Ready to recycle?
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We offer optional curbside recycling for our residential customers. Collection is every other week for only $5.00 per month. 96-gallon roll carts with yellow lids are provided. Every other week service with a 96-gallon can will allow you to recycle more material than twice weekly service with a traditional 15-gallon tote bin and allows us to keep the price as low as possible. For our senior discount customers, we can provide a smaller 65-gallon recycling can to match your 65-gallon trash can upon request.
Why does it cost extra to recycle? For those who are curious, it does cost to recycle. Because of low commodity prices, we will be paying $46.75 per ton when we deliver your recyclables to the transfer station. While this is less than the $60.75 per ton that we pay to deliver residential waste, it still adds up to over 2 cents per pound. Running a recycling route does require extra labor, equipment, and wear and tear on that equipment. And our rural routes mean that we drive further to service our accounts, especially for an optional service like recycling. We also will have to drive the material to either Fort Walton Beach or Santa Rosa County as the Baker transfer station does not have a tipping floor for recyclables. We have worked hard to keep costs low while offering this important service to those who want to recycle.
Still want to recycle but don't have room in the family budget? We understand! We will still offer our 24/7 recycling center at our Baker office free of charge.
The fine print.
The 2021 recycling collection schedule will be every other Wednesday as follows:
East of Crestview or in the Poverty Creek Area:
JAN - 6th, 20th FEB - 3rd, 17th MAR- 3rd, 17th, 31st APR - 14th, 28th MAY - 12th, 26th JUN - 9th, 23rd
JUL - 7th, 21st AUG- 4th, 18th SEPT - 1st, 15th, 29th OCT- 13th, 27th NOV - 10th, 24th DEC - 8th, 22nd
West of Crestview or in the Baker/Holt Area:
JAN - 13th, 27th FEB - 10th, 24th MAR- 10th, 24th APR - 7th, 21st MAY - 5th, 19th JUN - 2nd, 16th, 30th
JUL - 14th, 28th AUG- 11th, 25th SEPT - 8th, 22nd OCT- 6th, 20th NOV - 3rd, 17th DEC - 1st, 15th, 29th
Acceptable recyclable materials include:
Glass, any color
Newspaper & Inserts
Cardboard
Boxboard (cereal, cake & cracker boxes, etc.)
Plastic bottles
Plastics No. 1 & 2
Plastic Milk Jugs and 2-Liter bottles (including caps)
Aluminum Cans & Lids
Tin and Steel Cans & Lids
Metal Pots, Pans & Cookie Sheets
Pet food cans (no plastic liner)
Need a printable reminder? Click here for East of Crestview or the Poverty Creek Area schedule. Click here for the Baker and Holt area schedule.
Recyclables do not need to be sorted. Materials should be placed directly into the 96-gallon can – please do not bag the recyclables. If you have more recycling than the provided 96-gallon can will hold, you may place bins or another can by the yellow-lid can and we will take that material too.
Service will initially be available to all customers in the following areas: All accounts in and around Holt, Milligan and Baker (north to Vincent Ray Road and west to Cotton Bridge as well as all customers east of Crestview as far north as the Shoal River bridge on Hwy 393. If you live in our Blackman and Laurel Hill service areas and would like to participate in the recycling program, please let us know. If there is sufficient demand for the program in your area, we will work to expand the program to meet your needs.
Will my recycling actually get recycled?
YES! Unfortunately, the Baker transfer station does not have a tipping floor to offload full trucks of recyclables currently. Until such a facility becomes available in Baker the material will be delivered either to the Fort Walton Beach transfer station or to the Santa Rosa County transfer facility. From there, the recyclables will be taken to the Emerald Coast Utility Authority’s Recycling Recovery Center in North Escambia County. We took a tour recently and were impressed with their efforts. The recyclables are sorted using a mix of automated, mechanical and human processors. Approximately 75-80% of the material that make it to the Recovery Center is ultimately recycled. The recovered materials are then baled and sold to be repurposed into new products. The majority of the recovered materials are sold to American manufacturers. The glass is crushed and given free to a fiberglass insulation manufacturer. Even though there is no financial return from the glass, the material is not taking up valuable landfill space.