Declutter Right this weekend in GE!
This is a banner waste weekend in Glen Ellyn. Here are some tips to navigate the Recycling Extravaganza and the Unlimited Refuse Pickup to minimize impact on our planet!
by Karin Daly Co-Founder, Go Green Glen Ellyn
This year, the Recycling Extravaganza and the Unlimited Refuse Collection are coordinated for the same weekend. This allows residents to make the choice to RECYCLE FIRST!
First step, look around your house, yard and garage to identify thing that can be recycled at the Recycling Extravaganza. The 2026 Glen Ellyn Recycling Extravaganza will take place Saturday, April 11 from 9 am to 1 pm at the College of DuPage, Parking Lot 6 (College Road west of Lambert Road). From someone who has worked her fair share of RE's the best time to come is in the middle -- it is most crowded at the beginning and the end.
If you have never been, you drive your car through to the different stations, and volunteers or workers will take it right out of your car, you don't even have to get out!
You can find the full list of thing that can be recycled HERE.
Check around for these items to recycle: Electronics, textiles, American flags, books, CDs, medical equipment, polystyrene, furniture, scrap metal and more.
They are NOT accepting paint, light bulbs, batteries, hazardous waste, or prescription drugs. Check out Glen Ellyn's guide for disposing for these items and more HERE
Please bring any bike you want to get rid of to this event as they will be reconditioned or used for parts by Working Bikes which donates bikes locally and abroad and keeping them out of the landfill or scrap yard.
You can also bring personal papers to shred but make sure you limit yourself to papers that have important personal info (eg social security number) as shredded paper can no longer be recycled.
You and are encouraged to bring nonperishable food and household items for the Glen House Food Pantry.
Special notice from Go Green --we are sponsoring an Eco Ship collection -- so please bring the packing and shipping materials you have been saving as well. HERE is list of what they take and what they don't.
🗑️🗑️🗑️
Now, on to Unlimited Refuse Collection in Glen Ellyn (if you have Groot as a hauler and live in GE). It will take place the week of April 13, 2026. During this special collection week, residents may place additional non-recyclable household items at the curb for disposal. Items should be placed out by 7 am Monday morning (and may be placed at the curb as early as 4:30 pm Sunday).
Remember, whatever you put out will very likely go in the landfill, despite the best efforts of curb shoppers, so dispose carefully!
The first step is to check for anything recyclable and go back to step one above!
If you have a lot of sporting equipment, we would love for you to hang on to that for our July SportSwap.
If you have usable furniture that you can't take to the RE, please consider Jubilee Furniture or Sharing Connection.
And if you have a bicycle and put it on the curb, it will very likely be picked up by the metal scrappers and never ridden again. If you can't donate it at the RE, there is a local bike shop called Retro Glow in Lombard that will take donations to refurbish or to use for parts. They do a lot for the community and locally owned. If you need a bike, new or used, they are the place!
If you have lot of clothes or other useful household stuff, our favorite thrift store is also in Lombard, called Purple Manatee. They will take most everything, but check their list. It is a better option than Goodwilll as we know they will recycle what they cannot sell.
As for curb shopping, let's make that a perfectly acceptable thing! We follow a curb shopper on Instagram in Hinsdale (the rich goodwill) who furnishes her home and rehomes things to others for free. It's fun to see what she picks up each week!
So hit the street Sunday night (and really throughout the week as it take Groot all week) and see what treasures you might pick up! GGGE'ers have been known to grab recyclable things to bring home (but this makes our husbands a bit cranky as our own garages fill up!)
