The paper presents economic and social effects observed when the selective refuse collection project has been implemented in one of the Białystok's housing estates. It was the Astwa Company that started the selective collection and recycling of domestic wastes in the north eastern region of Poland. The structure of municipal refuse recycling was as follows: waste paper (35.8%), broken glass (55.3%), steel scrap (4.3%), aluminium scrap (0.5%) and PET plastic bottles (4.1%). It is worth of mentioning that a decrease in quantity of heterogeneous wastes intended for dumping site as well as the calculable financial effect (i.e. 74400 PLN in gross profit) proved main advantages of the project. Furthermore, both environmental implications relating to the utilisation of secondary materials from waste recycling and social ecological education were of great importance.