Have a heart, embrace recycling with these tips

Published on February 12, 2024

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is in the air. Port St. Lucie residents can show their love for the planet by participating in the City’s cardboard recycling initiative throughout February – and all year long!

Embracing those cardboard boxes and breaking them down every week on your designated pick-up day helps keep our streets clean and green together. Setting your heart on sustainability is good for Mother Earth and keeps Port St. Lucie beautiful.

Why is recycling so important? It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills, conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals, while preventing pollution and reducing greenhouse gases. In addition, recycling can reduce the City’s overall garbage disposal costs.

Here are some tips to recycle right:

First, empty your box to remove packing materials, such as Styrofoam or packing peanuts.
Flatten your cardboard box to save space.
Put it in therecycling cart.
Pro tip: Ensure your box is dry and clean. Even if it gets wet, it can still be recycled - once dried.

A few additional things to keep in mind when recycling cardboard:

Dented, ripped and damaged cardboard can still be recycled.
You do not have to remove tape or labels – the recycling process will remove these for you.
Milk, juice, and cereal boxes can all be recycled, if cleaned and dry.

Items that are not accepted:

Soiled pizza boxes: Place the soiled part with food scraps in the trash, then recycle the clean part.
Coated paper or wax contained (e.g., take-out boxes with metal handles for rice or produce containers): Throw those in the trash.
Styrofoam packaging: Remove from recyclable boxes and put in the trash or you can or drop it off at theSt. Lucie County Solid Waste Baling & Recycling Facilitylocated at 6120 Glades Cut-Off Road, Fort Pierce.
Plastic/Bubble Wrap: Remove from recyclable boxes and bring to store recycling bin or trash.

The City of Port St. Lucie is committed to sustainable waste management and with residents’ help, we can reduce the amount of waste we send to the landfill. Learn more recycling tips at CityofPSL.com/SolidWaste.