Parma, OH Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Parma City Code 642.025
- Accepted materials
- Glass, plastic bottles/jugs, aluminum/tin cans, newspaper
- Container requirement
- Designated recycling container required
- First offense
- Minor misdemeanor
- Repeat offense
- Misdemeanor of the fourth degree
- Administering division
- Division of Litter Prevention and Recycling
Summary
Parma's curbside recycling program only accepts glass bottles and jars, plastic soda bottles and milk, juice and water jugs, aluminum and tin food and beverage cans, and newspapers, and only when set out in a designated recycling container. Removing set-out recyclables from the curb is a criminal offense under City Code Section 642.025.
(a) When a person has set recyclable materials out on a public street or alley for collection by the City or its contractor pursuant to the City's curbside recycling program, no person, except an employee, contractor or agent of the City, who is engaged in implementing the City's curbside recycling program, shall remove any of such materials. (b) For purposes of this section, “recyclable materials” means glass bottles and jars, plastic soda bottles and milk, juice and water jugs, aluminum and tin food and beverages cans, and newspapers enclosed in a designated recycling container. (c) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor for a first offense; for a second or subsequent offense, such person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-30: Local legislation current to August 3, 2026 | State legislation current to June 25, 2025).
Full Breakdown
025 defines what counts as recyclable material for Parma's curbside program and protects the program by banning scavenging. Once a resident sets recyclable materials out on a public street or alley for collection under the City's curbside recycling program, only a City employee, contractor or agent implementing that program may remove them; anyone else who takes the materials is committing an offense. Subsection (b) narrows what qualifies: glass bottles and jars, plastic soda bottles and plastic milk, juice and water jugs, aluminum and tin food and beverage cans, and newspapers, and the ordinance requires that these items be enclosed in a designated recycling container to fall under the program's protection and definition.
Materials set out loose, in the wrong container, or outside this list are not covered by the section. m. Saturdays, and never on Sundays). The Division of Litter Prevention and Recycling, within the Department of Public Service, administers the curbside program under Chapter 158. Residents who mix non-listed materials into a recycling container risk the load being rejected by the hauler, since the section's protection and the program's design track the enumerated list.
Violations & Fines
A first violation of Section 642.025 is a minor misdemeanor; a second or subsequent violation within the City is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. Section 642.025(c) sets the penalty under Section 698.02. Because the statute targets removal of set-out recyclables by anyone other than the City or its designated recycling contractor, scavengers and unauthorized haulers picking through curbside bins are the ones exposed to prosecution, not residents sorting their own materials.
Frequently Asked Questions
What materials can I put out for Parma curbside recycling?
Is it illegal to take recyclables out of someone else's bin in Parma?
What is the penalty for taking recyclables set out for collection?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Parma
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Recycling Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Cuyahoga County handle recycling rules.