Bayonne, NJ Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Bayonne's recycling ordinance controls who is legally allowed to take designated recyclables off the curb. Under § 26-1.4, the City may use its own municipal personnel to collect leaves, newspapers, glass and aluminum containers and other designated materials, or it may contract with outside persons, partnerships or corporations to do the collecting instead. The Department of Public Works and Parks may also issue a permit to a civic, fraternal, non-profit or for-profit organization to operate a drop-off collection point for specific recyclable materials, but that permit does not extend to curbside pickup: a drop-off permit holder cannot legally collect materials directly from curbside or from a City-designated collection site.

Once a resident places recyclables at the curb or at a designated pick-up site, § 26-1.5 makes that material the property of the City. Anyone other than the City or its authorized agent who picks up, or arranges to have someone else pick up, those materials commits a separate violation for each collection event. The penalty is a fine of not less than $100 per offense, up to the general municipal penalty ceiling set in Chapter 1, § 1-5, which tops out at $1,250 and 90 days in jail for repeat violations.

Residents remain free to bypass City collection entirely: § 26-1.6 lets an owner, lessee or occupant donate or sell recyclable material directly to any person or company, so long as that recipient does not then pick the material up at curbside or a City pick-up site.