Recycling Center Plus

The Olmsted County Recycling Center Plus offers "one-stop" service to individuals who want to transport their own garbage and recyclables.

Located at 305 Silver Creek Road NE-Rochester

Open 8 a.m. -5 p.m. Monday through Saturday (except for legal holidays)

The following recyclable materials are accepted free of charge at the Olmsted County Recycling Center, and must be pre-sorted into the following categories:

• Aluminum cans (buy-back)
• Clear glass bottles and jars (no window glass, dishware or ceramics)
• Colored glass: Green, brown and other colors of glass bottles and jars (no window glass, dishware or ceramics)
• Corrugated cardboard (clean only)
• White office paper
• Newspaper and colored paper
• Magazines
• Telephone books 
• Paperback books
• Plastic bottles #1 and #2 (with a neck)
• Tin food cans, EMPTY aerosol and paint cans
• Clean scrap iron, aluminum, copper, brass and stainless steel

If you chose to hire a garbage hauler, they offer curbside collection of recyclable materials. Please check with them to see what materials are collected and if sorting is required.

The Recycling Center Plus also accepts waste (for a fee) from those who wish to haul their own garbage. Waste brought to the Recycling Center Plus is later transferred to Olmsted County waste disposal facilities.

Items accepted for a fee at the Recycling Center Plus are things like:

• Garbage
• Appliances (recycled)
• Bikes
• Brush/tree waste (small quantities)
• Carpeting
• Computer systems (recycled)
• Construction materials
• Drywall
• Furniture
• Grills
• Lawn mowers (empty of fluids)
• Mattresses
• TVs (recycled)
• *Tires

The operating hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

For more information call 507 328-7070.

*The Olmsted County Waste-to-Energy facility has always been permitted, and has received a small amount of “incidental” quantities of tires since it began operation in 1987. Before the addition of the 3^rd Unit, the OWEF was at  capacity, so the tires delivered to the OCRC were directed to a vendor in the Twin Cities that “recycled”  them, burning 80% of them for energy in facilities with fewer emissions controls than the OWEF and charging a fee. Once capacity was available at the OWEF, it made sense environmentally and economically to burn these tires for their energy here where they were generated.

Olmsted County ordinance requires recycling of the following:

• Corrugated cardboard
• Aluminum cans
• Newspaper
• Glass bottles and jars

In addition to the above materials, businesses are required to recycle Office paper

Other items that may also be recycled are

• Plastic bottles
• Tin/steel cans
• Magazines
• Cereal, cake and cracker boxes

Check with your garbage hauler or recycling center for a complete list and sorting instructions.

Recycling and Reducing

Recycling and reducing your waste saves resources. In addition to creating less waste, you may save money on your garbage bill.