Howell, NJ Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Howell Township Code § 238-11A requires every owner, tenant or occupant of residential and nonresidential premises, including retail and commercial locations, government, schools and other institutions, to separate designated recyclable materials from all solid waste. Section 238-1 repeats the duty for residents (physically disabled persons are excepted) and for business, industrial and institutional property. The designated materials in § 238-2 are aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles coded 1 and 2 (PETE and HDPE), steel (tin) cans, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, mixed paper, leaves, grass clippings, brush, natural wood waste over three inches in diameter, oil-contaminated soil, used motor oil, lead-acid batteries, hazardous dry-cell batteries, metal appliances and whole tires. Computers, monitors and televisions cannot be disposed as solid waste on or after January 1, 2011.

Section 238-12 requires businesses that make, use or sell products made of or packaged in mandated recyclables to provide labeled, accessible containers for employees and customers, and it requires licensed fairs and special events to provide labeled containers for both solid waste and recyclables. Section 238-13 puts compliance on the property owner and, in multifamily buildings, on management, who must give new tenants collection rules on arrival and every six months. Food service establishments must also recycle grease and cooking oil (§ 238-14D). Under § 238-16A solid waste collectors cannot lawfully collect trash mixed with visible recyclables.

New developments face paperwork up front. A Planning Board application for multifamily dwellings of three or more units, single-family developments of 50 or more units, or commercial, institutional or industrial development using 1,000 square feet or more of land must include a recycling plan (§ 238-15A). A covered construction or demolition project with a dumpster must file a debris recovery plan with the Municipal Recycling Coordinator showing that a minimum of 50% of the materials will be separated and recycled (§ 238-19). The Township recycling center is limited to Howell residents with proof of residency (§ 238-27).