Tag:amenity=recycling

amenity = recycling
Description
A container or centre that accepts waste for recycling.
Rendering in openstreetmap-carto
Group: Waste Processing
Used on these elements
Useful combination
operator=* website=* ref=* name=* (not for containers)
Wikidata
Q47520309
Status: approved
Tools for this tag
taginfo · CH · CZ · FR · GB · HU · IE · IN · JP · PL overpass-turbo

Recycling is used for a container or centre that accepts waste for recycling, and donations of used goods.

This tag is for sites where waste of specific types is accepted to be reused or recycled - if the site is for disposing of arbitrary waste, consider a different tag as listed under Waste Processing.

Recycling type

To further refine the type of recycling use, we should add the recycling_type=* key.

• recycling_type=container: a recycling container.
  • recycling_type=container + location=underground for an underfloor-container
• recycling_type=centre: a recycling centre. Centres are dedicated areas for collecting a wider range of recyclable household materials. Often they are operated by one or more people in a dedicated role.

Materials

Most recycling sites only accept specific types of waste, therefore the materials you're able to recycle or donate should be described. Please expand this list. If there is at least one of the following materials tagged, the default value for the rest is no. For example, if a feature is tagged amenity=recycling+recycling:glass_bottles=yes then recycling:aluminium=no is implied.

There is also implied yes value for all more detailed values for subgroups. For example amenity=recycling+recycling:scrap_metal=yes implies recycling:aluminium=yes (as subgroup) and recycling:glass_bottles=no (as not mentioned and not a subgroup).

Tag	Description
recycling:aerosol_cans=yes/no	Home and DIY (etc.) aerosol cans (e.g. hairspray, spray paint, etc.)
recycling:animal_waste=yes/no
recycling:aluminium=yes/no
recycling:bags=yes/no	All kinds of bags.
recycling:batteries=yes/no	Household batteries (e.g. D-cell, 9-volt). Does not imply larger batteries are accepted. There are a handful of uses of recycling:car_batteries.
recycling:belts=yes/no	All belts related to clothing.
recycling:beverage_cartons=yes/no	Carton package (multi-materials, e.g. Tetra Pak) for drink and food – possible duplicate of more frequently used recycling:cartons; see above
recycling:bicycles=yes/no
recycling:books=yes/no	Donation of books
recycling:cans=yes/no	Many places are tagged as accepting cans without accepting metal objects in general
recycling:car_batteries=yes/no	Some facilities will take household batteries but not car batteries
recycling:cardboard=yes/no	In about 90% cases of recycling:cardboard=yes it duplicates recycling:paper=yes
recycling:cartons=yes/no	Paper based cartons (for drink or food). Likely to be data of low value due to mixing paper cartons, multi-material cartons like Tetra Pak by various mappers.
recycling:cds=yes/no	Compact discs and DVDs
recycling:chipboard=yes/no
recycling:christmas_trees=yes/no	Place where old christmas trees are collected, use with opening_hours=Jan 01-Jan 15 or so.
recycling:clothes=yes/no	Donation of clothes, including shoes (e.g. Humana and others)
recycling:coffee_capsules=yes/no	Shows if recycling facilities take coffee capsules
recycling:computers=yes/no
recycling:cooking_oil=yes/no
recycling:cork=yes/no
recycling:drugs=yes/no	Expired drugs.
recycling:electrical_items=yes/no	Larger electrical items like fridges, freezers, dishwashers, etc. (See also recycling:white_goods below, which tends to mean fridges, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, ovens in British English; we'd probably choose recycling:electrical_items or recycling:small_appliances for appliances like TVs, vacuum cleaners, microwaves and anything smaller)
recycling:engine_oil=yes/no
recycling:fluorescent_tubes=yes/no
recycling:foil=yes/no	Kitchen foil/ tin foil
recycling:food=yes/no	community fridge to help reduce food waste
recycling:furniture=yes/no	Piece of furniture or furnishing (ES: mueble)
recycling:gas_bottles=yes/no	Pressurized gas bottles such as those for camping propane and butane. These are often prohibited elsewhere (See Coleman's Green Key program).
recycling:glass=yes/no	Implies recycling:glass_bottles=yes, but there's no standard yet for indicating which of the trickier types (drinking glasses, window glass, light bulb glass, tempered glass, borosilicate glass, Pyrex) are accepted. Note that recycling containers labelled glass often are supposed to be used for solely soda–lime–silica glass, what excludes nearly all "tricky" glass and is tagged with rather recycling:glass_bottles.
recycling:glass_bottles=yes/no	Includes jars but not any of the trickier types listed above under recycling:glass Note that typical recycling container labelled "glass" is not supposed to be used for many items made of glass. It is often quite hidden in recommendations or regulations that actually just bottles and jars are allowed. For example borosilicate glass (sold under brand names such as Pyrex, Borosil, Duran) or other glasses are excluded, in effect excluding glassware, lighting bulbs, window glass, mirrors, spectacles, reagent bottles and more.
recycling:green_waste=yes/no	In practice it is synonym of recycling:garden_waste=yes/no. Differences, if any, will vary across mappers and location.
recycling:garden_waste=yes/no	In practice it is synonym of recycling:green_waste=yes/no. Differences, if any, will vary across mappers and location.
recycling:hazardous_waste=yes/no	Common house hold hazardous waste (paints, chemicals, asbestos).
recycling:hardcore=yes/no	Possible duplicate of more frequently used recycling:rubble; see below.
recycling:low_energy_bulbs=yes/no
recycling:magazines=yes/no	Over 90% of uses repeats recycling:paper=yes, but some places are tagged as allowing newspapers without allowing paper
recycling:metal=yes/no	All sorts of metal – possible duplicate of more frequently used recycling:scrap_metal; see below.
recycling:mobile_phones=yes/no
recycling:newspaper=yes/no	Over 90% of uses repeats recycling:paper=yes, but some places are tagged as allowing newspapers without allowing paper
recycling:organic=yes/no	Organic remains of food that are recycled into biogas or compost. Assuming that this tag definition was intended this tag is likely to change meaning, as nothing in its value excludes organic non-food trash.
recycling:paint=yes/no
recycling:pallets=yes/no	Wooden shipping pallets
recycling:paper=yes/no
recycling:paper_packaging=yes/no	Over 90% of uses repeats recycling:paper=yes, but some places are tagged as allowing paper packagings without allowing paper
recycling:pens=yes/no	Writing instruments, usually plastic pens
recycling:PET=yes/no	This usually includes PET (or PETE: Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles
recycling:plasterboard=yes/no	This usually includes all loose plaster, based on Gypsum
recycling:plastic=yes/no	In the UK at least, often centres/containers will distinguish between (broadly) hard plastics (typically ones that shatter), soft plastics (typically bendy food packaging; black food plastic may be an exception), carrier bags, and all other stretchy plastics. Many will accept only a subset of these, so try to pick more specific categories if you can.
recycling:plastic_bags=yes/no
recycling:plastic_bottles=yes/no	Often they allow bottles but not other plastic items! There is significant number (over 6k as of September 2019) places tagged as accepting plastic bottles, without accepting broader plastics
recycling:plastic_packaging=yes/no	Other packaging made out of plastic. There is significant number (over 4k as of September 2019) places tagged as accepting plastic packaging, without accepting broader plastics
recycling:polyester=yes/no
recycling:polystyrene_foam=yes/no	Polystyrene foam. Can be styrofoam, generic extruded polystyrene foam, or generic expanded polystyrene foam.
recycling:printer_cartridges=yes/no	See below for more specific restrictions, not all centres do both ink and toner (e.g. Ross on Wye)
recycling:printer_toner_cartridges=yes/no
recycling:printer_inkjet_cartridges=yes/no
recycling:rubble=yes/no	Bricks and building rubble; see also recycling:hardcore above.
recycling:scrap_metal=yes/no
recycling:sheet_metal=yes/no
recycling:small_appliances=yes/no
recycling:small_electrical_appliances=yes/no	Small electrical items such as computer mice, keyboards, electric razors, pocket radios, hair dryers, irons, electric kettles, small quantities of electric cables, etc.
recycling:styrofoam=yes/no	Typically refers to expanded styrofoam, such as styrofoam box or packing material
recycling:tyres=yes/no
recycling:tv_monitor=yes/no
recycling:waste=yes/no	General waste container (black bags) (don't use this if the waste is not recycled, use a tag like amenity=waste_disposal or amenity=waste_basket instead)
recycling:white_goods=yes/no	In British English this only means fridges, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, ovens; see also recycling:electrical_items and recycling:small_appliances above, which might be better suited for appliances like TVs, vacuum cleaners, microwaves and anything smaller)
recycling:wood=yes/no
recycling:shoes=yes/no

Useful combinations

• operator=* - responsible organization
• opening_hours=* - useful for tagging opening hours centres or usage period of containers

Examples

Recycling container	Underground container	Recycling centre
recycling_type=container	recycling_type=container location=underground	recycling_type=centre

Related tags

• amenity=waste_basket - A single small container for depositing garbage that is easily accessible for pedestrians.
• amenity=waste_disposal - A medium size disposal bin, typically for bagged up household or industrial waste. May be in the street, but not primarily for use by passing pedestrians.
• amenity=waste_transfer_station: A location that accepts, consolidates and transfers waste in bulk, usually from government or commercial collections.
• landuse=landfill: A site for the disposal of waste materials by burial.
• shop=second_hand: A shop that sells second-hand products, possible collected through donation containers.

See also

• Recycling Quality Assurance
• Waste Processing - Page describing all tags related to waste management.
• WikiProject CircularEconomy - A page explaining how to describe all circular economy : second_hand shop, re-use, container, compost, public bookcase, shop without packaging, self repair workshop...

References

Related terms: ‹ recycling › ‹ recover › ‹ salvage ›