Do recyclables in Mecklenburg County end up in landfills? It depends on the materials
Data show that citizens of Mecklenburg County are doing their part to protect the environment by recycling.
According to the latest North Carolina Recycling Performance data, Mecklenburg County ranked 14th out of 100 counties in the state that recycles the most, with 186 pounds of recyclables generated per person annually.
“We have more people staying home and doing telework these days, so we’re getting more in residential recycling than we did a couple of years ago,” said Jeff Smithberger, the director of Mecklenburg County’s Solid Waste Management Program. “We’re up about 4% in recyclables.”
Although the county has seen an increase in the number of recyclables from residents, some of the things you may put in your recycling bins cannot be reused.
How many people recycle in Charlotte?
Around 226,000 homeowners in Charlotte use the city’s curbside recycling pickup, City of Charlotte Solid Waste Deputy Director Ellen Price said. Multi-family units can also elect to have their recyclables collected by the city.
“We’re really trying to work with apartment owners associations and residents to make our facilities, where people can come and drop things off, more convenient for the community because people really want to recycle,” said Jeff Smithberger, the director of Mecklenburg County’s Solid Waste Management Program. “It’s something that most folks have ingrained in them, and it’s something they want to do.”
Mecklenburg County does not collect trash, Smithberger said, but it processes around 80,000 tons of recyclables annually from Charlotte and other nearby towns like Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius and Mint Hill.
What can I recycle?
The most common items accepted at recycling centers are paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and jugs, Smithberger said. However, items can only be recycled if they meet certain criteria.
“We need things to be clean, loose and dry,” said Smithberger. “If you have something that’s dirty or soiled, it cannot be turned into a new product.”
What can’t I recycle?
According to Smithberger, the county has encountered a number of items people place in their recycling bins that cannot be recycled.
“Probably the biggest incorrect thing we see is plastic bags people used to gather their recyclables,” he said. “When things are not loose, our machinery has problems separating them, and sometimes the bags get tangled up.”
There have also been instances of soiled diapers, rocks and styrofoam containers inside recycling bins in Mecklenburg County, Smithberger said.
Here are some other things you shouldn’t recycle:
Paper plates and disposable cups
Napkins
Food trays
Takeout food containers
Batteries
Scrap metal
Other non-recyclable household garbage
Items like auto parts, cell phones and clothing should be taken to one of the county’s full-service drop off locations.
Are all bottles recyclable?
Although plastic bottles are some of the most common recyclables, not all of them can be turned into usable materials.
Over the years, drink manufacturers have altered the design of their products to make them more attractive to consumers. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in use of non-recyclable plastics, according to Smithberger.
“They care about selling the thing, but they don’t care about the second nature of what happens, which is disposal, so we try to work with manufacturers,” Smithberger said, explaining that the solid waste department works closely with Charlotte-based company Sealed Air to promote the use of recyclable materials. “If you are buying something like a Keurig coffee cup that generally can’t be recycled, you can switch your buying habits to something that would be a more sustainable type of product.”
A good rule of thumb to follow is to only recycle plastic bottles that have a neck smaller than the body of the container, like water bottles and 2-liter soda bottles.
Do recyclables end up in landfills?
A popular belief is that both trash and recycling go to the same place, but Smithberger said this is not the case in Mecklenburg County.
“The things that do end up in a landfill are those weird things that people throw away that we asked them not to throw away,” said Smithberger. “A lot of people are wishful recyclers. They wish that everything they throw away or touch can be recycled, and unfortunately, that just isn’t true.”
Smithberger, who has been in the solid waste business for nearly 40 years, said there won’t be another landfill constructed in Mecklenburg County, so it’s critical that citizens reuse and recycle items as often as possible to prevent them from overflowing.
“It’s incumbent upon us to be good stewards of our environment to try to do the right thing as often as we can and as early as we can,” he said. “Because the landfill capacity that we have is a valuable commodity, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 5:05 PM.
