Recyclable materials is accepted from small businesses at Hennepin County drop-off facilities.

Materials accepted

Recyclables separated into the following categories are accepted from businesses free of charge.

  • Cardboard
    • Clean and uncoated. No pizza or plastic/wax-lined boxes.
    • Flatten all corrugated boxes and remove and discard any packing material such as polystyrene foam or plastic bags.
    • Bloomington facility only: Limit of one pickup truck load or less per visit with preferred size of cardboard pieces 3'x3'.
  • Glass bottles 
    • Rinsed and separated by color. 
    • Labels are OK. Remove caps.
    • No window, mirror or plate glass, ceramics, dishware, drinking glass.
    • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Metal cans 
    • Rinsed aluminum, steel, tin, bimetal food & beverage cans. 
    • Labels are OK. 
    • No aerosol cans or cans that contained hazardous materials.
    • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Newspaper 
    • Advertising supplements and brown paper bags are OK.
    • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Paper 
    • Mail/office/school papers; shredded paper; folders; magazines;catalogs; soft cover books; boxes (cereal/cracker/pasta/cake mix, gift/shoe/electronics, toothpaste/medication/toiletries).
    • Not accepted: milk or juice boxes; egg cartons or boxes soiled with food; carbon paper; paper towels, napkins, cups or plates; gift wrap; plastic or metal bindings/covers.
    • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Phone books 
    • Limited of 100. DEX provides alternate drop-off locations for more than 100 phone books.
    • All types of directories accepted.
    • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Plastic bottles 
    • Only rinsed plastic bottles less than 5 gallons in size with a neck. 
    • Labels are OK. Remove caps.
    • Not accepted: plastic jars, tubs or pails; microwave and deli containers; plastic cups, plates and flatware; film containers; plastics that contained hazardous materials, such as motor oil containers.
    • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Plastic bags and wrap 
    • Clean, dry retail, grocery, newspaper, drycleaner bags without handles or string; produce, bread, cereal, frozen food bags with no food residue; salt bags; paper towel, toilet paper wrappers; zipper bags with no plastic closing device.
    • Stretch and shrink wrap
    • Commercial businesses that generate a large volume should contact Minnesota Waste Wise at 651-292-4663 to participate in the It's in the Bag program.
    • Not accepted: plastic food wrap; containers; soil and mulch bags; bubble wrap.
  • Scrap metal 
    • Ferrous and non-ferrous. 
    • All glass, plastic, rubber or other non-metal items must be removed.
    • Drums accepted if one end has been removed.

Guidelines for delivering recycling to drop-off facilities

  • Your business must self-haul recycling to our facilities.
  • There is no material redemption service at these facilities.
  • If in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
  • Volume accepted
    • A pick-up load or less of recycling is accepted at the Bloomington facility.
    • Large truckloads should be delivered to the Brooklyn Park facility. 
    • For large volumes, we encourage delivery of material directly to a recycling center. See the list of recycling drop-off centers in the Resourceful Waste Management Guide.
  • When to deliver
    • We recommend dropping off recycling Tuesday - Thursday afternoons. These are our least busy times when we can provide the best customer service. 
    • Please refrain from bringing in materials between 10 and 11 a.m. Tuesday - Friday and all day Saturday. We are extremely busy with our citizen customers at these times. Facility staff must be available to citizen customers at all times as they frequently bring in hazardous household materials that require handling assistance.
  • Unloading your recycling
    • At the Brooklyn Park facility, you should expect to unload your own material and place it in the appropriate bin. The first priority for our staff at the Brooklyn Park facility is to assist citizen customers. Staff will direct you to the unloading area and the recycling containers. Staff will assist you with unloading as time permits.  If material is in plastic bags, must be emptied at time of drop-off.  Bags may be separately recycled.
    • The staff at our Bloomington facility will unload your recycling for you. The sorting area at this facility is for staff only.