I was curious about what I can recycle via my neighborhood’s recycling program.  Turns out I could have been recycling a lot more than I have been!  

Many communities in Northern Virginia, like mine, contract their recycling out to CSI Disposal and Recycling Services.  This includes Reston, Leesburg, and Loudoun County communities like Lansdowne, Cascades, and Countryside.  You’ve probably seen (and heard!) their big red trucks.  http://www.csidisposal.com/   

With CSI, residents put their unsorted recyclables out for pickup.  CSI staff then manually (yes, a human being does this!) sorts through the recyclables, discarding the trash that can’t be recycled. I didn’t realize how many things could be recycled. 

I called CSI and a very nice woman gave me the following list of recyclables:

  • Glass bottles and jars
  • Plastics – #1 and #2 only (look on the bottom of the container)
  • Metal food and beverage containers, like aluminum cans
  • Paper – newspapers, magazines, loose paper, junk mail, etc.
  • Cardboard, like packing, cereal, and shoe boxes, and milk cartons

The city of Leesburg has a great detailed list of do’s and don’ts for recycling.  The CSI rep said that their rules are the same at every site, so the Leesburg site should apply to anyone whose neighborhood uses CSI. 

Here’s the Leesburg site:  http://www.leesburgva.gov/Services/Trash/recycling/