City of Hays
The City of Hays Public Works Department will adjust public operating hours for all recycling material drop-offs at the Hays Recycling Center beginning Monday, Nov. 30, 2026.
Under the updated schedule, the drop-off facility at 1780 W. 55th St. will open for Hays refuse customers from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 6:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Friday, a shift designed to improve daily workflow efficiency for Solid Waste Division personnel, helping minimize costs.
Residential recycling collection schedules and sorting guidelines listed at www.haysusa.com/313/Recycling-Program have not changed.
Only the drop-off hours at the W. 55th Street facility are shifting on Nov. 30.
Everything else stays the same.
Residents participating in the residential collection program must sort materials into blue or clear plastic bags rather than dark trash bags and tie the bags securely before placing them two to three feet away from their 95-gallon city polycart on their normal collection day.
Bag 1 is designated for dry mixed paper and cardboard.
That category includes newspapers, magazines, catalogs, and junk mail alongside cardboard egg cartons, cereal boxes, corrugated shipping cartons, and dry food boxes with plastic liners removed. Large cardboard boxes that don't fit inside a blue or clear bag can be broken down flat and stacked next to the bags.
Bag 2 holds co-mingled containers.
Accepted co-mingled items include plastic containers numbered 1 through 7 (such as milk jugs, water jugs, detergent bottles, and yogurt tubs) as well as glass bottles and jars of any color with metal caps removed and placed loose inside the bag, clean aluminum foil, pie tins, aluminum cans, and tin cans.
Certain materials aren't recyclable through the City of Hays system and can contaminate the recycling stream if mixed into blue bags or drop-off bins.
Residents shouldn't include plastic grocery sacks, bread bags, plastic wrap, Styrofoam, packing peanuts, or cigarette butts.
Hazardous or non-recyclable items such as aerosol cans, batteries, ceramics, crystal, mirrors, windowpanes, windshields, light bulbs, Pyrex bakeware, and oil or paint cans must also stay out of recycling bags.
Residents can take household hazardous waste to the Ellis County hazardous waste facility. For more information about City of Hays recycling visit HaysUSA.com.