Clarkstown, NY Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 226-5, Residential recycling, makes it the responsibility of all one-family, two-family, and three-family residences to separate recyclables from all residential solid waste and place them out for collection in the manner the section spells out. Subsection A requires recyclables to be kept fully separated from other garbage or solid waste, not co-mingled in the same can. L. No. 11-2019, requires newspaper, cardboard, junk mail, magazines and paper to go into the designated plastic container the Town provides for that purpose. Subsection C requires glass and metal recyclables to be clean, with all contents removed, before they go out for collection, so a jar still holding food residue does not meet the standard.

These requirements sit alongside the mixing prohibitions in Subsections E and F, which make it unlawful to combine recyclables with other solid waste or to collect mixed loads, and the ownership rule in Subsection G, under which recyclables placed at the curb immediately become Town property, so an unauthorized hauler cannot legally pick them up ahead of the Town's contracted collection. Multi-family buildings of four or more units and all nonresidential properties instead follow the separate Section 226-6 program, which requires either separate collection of recyclables or use of a licensed recycling hauler within 60 days of the chapter's effective date.