New recycling bins to be distributed in East Liberty, Garfield and Highland Park

Residents in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty, Garfield and Highland Park neighborhoods will be the next to receive blue recycling bins that will ultimately replace bags for recycling citywide by 2023.

The 32-gallon bins will be distributed to 5,500 homes starting Nov. 2, Pittsburgh officials said.

The bins are manufactured with at least 5% recycled plastic in Pennsylvania by Rehrig Pacific Co., a Los Angeles-based firm that has locations in Erie, Tobyhanna and Wilkes-Barre.

“Pittsburgh is adapting to a stronger culture of waste reduction and material reuse,” Mayor Bill Peduto said in a statement. “Our strategic plan for purchasing and deploying blue recycling bins over three years will make that culture change more accessible and equitable for all.”

Providing the bins helps steer people away from placing recyclable materials in blue plastic bags.

Pittsburgh follows “single-stream recycling,” which allows residents to combine all recyclable materials, rather than separating the glass, plastic and paper. That method makes it easier for people to create the habit of recycling, but requires a complex sorting process later. Plastic bags, once the preferred container, have been found to complicate the process at recycling centers.

The next neighborhoods set to receive the bins in spring 2021 are Bloomfield, Friendship, Garfield, Hill District, Lawrenceville, Morningside, Polish Hill, Stanton Heights and the Strip District.

Neighborhoods in the East End, South Side and West End will follow.

By 2023, the city hopes to have distributed more than 115,000 bins to homes throughout the city.

For more information about the bins, click here.

A separate state Department of Environmental Protection grant of $350,000 paid for North Side residents to receive the bins.

The items are to be placed in the bins unbagged. For more about the guidelines, click here.

The city budgeted $500,000 for the new bins and it was supplemented by a $500,000 grant from The Recycling Partnership, a national nonprofit that helps community recycling programs.

Peduto is advocating for another $500,000 in city spending in 2021 to continue the program.

In the recycling bins, people can deposit flattened cardboard, glass bottles, jugs and jars that have lids removed, aluminum and steel cans, mixed paper and empty plastics with caps and lids removed.