St. Louis County, MO Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Plan required before
- License issuance, Section 607.170
- Approval standard
- Reasonable fee, market-backed materials
- Customer notice frequency
- At least every 6 months
- Plan-violation fine (1st/2nd)
- $100 / $300 per 12 months
- Improper disposal fine (1st/2nd)
- $500 / $1,000
- Minimum residential service
- Weekly recovered-materials pickup
Summary
Before St. Louis County will license a hauler under Section 607.170, Section 607.183 requires the company to file a written recovered-materials collection plan with the Director naming its accepted materials, any pre-sorting rules, its container policy and its household fee. The Director approves the plan only if the fee and conditions are reasonable and the material list matches what actually has a recycling market.
607.183 - Plan for Recovered Materials Collection Services to be Made Available by Person Providing Hauling Services.
1. As of January 1, 2008, prior to the issuance of any license pursuant to Section 607.170, the applicant shall submit a plan to the Director for the provision of recovered materials collection services to the one and two family dwelling residential customer served or to be served by the applicant. ... 3.The Director shall approve the plan if it provides a reasonable fee, reasonable requirements imposed by the applicant on persons using the recovered material collection service, and provides that material for which the Director believes a market exists is included in the list of materials which the applicant will accept for recycling.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 85 | Traffic: Supplement 80).
Full Breakdown
183 puts the obligation on the hauler, not the county: the plan must list every material the company will accept for recycling, disclose any pre-sorting requirement, describe the recycling container (whether it must be bought from the hauler and at what cost), and state the per-household fee. If the hauler also serves incorporated municipalities, it must attach a list of every city under contract for one and two family residential waste along with a copy of each contract and its fees. The Director approves the plan only if the fee is reasonable, the conditions imposed on customers are reasonable, and the accepted-materials list covers whatever the Director's own rules identify as having a recycling market.
183 plan on file. 181 sets the underlying minimum service level, weekly municipal waste and weekly recovered-materials collection for one and two family dwellings, with an exception for haulers serving a municipality that runs its own drop-off facility and hits a 40 percent waste-diversion rate (50 percent after January 1, 2010). 185 requires that whatever is collected as recovered material actually be delivered to a facility built to process it for recycling or beneficial reuse rather than landfilled.
Violations & Fines
Failing to file or maintain the required recycling plan draws a $100 fine for a first violation in a 12-month period and $300 for a second, under the Section 607.950 schedule tied to Section 607.183. Skipping the twice-yearly customer notice required by Section 607.184 carries the same $100/$300 tier, but dumping collected recovered material somewhere other than an approved recycling center, a Section 607.185 violation, is punished far more heavily at $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for a second. The Department of Public Health issues these under a Section 607.940 citation giving ten days to pay or contest, and Section 607.960's general penalty of up to $1,000 or a year in jail backstops the whole chapter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does St. Louis County run a curbside recycling program itself?
How often must my recycling hauler tell me what it accepts?
What happens to recycling once the truck picks it up?
Can a hauler skip recycling collection in St. Louis County?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in St. Louis County
Compare St. Louis County to another location·View the Missouri trash & recycling overview
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