Recycling Without the Extra Trip

How Blue Bag Recycling Works

Place eligible recyclable material in your blue recycling bags and keep those bags separate from your regular household garbage. Set them out according to your normal Back Road Pickup collection instructions, and we handle the transportation from there.

Chester County uses blue recycling bags as part of its county recycling program, and specifically instructs residents to keep ordinary trash out of recycling bags.

What Can I Recycle?

Your blue bags are intended for eligible household recyclables such as:

• ✓Paper
• ✓Plastic bottles and containers
• ✓Aluminum cans
• ✓Steel or tin cans
• ✓Other approved recyclable household containers

Cardboard should be prepared separately, following the cardboard instructions below.

Please Keep These Out of Your Blue Bags

• ✗Glass
• ✗Plastic bags and film
• ✗Styrofoam
• ✗Food and liquids
• ✗Clothing and linens
• ✗Cords, hoses and chains
• ✗Wood and plastic furniture
• ✗Scrap and miscellaneous metal

Cardboard Recycling

Online orders, appliance boxes, moving boxes and everyday packaging fill a garbage container surprisingly fast. We collect recyclable cardboard separately, which keeps that bulky material out of your regular household trash.

How to prepare cardboard

Flatten your boxes, keep them reasonably clean and dry, and remove:

• ✗Styrofoam
• ✗Plastic wrapping
• ✗Packing material
• ✗Food and trash
• ✗Other non-cardboard contents

Flattening makes collection easier and lets us transport substantially more material in the same amount of space.

Where Does My Recycling Go?

Your recycling has a real destination. Back Road Pickup transports eligible recyclable material into the recycling system in Henderson, Tennessee — home of the West Tennessee Regional Recycling Hub, which operates as a central processing point for recycling from communities across West Tennessee.

More Room for Actual Trash

Recyclables eat a surprising amount of space — shipping boxes, plastic bottles, milk jugs, drink containers, food cans, paper packaging. Separating them means your trash space gets used for material that genuinely needs disposing of as garbage. For households that receive a lot of deliveries, cardboard alone makes a noticeable difference.

You can of course recycle on your own: sort it at home, load the vehicle, drive to a convenience center, unload, drive back. We remove most of that. You already need your garbage collected — with Back Road Pickup, recycling becomes part of the same routine instead of another errand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Back Road Pickup offer recycling?

Yes. We offer Blue Bag Recycling and cardboard recycling for eligible material.

Where does my recycling go?

We transport eligible recyclable material into the regional recycling system in Henderson, Tennessee, where the West Tennessee Regional Recycling Hub operates.

Can I put normal garbage in my blue bag?

No. Blue recycling bags should contain eligible recyclable material only. Regular household garbage stays with your normal trash.

Can I recycle cardboard?

Yes. We collect recyclable cardboard separately. Please break down and flatten your boxes before collection.

Why should I flatten my cardboard?

Flattened cardboard takes up dramatically less space, which makes collection easier and lets us move far more material in the same trip.

Should containers be empty?

Yes. Containers should be empty, and keeping them reasonably clean helps prevent contamination of the whole load.

Can I recycle glass?

Please do not place glass in your blue bags unless we have specifically told you otherwise. Chester County published single-stream guidance lists glass among the materials that should stay out of its recycling carts.

Can I put plastic grocery bags in my blue bag?

No. Flexible plastic bags are a different material from the rigid bottles and containers accepted in single-stream recycling, and the county excludes them from its carts.

What about Styrofoam?

Keep Styrofoam out of the recycling bag. County guidance identifies it as a material that should not enter single-stream carts.

Can I recycle electronics or batteries?

Please do not put electronics, batteries or other specialty waste in your blue bag. These items can require separate disposal or recycling procedures.