#1 - Recycle
Keep recycling loose in your recycling bin. Do not place papers/newspapers in paper or plastic bags. The papers may not get dumped out of the bag during sorting and the entire bag may be sorted as trash. Keeping everything loose in your recycling bin is the best way to go.
Do not put shredded paper in your recycle bin. Tiny shreds of paper are hard to capture at the facility where recyclables are sorted. Only add paper to your recycle bin that is the size of a standard business card (3.5 x 2 inches) or larger.
Also, do not add receipts to your recycle bin. They contain BPA, a chemical linked to adverse health effects at high rates of exposure. If you don’t need a receipt, tell your cashier you’ll skip the slip! Here’s more information from the EPA: https://tinyurl.com/BPABackground
If you still use blue bins, consider using two for paper recycling. Put loose paper in the bottom bin and cover it with a second bin containing heavier recyclables. The stacking system helps reduce neighborhood litter.
Paper items that are easily rippable and do not have foil, metallic or glitter design features can be recycled in Onondaga County. This includes items such as:
- Newspapers and advertising inserts
- Office and school papers (any color, post-it notes are fine)
- Discarded mail and envelopes (window envelopes are fine)
- Magazines and catalogs
- Corrugated cardboard boxes
- Cereal, pasta and other food boxes (NOT frozen food boxes though, they go in the trash)
- Gift, toy and tissue boxes
- Paper grocery and lunch bags (any color)
- Pizza boxes (providing they are not FROZEN pizza boxes; they go in the trash)
- Softcover books (notebooks, phone books, pamphlets, paperbacks)
- Non-metallic greeting cards and wrapping paper
- Manila folders
- Paper towel/toilet paper rolls, mailing tubes, etc.
The papers above can also be taken to OCRRA’s Rock Cut Road Transfer Station.
If you have a large volume of paper generated at a business the following locations will also accept it. OCRRA strongly recommends that you contact them prior to delivery:
Bodow Recycling
1925 Park St, Syracuse, NY 13208
(315) 422-2552
CNY Resource Recovery
5879 Firestone Dr, Syracuse, NY 13206
(315) 471-0254
SMR Fiber
4642 Crossroads Park Dr, Liverpool, NY 13088
(315) 453-2800
Recycle America
4550 Steelway Blvd S, Liverpool, NY 13090
(315) 461-9323
Shredded Paper
UPDATE: DO NOT RECYCLE SHREDDED PAPER IN YOUR BLUE BIN
OCRRA no longer recommends putting shredded paper into a paper bag, stapling it shut and putting it in your blue bin. Recycling sorting facilities are not able to capture this small material and recycle it, it will contaminate other recyclables or become trash if you put it in the blue bin.
For a nominal fee, you can recycle shredded paper at Bodow Recycling located at 1925 Park Street, Syracuse (off Hiawatha Boulevard, near Destiny USA; enter building off Exchange Place through the bottle return entrance.) Call ahead for hours and other details.
If you are interested in learning how to protect your identity through shredding or if you want to find locations that offer shredding services, visit this page.
Elected officials in the area occasionally host free confidential document drop-off events that are unaffiliated with OCRRA. While we do not manage those registrations, OCRRA is happy to share announcements for your convenience on our regularly updated Events page.
Alternatively, you may put shredded paper in your trash and it will be converted into electricity at the Waste-to-Energy Facility in Jamesville, where our community’s trash generates enough electricity to power 30,000+ homes each year.
#2 - Dispose
Please place the following items in the trash (NOT the blue bin):
- Corrugated cardboard with wax
- Egg cartons (plastic, paper or Styrofoam)
- Carbon paper
- Paper plates
- Paper towels
- Hardcover books
- Non-paper envelopes
- Metallic paper
- Silver and gold-trimmed cards
- Receipts (contain BPA, a chemical associated with adverse health effects – tell your cashier if you don’t need a receipt)
