Our co-mingle recycling gets shipped to Dem-Con Materials Recovery facility in Shakopee, MN. This is a 70,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art processing facility located conveniently off HWY 169. Search for Dem-Con on Youtube for some educational videos on recycling!!
RVS Customers and Recycling
If you are an RVS customer living in the city limits of our Brown County area and would like a Recycling Cart, please call our office to request one.
Rural Brown County residents are asked to haul their recycling to a local recycling drop box:
- Sleepy Eye - Schutz Family Foods Parking Lot
- Springfield - Springfield Market Parking Lot
- New Ulm - Hy-Vee and Cashwise Parking Lots
- Hanska - Near City Shop
Acceptable Recycling Products
- All white and colored writing paper, computer paper, phone books, magazines, and newspapers including inserts, junk mail
- Corrugated cardboard, including cereal, chip and cracker boxes
- DO NOT bundle newspapers in anything other than brown paper bags, NO PLASTIC BAGS
- Tin and aluminum cans: food and pet food cans (labels can be left on), soda and beer cans, clean aluminum foil and foil pans
- Glass: clear, green, brown or blue food and beverage containers
- Wine, beer, other alcohol, soda and salad dressing bottles
- Plastic: #1-#7 plastics except garden planters. Two liter bottles, plastic milk jugs and bleach bottles
Prohibited Items for Recycling
- No garbage or electronics
- No hazardous waste
(paint cans, aerosol cans, syringes) - No scrap metal including wire hangers
- No hot or cold ashes
- No concrete, rocks, gravel or wood
- No snack food bags
(like chips or popcorn bags) - No fast food containers
- No styrofoam, foam cups, foam containers or styrofoam peanuts
- No bubblewrap
- No plastic toys or furniture
- No plastic bags (plastic wrap, dry cleaning bags, softer salt bags)
- No string, twine or cotton balls
- No paper towels, napkins or tissues
- No baby diapers
- No garden product containers such as pesticide containers
- No coffee filters or tea bags
- No waxed paper or waxed anything such as milk containers, drinking boxes, frozen food boxes
- No gum or candy wrappers
- No bathroom waste paper
- No photos, slides or transparencies
Common Recycling Questions
- If your recyclables are in a plastic bag, it increases the chance that they end up in the trash because recycling process cannot process plastic bags.
- Plastic bags are consider a “contaminant” that will be removed at the sorting facility costing time and money. Plastic bags can be dropped off at most local supermarkets for recycling.
- Windows, mirrors, ceramic, kitchen dishes and drinking glasses are NOT recyclable
- Hard cover books CANNOT be recycled. The hard cover must be removed in order to recycle the pages.
- Spiral bound notebooks must have the metal or plastic spiral removed.
Brown County Special Collection Days
2025 Upcoming Events Sponsored by Brown County Solid Waste & Recycling
- May 7th – Fluorescent Bulb Collection
Springfield Market, 101 W Central St. — Springfield from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - May 8th – Fluorescent Bulb Collection
Brown County Fairgrounds, 1513 North State St. — New Ulm from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. - June 5th – Household Hazardous Waste
Brown County Fairgrounds, 1513 North State St. —New Ulm from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. - June 6th - Electronic Waste
Brown County Fairgrounds, 1513 North State St. —New Ulm from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. - June 12th – Household Hazardous Waste
Brown County Highway Garage, 507 Burns Ave. S — Springfield from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Brown County REA Building, 24386 State Hwy 4 —Sleepy Eye from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. - September 11th – Fluorescent Bulb Collection
Brown County Fairgrounds, 1513 North State St. — New Ulm from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. - September 25th – Household Hazardous Waste
Brown County Fairgrounds, 1513 North State St. — New Ulm from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
***More information can be found on the Brown County Recycling website
***There are fees associated with the fluorescent bulb collections and e-waste events.
***Business waste will NOT be accepted at the household hazardous waste collection events.
***For bulb quantities over 100 please call 507-233-6641 to schedule a time to drop off.