Earth911 Recycling Locator Scraper

Scrape Earth911 — the largest US recycling locator, covering drop-off centers, curbside programs, retail take-back programs, and mail-in programs for 379 material types (electronics, batteries, hazardous waste, plastics by resin code, construction debris, and more). Search by material and ZIP code / city, filter by radius, distance, and result type. HTTP-only, no auth, no proxy required.

What this actor does

• Full material taxonomy — 379 searchable materials: 369 specific items (e.g. Cell Phones, Motor Oil, #1 Plastic Bags, Lithium-ion Batteries) plus 10 broad categories (Electronics, Automotive, Batteries, Glass, etc.) that each independently return real results
• Nationwide coverage — search near any US ZIP code or City, ST
• Adjustable radius — 5 / 10 / 25 / 50 / 100 miles
• Result type filter — drop-off locations only, programs only (curbside/retail take-back), mail-in programs only, or all
• Extra filters — max distance, minimum materials accepted
• Optional deep enrichment — fetch each result's detail page for hours, website, exact coordinates, last-verified date, description/instructions, per-material caveats, and the full untruncated materials list
• Empty fields are omitted — a field only appears when real data was found

Output per recycling center / program

• name — business or program name
• listingType — location (physical drop-off site) or program (curbside/retail/mail-in)
• serviceType — e.g. Location, Curbside Program, Mail-in Program, Retail Take-Back Program
• distanceMiles — distance from the searched location (drop-off locations only)
• phone
• addressLine1, addressLine2, city, state, zip, fullAddress
• materialsAccepted[] — materials this center/program accepts
• materialsAcceptedCount — total count (may exceed the listed array length if truncated on the search results page; use fetchDetails for the full list)
• materialsTruncated — true if materialsAccepted[] was cut short on the results page
• hours — real operating hours (drop-off locations), or genuine call-center/support hours for a program (e.g. "Monday-Friday 7am-6pm CT") when the source publishes them; only present when fetchDetails: true
• website, lastVerified, latitude, longitude — only present when fetchDetails: true
• description — free-text summary of what the listing does/accepts (most common on programs, but some locations publish one too) — only present when fetchDetails: true and the listing publishes one
• programInstructions — actionable usage instructions for a program (e.g. "Please call to schedule a pick-up.") — programs only, only present when fetchDetails: true and real instructions exist
• materialNotes — object mapping material name → a listing-specific caveat for that material (e.g. "This site does not accept mattresses, box springs, air mattresses or waterbeds.") — only present when fetchDetails: true and at least one material has a caveat
• sourceUrl — the Earth911 detail page for this listing
• searchMaterial, searchLocation, searchRadiusMiles — echo of the search inputs used
• recordType: "recyclingCenter", scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
material	string (select)	Electronics	Material to recycle — 379 options
location	string	90210	US ZIP code or City, ST
radiusMiles	string (select)	25	Search radius: 5 / 10 / 25 / 50 / 100
resultType	string (select)	all	all / locations / programs / mailin
maxDistanceMiles	int	–	Drop results farther than this (locations only)
minMaterialsAccepted	int	–	Drop results accepting fewer materials than this
fetchDetails	boolean	false	Fetch each result's detail page for hours/website/coordinates/full materials list
maxItems	int	30	Hard cap on emitted records (1–500)

Examples

Example: electronics recycling near a ZIP code

{
  "material": "Electronics",
  "location": "90210",
  "radiusMiles": "25",
  "maxItems": 30
}

Example: battery drop-off locations only, within 10 miles

{
  "material": "Lithium-ion Batteries",
  "location": "10001",
  "radiusMiles": "10",
  "resultType": "locations",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: mail-in programs for hazardous items, with full details

{
  "material": "Medications",
  "location": "Chicago, IL",
  "radiusMiles": "50",
  "resultType": "mailin",
  "fetchDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 15
}

Example: plastics recycling by resin code

{
  "material": "#1 Plastic Beverage Bottles",
  "location": "Seattle, WA",
  "radiusMiles": "25",
  "maxItems": 25
}

Use cases

• ESG / sustainability compliance tools — verify recycling availability for reported materials
• Consumer apps — "where can I recycle this?" lookups by ZIP code
• Corporate recycling programs — research nearby drop-off options for office e-waste, batteries, and hazardous materials
• Municipal / waste management research — audit local recycling infrastructure by material type
• Retail take-back program discovery — find manufacturer or retailer mail-in programs for a given material

FAQ

What is the data source? Earth911.com's public recycling locator (search.earth911.com), a nationwide directory of recycling centers and programs. This actor is an independent third-party tool and is not affiliated with Earth911.

What's the difference between a "location" and a "program"? A location is a physical drop-off site with a street address and distance from your search location. A program is an ongoing service (curbside pickup, retail take-back, or mail-in) that isn't tied to a single address, so it has no distanceMiles.

Why do some results have a materialsAcceptedCount larger than materialsAccepted.length? The Earth911 search-results page truncates long materials lists (e.g. "+28 more"). Set fetchDetails: true to fetch the full untruncated list for every result.

Why is phone sometimes missing? Earth911 marks unlisted phone numbers as "No Phone" on the source site — this actor omits the field entirely instead of pushing that placeholder text.

How fresh is the data? Earth911 listings show a "last verified" date on their own detail pages (only fetched when fetchDetails: true). Some listings are verified more recently than others; this actor surfaces whatever Earth911 currently publishes.

Does this actor need a proxy or login? No. Earth911's locator is fully public. The actor makes plain HTTP requests with no authentication and no proxy.

Can I search by material category instead of a specific item? Yes — the material dropdown includes both specific items (e.g. Cell Phones) and 10 broad categories (e.g. Electronics, Batteries), which return a broader set of matching results. Two of Earth911's own category panel headings, "Hazardous" and "Household", are intentionally excluded — they're UI grouping labels only and return zero results as a search term on Earth911 itself; the specific items under them (e.g. Household Cleaners, Household Furniture) are unaffected and included.

What are materialNotes, description, and programInstructions? With fetchDetails: true, some listings publish extra caveats beyond a flat materials list — e.g. "This site does not accept mattresses, box springs, air mattresses or waterbeds" for one specific material, a program-level description of what it does and how, or actionable instructions like "Please call to schedule a pick-up." These are only included when Earth911 actually publishes that text for the listing.