City of St. Louis Ends Alley Recycling, Grows Trash Collection Efforts

Today, Mayor Cara Spencer announced that the City of St. Louis has ended alley recycling due to ineffectiveness and high costs and will instead grow its number of recycling drop-off locations by 50%, increase its number of alley refuse dumpsters by 100%, and commit additional staff to the collection of trash.

Recycling costs the City almost five times more per ton than trash. Yet, more than half of the recycling collected in St. Louis this year is rejected at the recycling center due to contamination. For those materials, St. Louis taxpayers have been paying the full cost of recycling without receiving any of the benefits.

Meanwhile, many St. Louisans have experienced overflowing dumpsters in their alleys as the City has struggled to run some of its recycling and trash routes as frequently as needed. By ending alley recycling, the work hours previously dedicated to alley recycling are now focused on trash collection. Additionally, all alley recycling dumpsters will now serve as trash dumpsters, doubling the trash collection capacity in alleys.

“St. Louisans deserve better than having trash overflowing behind their homes, and they deserve a government that is honest about what it can deliver,” said Mayor Spencer. “By making these changes, we end the costly and ineffective effort that alley recycling had become, despite the good intentions, and we improve our ability to collect trash, which is one of the basic and most crucial services our City is tasked with delivering.”

St. Louisans who wish to recycle can bring recyclable materials to one of the city’s 25 drop-off recycling locations, most of which are open 24/7. To enable more residents to take advantage of this program, the City will grow the number of locations by 50% over the next 90 days, with the goal of having a drop-off location within 1 mile of all homes.

Roll cart recycling, which has a lower contamination rate and is therefore more effective than alley recycling, will continue. Bulk pick-up and yard waste collection will continue on all routes.

Alley recycling dumpsters should now be used as additional trash dumpsters and will be marked with signage to reflect this change. To further improve trash route completion rates, the City is evaluating possible workforce changes and collaborating with Washington University in St. Louis on a grant-funded equipment modernization project to enhance route effectiveness.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the City spent approximately $1.7 million on recycling disposal fees. Of the 8,918 tons of recyclables collected, approximately 4,252 tons were rejected, costing taxpayers approximately $633,500 in avoidable expenses, in addition to the costs associated with collecting those materials.

Providing trash, recycling, yard waste, and bulk pick-up services currently costs the City $28 million annually, with the revenue from the $14 refuse collection and other fees covering $16.5 million. Tax dollars cover the additional costs. As a result, the refuse collection fee will remain unchanged.