Marion, OH Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

The recyclable materials definition in § 943.01 is the code's master list. It names newspapers, extra materials (including insets), aluminum, plastic containers, glass bottles and jars, corrugated cardboard, brown paper bags, mixed paper, tin and ferrous cans, and household dry-cell batteries, with no wet-cell batteries. It also takes in other solid waste materials added upon agreement. A material qualifies when it has been either diverted from the remaining solid waste stream or removed prior to its entry into that stream.

The definition also drives how garbage is sorted. Domestic refuse is defined as rubbish and garbage, excluding recyclable materials, and rubbish excludes recyclable materials too, so a bottle, can or newspaper counted as recyclable is not domestic refuse. Recycling is defined as any process by which solid waste, or materials which otherwise become solid wastes, are collected, separated, or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products.

Section 943.11 settles who owns the material once it is at the curb. All domestic refuse, rubbish, recyclables and waste material collected or in the process of being collected are no longer the property of the resident, and no person can separate, collect, carry off or dispose of them except under the authority of the Safety/Service Director. The wording reaches anyone who sorts through or hauls away set-out recyclables without that authority.

The curbside list in § 943.04(B) is narrower than the definition. It names newspapers, glass bottles and jars, aluminum, plastic containers, tin and ferrous cans, corrugated cardboard and brown paper bags, and the Director can add or delete items. A material can be a recyclable under § 943.01 without being on the current pickup list.