Cottage Grove switches to blue recycling carts, ends glass collection
Blue carts replaced Cottage Grove’s old recycling bins today, and glass no longer belongs at the curb. Contamination can bring cart removal and a penalty.
Cottage Grove households and small businesses that set out recycling today have a new rule to follow: the old green or yellow 14-gallon bin is being replaced with a blue 65-gallon roll cart, and glass is out of the curbside stream.
Cottage Grove Garbage Service has started the swap for commingled recycling. When a blue cart is delivered, the older green or yellow bin is removed. The change matters immediately for pickup day because bottles and jars that once went into the old bin now have to go somewhere else.
The new cart comes with tighter sorting rules. Materials in the blue cart must be loose, dry and not compacted, and the load has to match the Uniform Statewide Collection List. Cottage Grove Garbage Service says contamination can trigger removal of the recycle cart and a financial penalty under Oregon law, making careless sorting more than a nuisance.
Glass collection is being phased out and stopped May 31, 2026. For residents who still have glass or used engine oil to get rid of, Lane County directs them to the Cottage Grove transfer station at 78760 Sears Rd. The site’s summer hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the county says it offers a recycling discount per load. Lane County also says the Cottage Grove station accepts recyclable materials dropped off at the site.
The shift in Cottage Grove fits into Oregon’s broader Recycling Modernization Act, which the Legislature passed as Senate Bill 582 in 2021 and which took effect Jan. 1, 2022. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says statewide recycling program changes began in July 2025, after initial acceptance lists were adopted in November 2023, and another rulemaking cycle is still underway in 2025 and 2026.
State rules now push commingled recyclables toward facilities that meet permitting or certification requirements, part of a larger effort to reduce contamination and improve end markets for recovered material. Lane County says residents should use WasteWise resources to track where materials go, while the City of Cottage Grove says residential recycling is administered by Cottage Grove Garbage Service and recyclable materials are also accepted at Lane County transfer sites.
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