Kokomo, IN Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 98.03 works in tandem with § 98.02's collection program. Division (A) requires the receptacles the city supplies for special collection to be clearly marked as city property meant only for recyclable materials, so residents and haulers can identify them. Division (B) is a protection for households: nothing in the chapter forces a household to separate recyclables from regular trash, and nothing bars a household from taking recyclables to a private recycling center or donating them instead of using city collection, though once material is placed in the city's receptacle the chapter's rules govern it.

Divisions (C) and (D) are the enforcement core: no private citizen, firm, corporation, or scavenger may collect, obtain, possess, pick up, or remove designated recyclable material from a properly designated receptacle, and the content of those receptacles may be collected only by city collection crews or by employees of a private contractor under written contract with the Board of Public Works and Safety. That combination targets informal "scrapping" of curbside recycling bins by making the material effectively city property once it is set out. The rule applies only while a recycling program authorized under § 98.02 is actively operating, per § 98.04.