The City of Fort Worth will be celebrating America Recycles Day on Saturday, November 16 from 9 a.m.-1.p.m. in the LaGrave Field Parking Lot.

During the event, residents can bring up to five 40-pound boxes of paper, up to four tires, light bulbs, batteries and more to recycle. You can also bring donations for Goodwill.

Originally called Shred and Recycle Day, the event started in Fort Worth in 2005. Officially, it began nationwide in 1997, founded by the National Recycling Coalition.

“This event started as a paper shredding event for people wanting secure document shredding,” said Debbie Branch, commercial recycling and Keep Fort Worth Beautiful Coordinator for Fort Worth.

Since its origin, this event has gained notable popularity.

In 2005, 800 Fort Worth households participated, but in 2012, the number increased to 1,380, Branch said.

Since the name change from Shred and Recycle day, Fort Worth has broadened what is deemed as recyclable.

“Last year was the first year we added additional items (electronics, batteries, light bulbs, and tires) for recycling,” Branch said. “But paper shredding was still the most popular service people came for.”

As aforementioned, Goodwill is looking for items like clothing, furniture and books that residents might want to donate as well. Goodwill takes almost all household items except mattresses and large appliances, Branch said.

The City of Fort Worth is hoping to keep recycling in the forefront of resident’s minds on more than just this one day.

“Fort Worth’s residential recycling rate is 23% and our goal is 40%, so while we’re grateful for how far we’ve come, we want to go further and have more residents participate in the recycling program,” Branch said.

For more information on what to recycle and how to recycle correctly every day, visit Fort Worth’s recycling page.