Latest audit finds 3,700 pounds of trash in Lawrence recycling carts 

The City of Lawrence’s latest recycling audit found that contamination in randomly selected residential recycling carts increased to 17.5%, up from the 15.1% rate established from the Fall 2025 audit.

The City conducts recycling audits twice a year to better understand what is being placed in residential recycling carts. During an audit, materials from carts on selected routes are collected and reviewed at the Material Recovery Facility operated by Republic.

The audit measures how much of the material is recyclable and how much is “contamination”, meaning trash, prohibited items, or materials that cannot be processed through the recycling system.

The contamination rate set by these audits determines how much the City will pay to process our recyclable materials until the next audit.

Findings from our latest audit
This latest audit showed that Lawrence has more work to do to keep the recycling stream clean. The audit included more than 3,700 pounds of pre-sort trash, including bagged recyclables, trash, food waste, and nested boxes. This means that 3,700 pounds of trash was removed from the randomly selected recycling carts before the materials were even sorted.

Staff also found batteries, vape pens, propane and CO2 bottles, car parts, large chunks of concrete, dirty materials, yarn, VHS tapes, rope, large plastic tubs, metal pots, and other prohibited materials (see image below). The audit also found more than 180 pounds of straws and plastic cutlery, which are not accepted in the City’s curbside recycling program.

During this latest audit, yarn melted during processing and became difficult to remove from the belts that move materials through the facility.

How contamination affects costs
Recycling contamination also creates direct financial impacts for the community.

If Lawrence’s recycling contamination rate is over 10%, the City pays an additional surcharge on each ton of recyclables processed at the Material Recovery Facility. If the contamination rate is over 15%, the City pays another surcharge on each ton.

With the latest audit showing a 17.5% contamination rate, Lawrence remains above both surcharge thresholds.

What residents can do now
The most important rule is simple: if you are not sure an item belongs in the blue cart, check first or leave it out. Often, it is better for residents to throw away items they are unsure about instead of placing them in their blue cart.

Residents should not place batteries, vapes, propane tanks, pressurized canisters, scrap metal, concrete, cords, rope, yarn, textiles, plastic tubs, food waste, dirty materials, bagged recyclables, straws, plastic cutlery, or other prohibited materials in the recycling cart.

Additionally, “nested materials” (items placed inside of other items, such as filling a cardboard box with cans, papers, boxes, and other materials) can can contaminate good recyclables, make sorting less effective, and increase the amount of material that cannot be recovered. Residents should empty and flatten all cardboard boxes before placing them in their recycling carts.

Residents can use the City’s Recyclable Materials Directory to look up local options for materials that are not accepted in curbside recycling. The current Recyclable Materials Directory is available at lawrenceks.gov/recycling.

A better recycling search tool is coming
The City is also preparing to launch an updated recycling and disposal search tool in the coming months. The new tool will replace the current Recyclable Materials Directory with improved search functionality and a new name to make it easier for residents to find the right option for different materials.

More information will be shared when the new tool is ready. Until then, residents can continue using the current Recyclable Materials Directory at lawrenceks.gov/recycling.

Contact: City Communications, citycommunications@lawrenceks.gov