Palatine, IL Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Sec. 16-1 of the Village Code defines recyclable materials broadly: metal cans and foil, clear and colored glass bottles and jars, virtually every category of paper from newspaper to corrugated cardboard, and plastic bottles, containers and bags numbered 1 through 7, covering PETE, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, polypropylene, polystyrene and multi-layer materials alike. Sec. 16-3(a)(1) requires that these recyclables, like ordinary refuse, be placed in the recycling cart the village's refuse contractor supplies and set out at the curb on the regular collection day; there is no separate signup or fee, since Sec.

16-2(a) folds the collection of garbage, refuse, recycling materials, and landscape waste into the single monthly charge billed with water and sewer service. A household that chooses the Sec. 16-2(b)(1)b rear-door premium gets both a 65- or 95-gallon refuse cart and a 65- or 35-gallon recycling cart collected from behind the building instead of the curb. Because recyclable material set at the curb still belongs to the village's program until the contractor collects it, Sec. 16-9 separately makes it unlawful for unlicensed persons, firms or corporations to remove any item, specifically naming newspapers, aluminum or bimetal cans, glass bottles and plastic milk containers, from village recycling containers, or to take the containers themselves.

That scavenging ban protects the program's revenue stream and keeps recyclables out of unlicensed resale, and it runs alongside the separate license Chapter 20 requires of any commercial hauler that wants to collect system waste or recyclables from Palatine curbs in the first place.