New Brunswick, NJ Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 8.40.120 of the New Brunswick Municipal Code sets four duties for commercial facilities and rental housing. Each commercial facility provides on-site recycling containers for all mandatorily recyclable materials, clearly marked to indicate their purpose and adequate to hold the material between collections or deposit at collection sites. The owner or operator gives notice to employees and customers or clients affected by the system, stating the purpose and location of the containers. The owner or operator also submits a yearly report of materials recycled by weight to the city's recycling coordinator by March 1 for the prior calendar year. Commercial facilities are defined in § 8.40.020 as all facilities other than single or multifamily residences, including schools, institutions, retail and wholesale businesses, restaurants, taverns, warehouses, factories, offices, construction sites and government facilities.

Subsection (D) covers small landlords. A residential rental house, defined as a dwelling with four or fewer units, must be provided by the property owner with at minimum one designated twenty gallon open rigid recycling container for each dwelling unit. Larger buildings fall under § 8.40.130, which applies to multifamily complexes of more than four units. Each complex provides labeled trash receptacles, recycling receptacles for bottles, cans, newspaper and mixed paper, and a designated labeled area or container for corrugated cardboard, all with sufficient capacity between collections. Management notifies residents of the recycling arrangements in writing at least once a year, gives every new tenant written guidelines with the lease, operates a system acceptable to the division of recycling, and keeps the storage area clean of contamination. A complex using a private hauler files its own tonnage report by March 1.

Multifamily owners seeking city reimbursement face further conditions under § 8.40.160: tax abated and PILOT complexes are not eligible, the dwelling must pass a recycling compliance inspection, and an owner who fails the first inspection has thirty days to correct the deficiencies.