Ada County’s Recycling Rules Have Changed – Here’s What You Need to Know

If you're trying to do right and save the Earth by recycling, it just got a little more complicated to do so.

Starting soon, Republic Services will no longer accept certain types of plastics for recycling in Ada County. The only plastics they'll now recycle are:

• Milk jugs
• Detergent bottles
• Water/soda bottles
• Juice jugs
• Empty plastic soap dispensers
• Plastic hand sanitizer bottles

That means no more plastic bags, no more empty disposable food containers, no tupperware, no bubble wrap, no garbage bags, etc. It's pretty confusing, so here's a full list of what you can and cannot recycle. If you're still confused, Republic Services made it pretty simple:

When in doubt, throw it out. If you are not sure if something is recyclable, throw it away and reduce the risk of contamination.

While it might feel counter-intuitive to throw out plastics, it looks like that's what we'll be doing for the foreseeable future. Any further questions should be forwarded to Republic Services via email at csidaho@republicservices.com.