Rockville offers free food scrap drop-off sites to make composting easy, help keep valuable materials out of landfills and reduce excessive greenhouse gas emissions.
Compost Correctly
Food scraps drop-offs are accessible 24/7. Follow the signs when dropping off scraps at Twinbrook Community Recreation Center, 12920 Twinbrook Parkway; Rockville Senior Center, 1150 Carnation Drive; or the city’s maintenance facility at 14625 Rothgeb Drive.
To use the drop-offs, place food scraps in a container; empty coffee containers with sealing lids work well. Be sure to remove plastic or other trash. Bring full containers to empty into the designated green bins. Rinse the container and repeat.
Learn more at rockvillemd.gov/foodscraps.
Recycle Right
Rockville also offers tips for avoiding contamination that can impact the recycling process. When recycling, think “bottles, tubs, jars and jugs.” Don’t look for numbers or symbols. Only recycle bottles, such as those for water, salad dressing or shampoo; tubs with snap-on lids, such as those for margarine or coffee, and small buckets; jars with screw-on lids, such as those for peanut butter, medicines or hand cream; and jugs with a molded handle, such as those for milk or detergent.
Never place these items in your recycling bin:
- “Styrofoam,” including foam packing materials, coffee cups and takeout containers even if it has a recycling symbol on it.
- Tanglers like string, wires, hoses, cords, light strands, VHS cassettes, hangers or plastic bags that can get wrapped in the sorting equipment.
- Plastic bags, film, wrap or air-filled packing pillows. Don’t put recyclable materials in plastic bags for curbside recycling. Find stores offering bins for dropping off plastic bags at bit.ly/howtorecyclebags.
Always avoid “wishful recycling” — when in doubt, throw it out.
Got a city recycling or trash cart that’s falling apart? Call 240-314-8568. We’ll replace it. Learn more, including information about special collections, at rockvillemd.gov/recycling-trash.