Recycling in Orange County, NY
What goes in the bin, what absolutely doesn't, and where to take everything else — a plain-English recycling guide for Orange County and Hudson Valley residents.
Recycling here is local, and the rules are not obvious
Orange County recycling is run town-by-town through municipal contracts and private carters, so what your neighbor two towns over puts in the bin may not match your rules. The result is contamination — and contaminated loads get landfilled instead of recycled.
This guide covers the six waste streams every household deals with, the drop-offs that handle the material your curbside bin won't, and the steps that make the biggest difference. Confirm specifics with your town, and use this as your working checklist.
The six streams to sort
Curbside single-stream
Plastics #1, #2, #5, metal cans, glass bottles and jars, cardboard, and clean paper. Empty, rinsed, and loose — never in a bag.
Store take-back film
Grocery bags, bread bags, bubble wrap, and case overwrap belong in supermarket film bins, not your curbside cart.
Batteries & electronics
Banned from the trash in New York. Use retail kiosks and registered e-waste collections; tape lithium terminals first.
Household hazardous waste
Paint, solvents, pesticides, motor oil, and bulbs go to county HHW events — never down a storm drain.
Organics & yard waste
Food scraps and leaves are the largest slice of the waste stream. Backyard composting keeps them out of a transfer station entirely.
Bulky items & scrap metal
Appliances, furniture, and metal need scheduled pickups or scrap yards. Refrigerants must be removed by a technician.
Yes / No: the curbside cheat sheet
Goes in the bin
- Plastic bottles, jugs, and tubs (#1, #2, #5)
- Aluminum and steel food and beverage cans
- Glass bottles and jars, rinsed
- Corrugated cardboard, flattened
- Paperboard boxes, newspaper, office paper, mail
- Empty aerosol cans with the cap removed
Keep it out
- Plastic bags and any bagged recyclables
- Foam cups, trays, and packing peanuts
- Greasy pizza boxes and food-soaked paper
- Coffee cups and other plastic-lined paper
- Batteries, bulbs, needles, propane tanks
- Hoses, cords, holiday lights, and other tanglers
When in doubt, throw it out — a "wish-cycled" item does more damage in the bin than in the trash.
Common items in Orange County, A to Z
The items Hudson Valley households ask about most. Rules are set by your town and hauler, so treat this as a starting point and confirm locally before a first drop-off.
| Item | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Aerosol cans (empty) | Curbside bin, cap removed. Never crush; partially full cans go to a county HHW event. |
| Batteries (alkaline) | Trash in New York, or a take-back kiosk if your retailer offers one. Never the curbside bin. |
| Batteries (lithium / rechargeable) | Take-back kiosk at a hardware or big-box store. Tape the terminals first — loose cells start truck fires. |
| Cardboard | Curbside, flattened and dry. Wet or grease-soaked cardboard is trash. |
| Clothing & textiles | Donation bin, thrift shop, or a textile collection box. Worn-out fabric still counts — most collectors take rags. |
| Cooking oil | Cool, seal, and trash small amounts; large volumes go to a county HHW event. Never down the drain. |
| Electronics & TVs | Banned from the trash statewide. Registered e-waste event or a retailer take-back program. |
| Food scraps | Backyard compost or a local drop-off. Roughly a third of household waste by weight. |
| Glass bottles & jars | Curbside, rinsed, lids off. Window glass, mirrors, and Pyrex are trash. |
| Motor oil & antifreeze | Auto-parts stores often take used oil; otherwise a county HHW event. |
| Paint (latex) | Dry it out with kitty litter, then trash the open, hardened can. Oil-based paint goes to HHW. |
| Pizza boxes | Clean top half in the bin, greasy bottom in the trash or compost. |
| Plastic bags & film | Grocery-store film take-back bins. Never the curbside cart — bags jam sorting equipment. |
| Propane tanks | Exchange cages or a scrap dealer that accepts them. Never curbside or the trash. |
| Refrigerators & AC units | Refrigerant must be professionally removed first, then scrap metal or a utility bounty program. |
| Styrofoam / EPS | Trash in most Orange County towns. Some shippers take back clean block foam. |
| Yard waste & leaves | Town leaf pickup, a municipal compost site, or your own pile. Do not bag in plastic. |
Local guidelines: how it works town by town
Orange County has no single countywide curbside program. Cities and villages such as Middletown, Newburgh, Port Jervis, Monroe, Warwick, Goshen, Chester, Wallkill, Woodbury, and Wawayanda each contract or license their own carters, and each sets its own accepted-materials list, container, and pickup schedule.
Your rules come from your town
Accepted plastics, glass, and container type vary between neighboring municipalities. Check your town's sanitation or DPW page, or ask your carter directly, before assuming a neighbor's rules apply.
Single-stream, loose, in the cart
Most Orange County haulers run single-stream: everything recyclable together, empty, rinsed, and never bagged. Bagged recyclables are pulled and landfilled at the sorting facility.
Seasonal county events fill the gaps
Household hazardous waste, e-waste, tires, and document shredding are handled at county-run collection days rather than at the curb. Most require advance registration and are free to residents.
Watersheds are downstream of your driveway
Orange County storm drains feed the Quassaick, Moodna, and Ramapo. Paint, oil, and pesticides poured down a drain end up in the creeks we're working to protect.
Multi-family and rental housing
Apartment and condo recycling is the property owner's responsibility. If your building has no bins, that's a code issue worth raising with your landlord and town.
Businesses have separate obligations
Commercial generators in New York must source-separate recyclables under local law. Small shops and restaurants usually need a private carter contract, not municipal pickup.
Not sure who your hauler is? Your town clerk's office can tell you, and so can the recycling coordinator listed on your town website. Orange Environment members often share hauler updates — see membership options or contact us if your town's rules changed and this page needs an update.
Recycling drop-offs and reuse centers in Orange County
Hard-to-dispose items rarely belong at the curb. This directory groups the material by what it is, then points to the kind of Orange County facility that takes it — county collection days, retail take-back, scrap yards, thrift shops, and reuse centers. Hours and eligibility change often, so call ahead before you load the car.
Household hazardous waste
Paint, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, fluorescent tubes.
Orange County's seasonal Household Hazardous Waste collection days, run by the county's Division of Environmental Facilities & Services. Free to county residents, advance registration usually required.
Check the county's environmental facilities page each spring for the year's dates and locations.
Electronics & e-waste
TVs, monitors, computers, printers, tablets, phones, small electronics.
County e-waste collection events, plus year-round retail take-back at Best Buy and Staples locations in the Middletown and Newburgh commercial corridors.
Wipe drives and sign out of accounts before drop-off. Some CRT televisions carry a per-item fee.
Batteries
Rechargeable, lithium-ion, power-tool, and button-cell batteries.
Call2Recycle take-back kiosks at hardware stores, home-improvement retailers, and many municipal buildings across the county.
Tape the terminals with clear packing tape before transport — loose lithium cells start fires in trucks.
Building materials & furniture
Cabinets, doors, lumber, fixtures, appliances, usable furniture.
Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations serving the Newburgh and greater Hudson Valley area accept donated building materials and furniture, and often arrange pickup for large items.
Call ahead with photos — ReStores decline damaged, mold-affected, or pre-1978 painted material.
Clothing, textiles & housewares
Clothes, shoes, linens, curtains, worn fabric, dishes, small goods.
Thrift and resale shops across the county — Salvation Army, Goodwill, church and hospital thrift shops in Middletown, Newburgh, Warwick, Goshen, and Port Jervis — plus standalone textile collection boxes.
Worn-out fabric still counts: most textile collectors bale unwearable cloth into industrial rags and insulation.
Books, media & school supplies
Books, DVDs, records, board games, art and classroom supplies.
Public library book sales and Friends-of-the-Library shops throughout Orange County, plus school and community swap events.
Libraries usually decline encyclopedias, textbooks, and anything water-damaged or musty.
Scrap metal & appliances
Steel, aluminum, copper, fridges, freezers, AC units, dehumidifiers.
Licensed scrap yards around Middletown and Newburgh, plus utility appliance bounty programs that haul old working refrigerators.
Refrigerant must be professionally recovered before a sealed-system appliance is scrapped.
Food scraps & yard waste
Produce trimmings, coffee grounds, leaves, brush, grass clippings.
Backyard composting, municipal leaf and brush drop-offs run by individual towns, and community garden compost programs.
Keep meat, dairy, and grease out of backyard piles; they draw bears and raccoons in the Hudson Valley.
Repair before you replace
Lamps, bikes, tools, clothing, small appliances.
Repair Café events hosted at Hudson Valley libraries and community centers, plus local cobblers, tailors, and bike shops.
A repaired item is the cheapest form of recycling — no transport, no reprocessing, no landfill.
Know a reuse center, repair café, or drop-off we've missed? Send it to us and we'll add it — or join Orange Environment to help us keep waste out of the county's landfills and transfer stations in the first place.
Next steps for Orange County residents
Confirm your town's rules
Orange County recycling is administered town-by-town through municipal carters. Check your town's sanitation page or call your hauler to confirm accepted plastics and pickup day.
Set up a three-bin system at home
One bin for curbside recyclables, one bag for store take-back film, and one box for batteries, bulbs, and small electronics. Most contamination happens because there is nowhere else to put things.
Rinse, flatten, and keep it loose
Rinse food residue, flatten cardboard, and never bag recyclables. Contaminated loads get landfilled — this single habit decides whether your bin actually gets recycled.
Calendar the county HHW and e-waste events
These are seasonal and often require pre-registration. Stage a hazardous-waste box in the garage so you are ready when a date opens.
Start composting food scraps
A backyard bin or tumbler diverts roughly a third of household waste and feeds native plantings. Pair it with a pollinator garden for a closed loop.
Push the policy upstream
Recycling can't out-run sprawl. Join Orange Environment and help us fight new garbage transfer stations, warehouse expansion, and data centers in Orange County.
Frequently asked questions
- What can I put in my curbside recycling bin in Orange County, NY?
- Most Orange County haulers accept single-stream recycling: rigid plastics #1, #2, and #5; aluminum and steel cans; glass bottles and jars; cardboard; paperboard; and clean paper. Everything should be empty, rinsed, and loose in the bin — never bagged. Rules vary slightly by town and hauler, so confirm with your municipality or carter before your first pickup.
- What is NOT recyclable curbside?
- Plastic bags and film, foam containers, greasy pizza boxes, paper cups with plastic lining, garden hoses, tanglers like cords and holiday lights, propane tanks, batteries, needles, and scrap metal do not belong in the curbside bin. Plastic bags and film go back to grocery-store take-back bins; the rest go to a drop-off or hazardous-waste event.
- Where do I take household hazardous waste in Orange County?
- Paint, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, and fluorescent bulbs are collected at Orange County's Household Hazardous Waste events, held seasonally at county sites. Registration is usually required in advance and the events are free to county residents. Never pour these down a drain or storm sewer — Orange County drains feed the Quassaick, Moodna, and Ramapo watersheds.
- How do I recycle electronics (e-waste) in Orange County?
- New York's Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act bans TVs, computers, monitors, printers, and small electronics from the trash. Use a registered e-waste collection event, a Best Buy or Staples take-back program, or a certified local recycler. Wipe your data before dropping anything off.
- What do I do with old appliances, scrap metal, and refrigerators?
- Appliances containing refrigerants (fridges, freezers, dehumidifiers, AC units) must have the refrigerant professionally removed before scrapping. Many Orange County scrap yards accept clean metal, and utility bounty programs will sometimes haul an old working fridge for free. See our Hudson Valley appliance recycling guide for the full walkthrough.
- Can I recycle batteries in Orange County?
- Yes, but not curbside. Rechargeable and lithium-ion batteries are accepted at hardware-store and big-box take-back kiosks under New York's Rechargeable Battery Law. Loose lithium batteries in the trash or bin start fires in collection trucks and transfer stations — tape the terminals and drop them off.
- Does recycling in Orange County actually get recycled?
- Clean, correctly sorted material does. Contamination is the biggest reason loads get rejected and landfilled: a single bagged load or a greasy container can downgrade an entire truck. Rinsing containers and keeping bags out of the bin is the highest-leverage thing a household can do.
- How does recycling connect to Orange Environment's work?
- Waste policy is land-use policy. Orange Environment is fighting permitted garbage transfer stations, mega-warehouse sprawl, and hyperscale data centers that increase truck traffic and waste volume across Orange County. Reducing what leaves your curb reduces the pressure for those facilities.
- Where are the reuse centers and thrift stores in Orange County, NY?
- Reuse is spread across several networks: Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations serving the Newburgh and greater Hudson Valley area take building materials, fixtures, and furniture; Salvation Army, Goodwill, and church and hospital thrift shops in Middletown, Newburgh, Warwick, Goshen, and Port Jervis take clothing, housewares, and small goods; library book sales handle books and media; and Repair Café events at Hudson Valley libraries fix lamps, bikes, tools, and clothing so they never become waste. See the drop-off and reuse directory on this page for what each type of site accepts.
Recycling is the last step — land use is the first
Orange Environment has been fighting landfills, transfer stations, and sprawl in Orange County since 1982. Membership is $25 a year and funds the legal and organizing work behind every one of these campaigns.