How to Recycle Your Old Garden Hose

Do not place a garden hose in the recycling.

Neighbor Dave knows you shouldn’t place a garden hose in the recycling, but he wanted to know why.

Why Can’t I Place a Garden Hose in the Recycling?

Neighbor Dave’s Question: “Why can’t I place a garden hose in the recycling?”

My Answer: “Shoe laces and bicycle chains!”

Have you ever wrapped your shoe laces around your bicycle chain? Well, what happened?

Your ride came to an unexpected end, didn’t it? Maybe you even toppled over the handlebars.

After that surprising and somewhat traumatizing jolt, you recovered, regained composure, and then focused on your new problem: untangling your shoelace from the chain. Can you untangle it? Do you need someone to help you? Should you cut the laces out?

These are the same questions recycling centers face when a garden hose is placed in the recycling, but on a much larger scale.

Garden Hoses Ruin Equipment

Garden hoses wrap around hundreds of spinning discs and rotating conveyors at a recycling facility, bringing it to a screeching halt. In just one year at a Rumpke recycling facility, for example, our discs and conveyors came to a screeching halt nearly 700 times. . . and that’s despite our dedicated efforts to remove tanglers before they cause problems.

Keep "Tanglers" Out of Your Recycling

In the recycling world, a garden hose is called a “tangler,” and tanglers are bad news for recycling facilities.

Other tanglers include bed sheets, clothing, cords, belts, dog leashes, rope and chains. Tanglers should never be placed in the recycling.

So please, make your recycling count this spring season – keep garden hoses and other tanglers out of the recycling.