What's Happening with Recycling in Montgomery County MD?

Send us Fan Mail We recorded this episode from the Montgomery County Recycling Center to answer a resident’s question people ask all the time: does recycling get separated after you toss it together? Along the way, we learn why Montgomery County, Maryland runs a dual stream recycling program, keeping mixed paper and cardboard separate from commingled containers like glass, metal, and plastic to reduce contamination and improve material value. We also take a guided tour of what residents can actually drop off at the transfer station and recycling center beyond standard curbside recycling. That includes the “Don’t Dump, Donate” reuse area for doors, windows, sinks, and other usable building materials, plus donation options for textiles and books. We cover electronics recycling from TVs and computers to holiday lights, tire drop offs for county residents, and a household hazardous waste program for items like paint, solvents, cleaners, and many batteries. Then we get into the behind-the-scenes sorting system inside the material recovery facility (MRF): tipping floors, manual pre-sort lines, safety gear, balers that turn paper and plastics into dense blocks, magnets that pull ferrous metals, and eddy currents that separate aluminum. We even talk about how glass is sorted and sold, and why the simplest rule for better recycling is to stop guessing. If you’re unsure, use the county’s online search tool so you recycle right and keep the system safe and efficient.

You can listen to What's Happening with Recycling in Montgomery County MD? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What's Happening with Recycling in Montgomery County MD? is an episode from What's Happening MoCo? by Derrick Kenny.

This episode is 30:07 long.

This episode was published on Apr 9, 2026.

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