling Program

The City of Paducah offers voluntary, single-stream, curbside recycling for its residential customers.  

• Residential service only
• Voluntary subscription
• Single-stream (no sorting necessary for accepted items)
• $3  fee per month per subscriber (The fee is to purchase recycling rollout containers and due to the fact that the disposal of recyclable materials is, at this time, $5.18 more per ton than the disposal of solid waste.)  
• Collection at curbside/roadside (no alleys)
• Collection twice per month on Mondays.  If your normal trash collection day is either Tuesday or Wednesday, recycling will be collected on the first and third Monday of the month.  If your normal trash collection day is either Thursday or Friday, recycling will be collected on the second and fourth Monday of the month.  View the Interactive Map to find out your collection days based on address. 
• Uses 96-gallon blue rollout containers
• The recycling collection day may change due to holidays.  Visit Holiday Schedule for more information. 

Recycling Drop Point Location

In addition to the residential curbside recycling program, the City offers a recycling drop point location at Green for Life (GFL) located at 400 State Street.  The drop point location is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon.  There is no charge for the general public to drop off recyclables. 

Keys to Success

The keys to the program’s success are public participation and the efficiencies gained in the Engineering and Public Works Departments through a restructuring of the brush and yard waste collection program.  Residents should manage some of their yard waste/grass clipping at the household level by mulching or by using the garbage rollout for smaller volumes of twigs and bags of yard waste.  To request a collection of yard waste or brush, call the Engineering-Public Works Department at 270-444-8511.