Take The #BERECYCLED PLEDGE Over 100,000 people have taken the #BERECYCLED PLEDGE. They’ve committed to taking actions in their home, communities and workplaces. KAB provides the education and tools kits that help pledge-takers take action.
Improve recycling
Most people want to recycle right
KAB's own research names three things holding recycling back: confusion, inconsistent rules, and lack of access. Only the first is a knowledge problem. The other two are structural, and they are why the same program that publishes a quiz also runs drop-off days for communities with no curbside collection at all.
Improve Recycling
Recycling is one of the easiest and most important ways you can stand up for the environment.
The average American generates 4.48 pounds of trash per day, adding to the 262 million tons of trash the United States accumulates per year. American communities recycled and composted nearly 35% of municipal solid waste in 2015, diverting 91 million tons from turning into trash according to the U.S. EPA.
But… about 25% of what we try to recycle is too contaminated to go anywhere but the landfill, which is up from about 7% a decade ago. So it’s important not to recycle but for all of us to maintain good recycling habits.
By educating and engaging individuals to recycle more of the right things the right way—at home, at work and on-the-go, we can help make recycling more economically viable, creating jobs and providing recyclables to manufacture new products and packaging, while continuing to reap greater environmental and community benefits.
LEARN ABOUT AMERiCA RECYCLES DAY!
Take Action Now
Good recycling habits at home
Improving your recycling habits is actually quite easy to do. You can start with these 3 tips from a 30-year waste-management professional:
Look up your local recycling requirements – You want to know where and what you can recycle in your local area – regulations change wildly from state to state and city to city. You can look up local recycling information here.
Keep it simple – Start with the basics: bottles, cans, paper, metal, and plastic. Things like film plastic (grocery bags or dry cleaning bags) tend to require a special recycling process and attempting to recycle them at the curb can create huge problems at the recycling center. Follow common household recycling products on their journey to their new life!
Do not bag your recycling – For the same reason that you don’t want to recycle grocery bags at the curb, attempting to use trash bags for your recycling runs the risk of gumming up the sorting machinery and potentially sabotaging the entire process. Know your local do’s and don’ts to keep things flowing properly.
Activities at planned recycling events include removing litter and debris from roadsides, highways, shorelines, and waterways; planting trees, flowers, and gardens; and cleaning and restoring nature trails, recreation areas, and playgrounds.
Recycle at work
We tend to spend most of our time (and generate a healthy amount of trash) at work. Recycling at work can drastically decrease the amount of waste created when conducting business.
Keep America Beautiful runs the “Recycling at work” program, a voluntary national effort to increase recycling in the workplace. The program offers businesses a 10-step action plan, discounts on recycling bins, and other valuable tools to start and expand a workplace recycling program
Recycle with your community
Get your friends and family to join the party! Join an event near you.
Recycle with your country
You can take action every day to recycle right, but come November each year, Keep America Beautiful, our national affiliates and corporate partners commit to getting out into our communities and recycling.
Where do I go to find out where to recycle something?
We are here to help you figure out when, where, and how to recycle in your community. Visit our Resource page. Our sister website, www.berecycled.org can also direct you to different recycling resources, where you can enter the item type and/or your zip code to find the nearest recycling facility.
Recycling offers an America that is more self-reliant, more beautiful and more sustainable — and the vast majority of Americans are already behind it. Consumers want more products made from recycled materials, businesses are finding new ways to use them, and municipalities want to recycle more to reduce the need for landfills.
The gap is not willingness, it is accuracy. Roughly a quarter of what Americans put in a recycling bin is too contaminated to go anywhere but landfill — up from about 7% a decade ago.
Working within communities
Affiliates work in thousands of towns and cities, bringing municipal, school, business and community leaders together to advance recycling. Over the past decade volunteers have collected 750 million pounds of litter and recyclables, and about 34% of what they collect is now recycled.
Taking statewide action
Keep Texas Recycling focuses on cooperative recycling for rural and underserved communities, and its members have recycled more than 310 million pounds since 1994. In 2021 alone, Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliates recovered over 103 million pounds of recyclable material.
Educating and organizing
The average American generates 4.48 pounds of waste a day, adding to 262 million tons a year. Knowing what your own curbside program actually takes is the highest-leverage thing most people can change.
Partnering for change
Keep America Beautiful works across sectors on what makes a dramatic increase in recycling hard to implement — collection economics, contamination, and end markets for the material once it is sorted.
Recycling
Keeps America Beautiful & Strong
Recycling offers an America that is more self-reliant, more beautiful and sustainable
The vast majority of Americans support recycling. The support goes beyond the act of putting waste into the recycling bin.
- Consumers want more products made from recycled materials.
- Businesses are developing new ways to use recycled materials to meet consumer demand.
- Municipalities want to recycle more, reducing the need for landfills
TEST YOUR RECYCLING SMARTS!
Find out if you’re a recycling whiz or if there’s still some eco-friendly wisdom to pick up by taking our interactive quiz. You might be surprised by what’s recyclable (and what’s not)!
Take the Quiz
RECYCLING
SAVES ENERGY & RESOURCES
We use fewer natural resources such as trees, water and minerals when we recycle. Plus, when you extract and process fewer raw materials, you save lots of energy.
Reduces Landfills
Recycling means less waste, which cuts down on the need for landfills and incinerators.
Reduces Greenhouse Gases
Extracting and processing raw materials causes greenhouse gas emissions– recycling reduces this pollution.
Sustains the Environment
Recycling now helps to create a better planet for future generations
Creates Jobs
Extracting and processing raw materials causes greenhouse gas emissions– recycling reduces this pollution.
Gives Garbage New Life
When you recycle used items, you create something new (which is pretty cool).
IN THE NEWS
Keep America Beautiful Recycling Pilot Shows Strong Results at Grand Teton National Park
Keep America Beautiful Recycling Pilot Shows Strong Results at Grand Teton National Park
Collaboration with TerraCycle® and Grand Teton Lodge Company®, with support from the National Park Foundation helped reduce landfilled waste, improve diversion, and create new recycling options for hard-to-recycle materials.
Inside the Effort to Keep Our National Parks Clean BeautifulInside the Effort to Keep Our National Parks Clean Beautiful
From Cape Cod to Yellowstone, discover how partnerships, education, and smart design are helping visitors reduce their impact and preserve the country’s most treasured landscapes
Keep America Beautiful Honors Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow with 2025 America Recycles Day Hero Award
Marine Corps installation honored for advancing recycling and sustainability across its 5,567-acre desert base
KAB Impact By The Numbers
In 2024, nearly 500,000 hard-working volunteers logged more than 2.6 million volunteer hours throughout over 61,000 events.
What did our combined service to our communities accomplish?
POUNDS
of recycling collected
POUNDS
of litter and debris collected
PLANTS & TREES
planted, helping restore communities
PUBLIC SPACES
cleaned of litter and debris
MILES
of roadways cleaned and beautified
MILES
of waterways cleaned
Partnering for Change
Keep America Beautiful works across sectors to address the challenges in implementing dramatic increases in recycling.
Partner With KABWorking Within Communities
KAB affiliates work in thousands of towns and cities to bring together municipal, school, business and community leaders to advance recycling.
Our affiliates also mobilize tens of thousands of volunteers each year to clear litter from our parks, streets and waterways. Over the past decade, 750 million pounds of litter and recyclables have been collected by KAB volunteers. About 34% of the litter collected is now recycled.
Learn MoreTaking Statewide Action
Advancing Statewide Action
Communities may lack the necessary resources to launch and sustain effective recycling initiatives. Recycling success also requires regional, cross-community coordination. KAB’s statewide affiliates work to bring resources and coordination to local efforts.
Keep Texas Beautiful: Bringing Sectors Together for Rural Recycling
Keep Texas Recycling (KTR) focuses on cooperative opportunities for recycling in rural and underserved communities. KTR’s services include implementation consultation, negotiations with purchasers of recyclables, community outreach and grant writing services. KTR members have recycled over 310 million pounds since 1994.
Keep California Beautiful: Educating the Next Generation
The K-12 Recycling Challenge promotes and encourages recycling across California. The competition between schools and recycling coordinators resulted in over 7.7 million pounds of recyclables collected in the past five years.
Keep Georgia Beautiful: Creating Jobs Through Recycling
In 2021, Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliates recovered over 103 million pounds of recyclable materials. Building its directory of collectors, brokers, processors and end users, KGB actively supports the development of the market for recyclable materials.
Working Together On Recycling
Educating And Organizing
At a national level, we are working to increase the commitment to recycling through educating and organizing.
Learn more about some of our national education campaigns below:
America Recycles Day®
A national event that brings awareness, appreciation and renewed commitment to recycling in the United States! Learn how you can be part of this national day of action.
Take the recycling quiz
Do you know the best ways to reuse materials and save natural resources? Test your knowledge and learn more, take the Recycling Reality Check Quiz today!
Cigarette Litter Prevention Program
Since 2002, our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette litter, has been implemented in over 1,800 communities, reducing cigarette litter by HALF within six months, on average.
Get StartedTest Your Knowledge
Discover MoreRecycling Resources
Looking for additional information on recycling? Whether you’re an individual looking to find recycling near you, a teacher looking for resources, or a corporation seeking direction on how to be more sustainable, take a look at our resource page!
Learn more and Get StartedTake Action Now
Affiliate Network
Individual Action Center
Partners for Change
KAB Impact By The Numbers
In 2024, nearly 500,000 hard-working volunteers logged more than 2.6 million volunteer hours throughout over 61,000 events. What did our combined service to our communities accomplish?
26,840,000 POUNDS
Of recycling collected
12,835,000 POUNDS
Of litter and debris collected
859,565 PLANTS & TREES
Planted, helping restore communities
76,394 PUBLIC SPACES
Cleaned of litter and debris
20,977 MILES
Of roadways cleaned and beautified
4,112 MILES
Of waterways cleaned
The movement, measured
What gets diverted
1,706,858
Pounds recycled
On one America Recycles Day
521
Recycling events
Held for that single day
261,000
Pounds of filters
Diverted from landfill since 2014
Source: Keep America Beautiful — America Recycles Day 2021 results; cigarette-filter recycling total to 2024 (kab.org)
Three ways in
Learn what your bin takes
One wrong item can spoil a whole load
Which is why recycling right beats recycling more. Ten minutes learning your local rules is the highest-value thing most people can do.