Upcycling opportunities shift frequently. Check each opportunity to learn about its current availability.

Explore Mercer County’s hard-to-recycle collection opportunities.

• Go to an Event. Three times a year, look for MCIA Household Hazardous Waste Collection and Electronics Recycling Events, which collect everything from aerosol cans to fluorescent bulbs and televisions from Mercer County residents.
• Download the app. Another way to stay informed of the county’s hard-to-recycle opportunities is to download the Recycle Coach app to your smartphone or bookmark this link.

Take advantage of these local year-round collections for hard-to-recycle items: 

• Plastic Film & Bag Collection: We partner with our local grocery store, McCaffrey’s and several businesses and nonprofits — to collect plastic bags and other plastic films. Learn more here.
• Wireless Alliance Collection: Find Wireless Alliance collection boxes in Monument Hall and 400 Witherspoon for cell phones & tablets (along with their accessories), printer cartridges, and batteries. All batteries from handheld devices are accepted, but please be sure to tape battery ends to prevent electrical discharge during shipping.
• Call2Recycle Collections: Offered at some local hardware stores, the Call2Recycle collection allows you to drop or ship select batteries and cell phones.

Stay tuned for these additional collection opportunities:

• SHREDfest: The Municipality of Princeton is looking to hosts this event every fall.
• Sustainable Princeton Upcycling Events: Several times a year, we collect styrofoam, cell phones, reusable bags, and more. Learn more about our collections here.

Stay informed. Please sign up for our newsletter to receive notices about each of these events.

• Frames from foam? It’s true. We deliver packaging StyrofoamⓇ to Princeton Moulding where it is upcycled into picture frames. That’s not all. Raybob Packaging Inc. in Tullytown, PA also accepts certain types of styrofoam for upcycling.
• Adirondack chairs from plastic bags? Most grocery stores deliver plastic bags and films to TrexⓇ which upcycles them into outdoor furniture and decking material.
• Thanks McCaffrey’s. Since the Plastic Film & Bag Collection began in 2013, the equivalent of over 2 million plastic bags have been collected throughout Princeton for upcycling by McCaffrey’s Food Market.