Pearland, TX Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Chapter 12, Article II of the Code of Ordinances sets the legal ground rules for what happens to recyclable material once it leaves a Pearland household, apart from the collection schedule itself. Section 12-19(a) lets residents remove recyclable material from their own residences as long as it is secured for transport the same way solid waste must be under § 12-18, but § 12-19(b) makes it unlawful for anyone, resident or commercial customer, to cause a diversion of recyclable materials at any location in violation of state law, which covers scavenging cardboard, aluminum, or other recyclables out of carts before the city's contractor collects them.

Section 12-20 layers on a broader list of prohibited acts that apply to recycling as well as garbage: pilfering, scattering the contents of, or meddling with a collection container is barred to anyone other than the owner, the occupant, an authorized agent, or law enforcement (§ 12-20(a)), and it is unlawful to deposit materials not included in the definitions of garbage, recyclable material, rubbish, or brush into a container set aside for one of those categories (§ 12-20(c)); that provision is the operative contamination rule for a resident who tries to use a recycling cart for regular trash or vice versa. Materials intended for recycling must also be kept separate from waste materials under § 12-32(e), and the definitions section lists the accepted residential recyclables, including glass, tin and aluminum cans, cardboard, newspapers, mail, and plastics coded #1 through #7 except #6, which is Styrofoam.