• Services
• Garbage
• Recycling
  • What to Recycle & Why
  • Recycling for Residents
  • Recycling for Businesses
  • Drop-off Instructions
  • Recycling Beyond the Curbside Bin
  • What Happens to Recyclables?
• Yard Waste
• Food Waste
• Hazardous Waste
• Wastewater
• Biosolids

Recycling Beyond the Curbside Bin

Treecycling

Resource Renew and other local sites provide drop off locations for your real holiday trees. We recycle the trees as compost. Please visit our Treecycling page for more information.

Film Plastic (Plastic Bags)

The Resource Renew Materials Recovery Center, Household Hazardous Waste, and rural recycling drop-off sites in the City of Rice Lake and surrounding townships accept film plastic for recycling.

Accepted:

• Grocery bags, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags, stretch/shrink wrap, plastic wrap from paper products (paper towels, etc.), bubble wrap, salt bags with rigid plastic handles removed, retail bags with string ties or rigid handles removed, zipper-type food storage bags.
• For items not listed, recyclable film plastics pass these tests:
  • Stretches with the poke of a finger
  • Doesn’t rip or tear when stretched
  • Doesn’t sound “crinkly”
• All items must be clean and dry.

Learn more at  NexTrex.com/educate and plasticfilmrecycling.org.

Not Accepted:

• Soil or mulch bags, black plastic bags, plastic food containers or plastic bottles, salad bags, meat wrap, 6-pack rings, PPE (gloves, masks), pool covers, boat wrap, agricultural wrap, lamination film, vinyl products (i.e. shower curtains, tablecloths), floral wrap, bedding packaging, frozen food bags, chip bags, candy wrappers, mesh or net bags, woven pet food & feed bags.

Other local retailers also offer plastic bag recycling containers. Accepted item lists vary by facility. Inquire at grocery stores (Whole Foods Co-Op, Super One, Cub Foods, and more) and department stores (Target, Kohl’s, and JC Penney) to learn more about their film plastic recycling programs.

Holiday Lights & Electrical Cords

Recycle your unwanted holiday light strings and any electrical cords that no longer work—FREE.  You can bring them to WLSSD’s Materials Recovery Center all year round.

Small Appliances

Recycle your small appliances such as vacuum cleaners, toaster ovens, irons, blenders and more! Valuable materials are recovered when you bring these items to Resource Renew’s Materials Recovery Center for recycling. The fee is just $2 each.

Recycle on the Go at Area Gas Stations

Duluth, Hermantown, and Proctor area gas stations provide on-site recycling for beverage bottles and cans. Look for the large bottle-shaped bins near the fuel pumps and at store entrances when you stop in for fuel or a snack.

Clothing and other Textiles

Textiles like clothing, towels and more can be recycled! Keep these items out of the landfill by donating to area charitable or thrift stores or look for collection boxes in area parking lots serviced by Disabled American Veterans. Textile recycling is also available at Resource Renew’s Materials Recovery Center.