Recycling Information
The Rockford Park District partners with Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful to enhance our recycling opportunities and educate the community.
KNIB recycles items like televisions, electronics, large batteries, clothing, paper, and more.
For more information visit the recycling section of their website.
♻️ Important Things to Remember
Some of the items in the “Do Not Recycle” section in the above graphic can't be placed in commingled recycling bins, but can be recycled in other ways. See information further down on this page.
All items placed in recycle bins should be loose, clean, and empty. All bags used within recycle bins must be clear plastic. Black bags are not acceptable. All cardboard should be broken down.
Caps, lids, and labels can be left on bottles, cans, and jars.
Paper cups, pizza boxes, and aluminum foil are acceptable if they are reasonably clean and dry with no excess food or liquid residue on them.
Brown paper towels used for hand washing can be recycled, but not if they were used to clean up messes, as they may be contaminated with residue, food waste, or cleaning chemicals.
Stapled papers are acceptable.
Shredded paper is NOT acceptable.
Prescription bottles are NOT acceptable.
Aerosol cans are accepted if they are empty and depressurized.
Plastic bags can be recycled at many area retailers, including Target and Meijer.
🪫 Battery Recycling
What We’re Doing at the Park District: All household type batteries should be collected at Rockford Park District facilities and brought to the Webbs Norman Center for proper recycling. There are two collection bins at WNC, one in the first floor mailroom, and the other in the third floor printer room near RPD Ed. The Rockford Park District partners with Rock River Communication to recycle batteries. Collect the batteries at your facility and inform Central Stores when ready for pick-up.
What You Can Do at Home: Household type batteries may be safely disposed with household trash. When possible, recycle Alkaline batteries to recover metals including zinc, manganese, brass and steel. This can be done at Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful.
🛞 Tire Recycling
Every year hundreds of tires are illegally dumped in your community parks. This leaves the burden on the Rockford Park District to clean up the tires and properly recycle them, which is a strain on staff hours and our budget.
What We’re Doing at the Park District: Coordinate the collection and disposal of any tires found in parks or facilities with the Parks maintenance staff at Talcott Maintenance Facility.
What You Can Do at Home: Personal or residential tires can be recycled at the City of Rockford's Hazardous Waste Disposal site: click for more information.
📺 TV’s & Electronics
Every year dozens of televisions are illegally dumped in your community parks. This leaves the burden on the Rockford Park District to collect and dispose of these televisions properly, which is a strain on staff hours and our budget.
What We’re Doing at the Park District: Coordinate the collection and disposal of any TVs found in parks or facilities with the Parks maintenance staff at Talcott Maintenance Facility. The Rockford Park District partners with Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful for TV recycling. Please contact the Information Services Department before disposing of any cords.
What You Can Do at Home: Personal TVs and power cords can be recycled for a small fee at Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful.
Why is electronics recycling important?
E-waste represents 2% of America's trash in landfills, but it equals 70% of overall toxic waste (dosomething.org). Click here for more facts about E-waste.
Shredded Paper
Paper is a recyclable material, but when it is shredded and placed in a commingled collection container it can't be recycled. This is because the small shreds of paper will fall out of the sorting process too soon. RPD recommends shredding paper only when it is absolutely necessary.
What We’re Doing at the Park District: RPD works with local shredding vendors when disposing of sensitive documents. If you have shredding needs, please contact the RPD Purchasing Department to help with proper shredding and recycling.
What You Can Do at Home: Only shred paper when it is absolutely necessary. When you do shred paper, keep it separate from other recyclables and bring the shredded material to KNIB so it can be recycled.