Scranton residents may begin combining cardboard and paper recycling for pickup in the same container starting next week, a change stemming from the city’s recently approved recycling processing contract with Waste Management.
Starting the week of July 7 and continuing every other week thereafter, corrugated cardboard, paperboard, copy paper, newspaper, magazines, all types of writing paper, and cereal, tissue and similar boxes may be combined for pickup in the same red bins. It’s an improvement from Scranton’s prior process that saw cardboard and paper recyclables collected separately during different weeks.
Under the new process and schedule that officials touted in a recent press release, city Department of Public Works crews will collect the cardboard/paper combination and commingled recyclables on alternating weeks. Residents may also begin recycling #5 polypropylene plastic — the kind commonly used in bottle caps, yogurt tubs and similar containers — with their commingled glass, metal and plastic materials in their blue bins starting the week of July 14.
“The new recycling process will allow our residents to recycle more materials, more often,” Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said in the release. “By simplifying our recycling process, we aim to increase the positive impact on our environment and reduce city costs.”
After requesting proposals from potential vendors, Cognetti’s administration proposed and city council unanimously approved the new five-year Waste Management contract June 24. The contract keeps processing local and allows the city to take advantage of a regional market rate for recycled goods while capping the cost of commingled plastic, metal and glass at no more than $96.65 per ton, the administration said in a prior announcement. It does not charge the city a fee for recycling cardboard and mixed paper.
More frequent cardboard recycling was the top request of city residents who responded to a 2024 Lackawanna County Recycling Survey, followed by opportunities to recycle more types of plastic, officials said.
Revised 2025 Scranton recycling collection calendars will be issued in July and are available in digital form at scrantonpa.gov/recycling. The site also includes a “What Scranton Recycles” link to the city’s recycling guide enumerating the types of items and materials that can and can’t be recycled.
The latter includes things such as paint cans, light bulbs, Styrofoam, flower pots, plastic bags, most takeout containers, napkins, paper towels and other items that should not be placed in recycling bins.
Residents with recycling questions may email city Recycling and Safety Coordinator Chris McClatchy at recycle@scrantonpa.gov.