Warwick, RI Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Article V of Chapter 22 declares in Sec. 22-141 that disposing of recyclable materials is contrary to the public interest and sets city policy to require recycling. Sec. 22-142 defines recyclable materials precisely: rinsed glass bottles and jars without caps or ceramics; rinsed, dried, label-free tin and aluminum cans and foil; dry bundled newspapers, not magazines or glossy inserts; rinsed #1 and #2 plastic bottles and jugs with no caps; mixed paper such as mail and magazines bagged in brown paper; corrugated cardboard flattened and bundled to no more than three feet by three feet; and boxboard like cereal and pasta boxes bagged in brown paper.

Sec. 22-143 makes it unlawful to dispose of any of those materials other than as this article requires. Sec. 22-144 puts the separation duty on the owner or occupier of any premises where garbage accumulates: recyclables must be pulled from the rest of the trash and set at curbside in the container the city supplies, and any overflow beyond that one container must be flattened or bagged and marked 'recyclables' next to it. Once set at the curb, Sec. 22-145 makes that material city property and bars anyone but the owner or a city agent from disturbing or removing it.

Sec. 22-146 fixes the penalty structure separately from the rest of Chapter 22: $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second, $250 for a third, with each day of an ongoing violation treated as its own separate offense.