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Materials & Waste Management
Recycling
Recycle Indianapolis is an initiative designed to broaden recycling participation in Indianapolis through increased awareness and education.
By recycling, you can make a positive impact on our planet and reduce your total trash volume. Last year, Indianapolis' citizens recycled over 28 million pounds of recyclable items.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours, or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
- Recycling all copies of the Sunday edition of the Indianapolis Star would save about 150,000 trees.
- In Indiana, if we recycle all used oil filters, we could save 85,000 gallons of oil, 3,000 tons of steel and 1,000 tons of saturated filter media from waste-to-energy processed annually.
- Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water.
The City of Indianapolis provides recycling options that are cheap, convenient and easily available. Residents can subscribe to curbside recycling for a nominal monthly fee, but there are also 28 absolutely free drop-off sites that consumers can access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Two key City recycling initiatives are the eCycles and Tox-Drop programs.
eCycles
Although technology strives to make life easier for consumers, it can also take its toll on the environment. Americans dispose of 12-14 million computers each year and only one out of 5 computers on average is being recycled. Computer monitors contain picture tubes called cathode ray tubes, which contain an average of 5-10 pounds of lead. Mercury, cadmium, nickel and a number of other toxic compounds also exist in printed circuit boards and batteries found in electronics and computers. These materials if buried in a landfill can contaminate ground water and cause serous health issues for humans.
To respond to this problem, the City founded eCycles, a free, permanent, year-round electronics recycling program that accepts any make or model of cell phones, computers (laptop or desk model) and computer components including hard drives, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice and joy stick controllers, PC cards and circuit boards, PC speakers and microphones, USB devices, external power supplies and gaming accessories.
ECycles helps protect our environment through the removal of hazardous material from the waste stream and by saving landfill space.
Electronics can be dropped off at any one of the city's three permanent ToxDrop locations. eCycle/ToxDrop sites are open on alternate weekends from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.:
- Traders Point (7400 Lafayette Rd.): First and third Saturday of the month;
- Perry Township Government Center (4925 S. Shelby St.): Second and fourth Saturday of the month; and
- IPD Training Academy (9049 E. 10th St.): First and third Saturday of the month.
All usable eCycle equipment is refurbished and distributed back into the community. Cell phones are donated to the Julian Center, a unique, nonprofit agency providing counseling, safe shelter, and education for women and children who are survivors of domestic violence and abuse.
Computers and accessories are donated to various non-profit agencies, provided to low-income and underprivileged families or utilized for job training.
Tox-Drops
The City offers a year-round Tox-Drops collection program that makes it easier for Indianapolis residents to dispose of their household hazardous waste (HHW).
Indianapolis and Marion County residents are able to drop off their HHW in the following ways:
- Materials may be dropped off on Tuesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. at our Belmont Avenue Collection Facility at 2700 S. Belmont Ave.
- Materials may be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturday of each month at the Trader's Point collection site (7400 North Lafayette Road [map]).
- Materials may be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturday of each month at the IPD Training Facility (9049 East 10th Street [map]).
- Materials may be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month at the Perry Township Government Center collection site (4925 Shelby Street [map]).
Any fifth Saturday, all locations are closed.
A partial list of HHW accepted by Tox-Drops locations includes:
Adhesives
Aerosol Cans
Air Fresheners
Ammonia
Asbestos Tile
Bathroom Cleaners
Brake Fluid
Button Batteries
Carpet Cleaners
Chlorine Bleach
Detergents
Fire Extinguishers
Floor Wax
Fluorescent Light Tubes
Furniture Polish
Gasoline
Glues
Herbicides
Household Batteries
Insecticides
Lead Acid Batteries
Lighter Fluid
Mercury
Metal Cleaners
Moth Crystals
Motor Oil, Used
Oven Cleaners
Paints
Paint Strippers
Paint Thinners
Permanent Markers
Pesticides
Plant Food
Pool Chemicals
Propane Tanks (< 20 lbs.)
Rat Poisons
Rock Salt
Soaps
Shoe Polish
Stain Removers
Solvents
Thermometers
Thermostats
Transmission Fluid
Upholstery Cleaners
Wood Preservatives
Wood Stains
Wood Varnishes
By simply sorting your recyclables from your regular trash, you can have a major impact on our environment. To learn more, please visit www.recycleindianapolis.org, call the Mayor's Action Center at 327-4MAC (4622), or or contact the Recycling Coordinator.
Environmental Purchasing
The City of Indianapolis will be practicing what it preaches and revolutionizing the way it does business by greening City government.
Through purchasing decisions, building design and energy selection and conservation efforts, the City is working to ensure that it is not only a driver of local green efforts—but that it is also a responsible government consumer.
Through its environmental purchasing program, DPW is working to establish green purchasing policies to promote recycling, foster energy conservation and alternative fuels, and the use of non-toxic materials across City government. These efforts will also minimize the purchase of products containing hazardous materials used in the City's custodial services, fleet maintenance, and facility maintenance in favor of using alternate products that pose less risk to City employees and to the environment.
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