Rockland County, NY Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

The Rockland County Legislature adopted the Mandatory Program article of Chapter 330, Recycling, on May 15, 1990 by Local Law No. 6-1990, acting under § 120-aa of the New York General Municipal Law, which required municipalities to adopt source-separation laws by September 1, 1992. Section 330-3 keeps each Town and Village responsible for the actual collection of solid waste and recyclable material, but layers a countywide separation mandate on top: every municipality had to file a source-separation plan with the County Recycling Coordinator by August 1, 1990, and the County Executive, with County Legislature approval, sets the countywide implementation schedule.

Once that schedule triggers, § 330-3B requires every person in control of a premises to separate specific items from other solid waste at curbside or wherever else it is collected by municipal or private carters: newspaper, high-grade paper, corrugated paperboard, other paper grades including magazines, glass containers, plastic containers, aluminum and bimetal beverage containers, steel food containers, mixed plastics, low-grade paper and food waste. Recyclables must go into a container authorized by the resident's own Town or Village, then travel to the facility designated under the County's Flow Control Law and solid waste management plan, or to the Town or Village facility if no county facility can yet take the material.

The Office of the County Executive administers the article and may set tipping fees, subject to Legislature approval, and may promulgate further rules under § 330-7. Existing town and village mandatory-recycling programs that already meet the county's minimum standards and timetables satisfy the county law, so a resident's actual bin schedule still comes from the local municipality even though the separation duty itself is countywide.