The city of Northglenn is interested in the protection of our environment. We have programs designed to keep our planet healthy and to encourage residents to recycle on a regular basis.

The city has two single-stream recycling centers. One is located behind City Hall at 11701 Community Center Drive. The other is located in the northwest parking lot at Northwest Open Space off of Ranch Drive and 112th Avenue.

At these centers, you can drop off newspapers, office paper, flattened cardboard, junk mail, magazines, phone books, paperboard, brown paper bags, aluminum and steel cans, pie tins, tin foil, empty aerosol cans, any color of glass container and No. 1 through 7 plastic containers.

All containers and cans deposited at the center must be empty, have the lids removed, and must be rinsed clean and free of food particles. All recyclable items should be deposited in the bins. Please, no plastic bags or shredded paper. Separate waste containers are provided at each site to dispose of empty plastic bags and trash.

Curbside Single Stream Recycling

Sign up for Curbside Recycling

Helping out the environment is now as easy as taking out the trash, as the city has implemented curbside recycling throughout all of Northglenn.

Just a few months into the program, the city is collecting about 125 tons of recyclable materials a month. That means a reduction of 1,500 tons a year of garbage that would have gone to the landfill.

If you would like to participate in the program, please sign up online or call the city at 303-450-4004. This service comes at no extra cost to residents. The city will drop off a recycling polycart at your home. Recycling polycarts have blue lids, while trash polycarts are completely green. (The recycling polycart remains the property of the city.)

How it Works
All materials meant for curbside recycling MUST be placed inside the recycling polycart, which is designated with a blue lid. Like with trash, anything left outside the polycart will not be taken.

The city’s recycling program is processed single-stream, which means there’s no need to separately bundle or bag each kind of material. Just throw everything in the recycling polycart together.

The city will pick up recyclable materials every other week on your regular trash day. A map detailing recycling days is available for download on the right.

On your designated recycling pick up day, treat the recycling polycart just like you would a regular trash polycart. Please place the polycart out on your curb by 7 a.m. with the front facing the street and the handles facing the home. Position polycarts at least 2 feet away from each other and 6 feet away from vehicles.

Don’t worry if a city truck comes by and picks up your trash and not your recyclables (or vice-versa). Another truck should be by later that day to empty the remaining polycarts, as trash and recyclables are handled by separate trucks.

What Can Be Recycled?
The following items are accepted through the city’s curbside recycling program:
• Flattened cardboard
• Magazines
• Office paper
• Junk mail
• Phone books
• Paperboard (cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, etc.)
• Brown paper bags
• Newspapers and inserts
• Glass bottles and jars
• Aluminum cans, foil and pie tins
• Steel cans and empty aerosol cans
• Plastic containers Nos. 1-7

Please limit what you put in the recycling polycart to this list. A more complete and printable list of what can and cannot be recycled through the city’s curbside recycling program is available for download on the right.

Also, please clean off food residue from recyclable materials. If the food can’t be removed, the item should go in the trash.

Green Waste Recycling

The Green Waste Recycling Center (formerly Tree Branch Recycling Center) is located at the Maintenance and Operations Facility, 12301 Claude Court.

The center accepts ALL kinds of green waste, including grass, sod, leaves, trimmings and, of course, tree branches.

Single axle trailers only. No commercial vehicles. All loads must be covered. A driver's license and current utility bill are required for proof of residency.

The center is open every Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday.

Residents can also pick up free mulch from the center (if available) during the above weekend hours.

Residents must carry away the mulch themselves. Tools, such as shovels, are not available for use.

If you have questions regarding the Green Waste Recycling Center, call 303-450-4004.

Curbside Oil and Antifreeze Recycling

The Operations Division will collect up to five gallons of used motor oil or antifreeze per week on your regular trash pick-up day. The chemicals must be placed in clear plastic, one-gallon containers with the resident's address clearly marked on the container. Used milk jugs work well for this purpose. Just set the containers next to your polycart.

Recycling City Motor Oil

Two buildings, the equipment storage and electro-mechanical building at the Water Treatment Plant and the Fleet Maintenance shop, have been saving the taxpayers money by using EPA-approved furnaces, which burn used motor oil.

Maintaining over 250 vehicles and pieces of equipment means accumulating vast amounts of used motor oil. Because of this, the state considers Northglenn a waste oil generator. This designation makes the city eligible to burn used motor oil as a heat source.

So in 1999, the city purchased two EPA-approved oil burning furnaces and oil storage tanks. The percentage of heat needs met by these two special furnaces means that they paid for themselves within four years.

The furnaces are capable of burning No. 1 and No. 2 fuel oil, motor oil, automatic transmission fluid, hydraulic oil, and gear oil as long as it is mixed not to exceed 50 SAE. Oils contaminated with antifreeze, gasoline, naphtha, chlorinated cleaning solvents, or oil additives cannot be used.