Waste Bans Information

Prohibited Materials

According to Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulations 19.017, the following materials are prohibited from disposal with household trash:

  • Batteries: Fee applies for Lead-acid batteries used in motor vehicles, or stationary applications.
  • Brush: Shrubbery, logs, and branches cut in 4' lengths may be recycled for a fee.
  • Cathode Ray Tubes: Any intact, broken, or processed glass tube used to provide the visual display in televisions, computer monitors, and certain scientific instruments such as oscilloscopes. Fee applies.
  • Glass containers: Glass bottles and jars (soda-lime glass) can be recycled for a fee, (separate clear glass).
  • Leaves: Deciduous and coniferous leaf deposition can be recycled for a fee.
  • Metal Containers: Aluminum, steel, or bi-metal beverage and food containers can be recycled for a fee.
  • Recyclable Paper: All paper, cardboard, and paperboard products can be recycled for a fee, with the exception of tissue paper, toweling, paper plates and cups, wax-coated cardboard, and other low-grade paper products, which become unusable to paper mills as a result of normal intended use, and can be disposed of with household trash.
  • Single Polymer Plastics: All narrow-neck plastic containers labeled Number 1 - Number 7 can be recycled for a fee.
  • White Goods: Appliances employing electricity, oil, natural gas, or liquefied petroleum gas to preserve or cook food; wash or dry clothing, cooking or kitchen utensils or related items. These typically include refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, gas or electric ovens and ranges, and hot water heaters. Fee applies.
  • Whole tires: Fee application for all motor vehicle tires of all types. Shredded tires (a tire that has been cut, sliced, or ground into four or more pieces such that the circular form of the tire has been eliminated) are not prohibited.
  • Yard Waste: Grass clippings, weeds, garden materials, and shrub trimmings, (excluding diseased plants) can be recycled for a fee.

Additional Restricted Materials as of July 1, 2006

The following construction and demolition debris materials are prohibited from disposal:

  • Asphalt Pavement, Brick, and Concrete: Asphalt pavement, brick, and concrete from construction activities and demolition of buildings and similar sources.
  • Metal: Fee applies for scrap metal.
  • Wood: Fee applies for all treated and untreated wood, including wood waste.
  • Gypsum: Clean gypsum wallboard (effective July 1, 2011).
  • Mattresses and Textiles: Fee applies for mattresses, textile recycling bins are available throughout the facility. (effective November 1. 2022)