Akron, OH Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Sec. 10 defines 'recyclables' for Akron's curbside program as all metal food and beverage cans, glass bottles and jars, rigid plastic bottles and containers that held milk, soda, food products, or laundry products, empty aerosol cans, aluminum trays and foil, magazines, inserts, and newspapers, and it gives the Director of Public Service authority to add or remove items from that list as needed. Recyclables must go out in the city-provided cart alongside garbage and household rubbish under Sec. 11(A), on the same curbside schedule as regular trash.

Once recyclables (or garbage and rubbish) are set out on a public street or alley for collection, Sec. 07(A) bars anyone except employees of the Department of Public Service or a duly licensed and authorized private hauler from taking them; the same rule protects materials set out on private property from being removed without the owner's, occupant's, or lessee's consent. Because the definition is tied to city rulemaking rather than fixed permanently by ordinance text, the Director of Public Service can expand or narrow which containers and papers qualify for curbside pickup without a new ordinance, so residents should check current city rules for edge cases like scrap metal or electronics. Violating the anti-scavenging rule is a strict-liability offense: Sec. 07(B) makes any unauthorized removal a fourth-degree misdemeanor regardless of the value of material taken.