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

Chapter 194, Solid Waste, requires every hauler collecting waste in the Town of Clay to hold a municipal hauler license under § 194-3, which also obligates the hauler to supply a recycling plan following Onondaga County Local Law No. 12 of 1989 and to collect county-designated recyclables as part of its standard service. Section 194-7 formally adopts that county Source Separation Law, required under General Municipal Law § 120-aa, as the town's own recycling legislation. It then bars any hauler from disposing of recyclable materials as solid waste or accepting recyclables for disposal as solid waste, and provides that recycling containers remain the property of the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency or the town, so a hauler cannot remove a container from town, destroy it, or use it for anything other than temporary storage of county-designated recyclables.

The § 194-20 penalty schedule sets a $200 fine for disposing of or accepting recyclables as solid waste in violation of § 194-7A and a $150 fine for removing, destroying or misusing a container in violation of § 194-7B, with each day's violation a separate offense under § 194-19. Chapter 194 is enforced by the Town Code Enforcement Officer, the Building and Fire Inspectors, the Highway Superintendent, the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department, the State Police and the Department of Environmental Conservation.