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1. What do I do with paint, compact fluorescent bulbs, batteries, hazardous products, medications, or syringes?

All staffed recycling centers offer a paint exchange where residents may drop off or pick up paint during our open hours. CFL bulbs may be taken to Lowe's or Home Depot for recycling, or can be brought to our annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. Please call 864-949-1658 for information on how to properly dispose of fluorescent tubes. Spartanburg County does not accept "regular" (alkaline, NiCd, lithium, rechargeable, etc.) batteries for recycling. They may be disposed of with regular household trash or brought to our annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. Residents may dispose of household hazardous waste at our annual HHW collection event in the spring of each year. For more information on household hazardous waste disposal, please check out www.safedisposalupstate.org or call us at 864-949-1658 for more information. Medications may be disposed of at the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department or at semi-annual prescription take-back events. They are not accepted at the annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. Please see http://www.spartanburgwater.org/rxcyclespartanburg for more information. For syringes, please place in a plastic jug (like a laundry detergent or bleach jug), tightly screw on the lid, mark the jug "contains syringes" and dispose of with household trash. Please do not dispose of loose syringes in bags. Check out SC-DHEC for more info: http://www.scdhec.gov/HomeAndEnvironment/Recycling/DisposingofNeedles/.

Safe Disposal Upstate

2. How do I dispose of large items like furniture, mattresses, wood, carpeting, construction materials, etc.?

All furniture and construction materials must be brought to the Wellford Landfill, located at 595 Little Mountain Rd. Wellford, SC 29385. We are open Monday through Saturday from 7 AM until 4:30 PM.

3. How do I recycle an item that isn't listed on your website?

Our usual rule of thumb is "when in doubt, throw it out," but please contact our Recycling Coordinator by email at jsdao@spartanburgcounty.org or by calling 864-949-1658 for specific items.

4. Why don't you recycle styrofoam, plastic bags, etc.?

Typically we don’t recycle items that have a low market value, or that cause logistical concerns for our vendors. Styrofoam is extremely lightweight and the cost to process it into a marketable product is prohibitive. Plastic bags clog machinery used to sort and separate recyclables at our vendors’ materials recovery facilities (but you can take plastic bags back to local grocery stores for recycling). "Regular" batteries and compact fluorescent bulbs are also cost prohibitive to recycle. We encourage you to give us a call at 864-949-1658 or email jsdao@spartanburgcounty.org if you’re looking for markets for certain items or you’d like more information about how the recycling process works.

5. How do I recycle electronics, what is e-waste, where do I take electronics, how can a business recycle electronics?

All residential electronics (defined as anything with a plug coming from your home) may be recycled at the following recycling centers: White Stone, Cooley Springs, Hobbysville, and the Wellford Landfill. All televisions, computers, and anything that plugs into a computer (keyboards, printers, mice, etc.) MUST be recycled as per state law at any of the above locations. Businesses must bring televisions/computers/anything that plugs into a computer to the Wellford Landfill, and will be assessed a fee of $33 per ton; businesses with large amounts of material may contact the Recycling Coordinator for a list of vendors who handle e-waste directly.

6. How do I recycle tires?

Tires are accepted ONLY at the Wellford Landfill. Residents may bring up to 5 tires per household for free, and anything past that is $1.50 per tire or $150 per ton (for passenger sized tires) or $3.50 per tire or $350 per ton (for oversized tires). If someone has illegally dumped tires on your residential property, please contact the County's Environmental Enforcement Department at 864-596-3582. If you are a business needing to recycle tires, please contact the Solid Waste Coordinator at 864-949-0211.

7. I heard that someone goes through all the trash so there's no point in recycling. Is that true?

Absolutely not true. No one goes through your trash, so it is important if you choose to recycle, that you make the effort to put your recyclables in the correct receptacles at our recycling centers.

8. Do the recyclables actually get recycled or does it all just get thrown away?

Recyclables definitely do get recycled. Recycling is a huge business, and there is value in the recyclable products. Recyclables are taken to local vendors who process the materials and sell them on the open market. Spartanburg County generates revenue through the sale of recyclables.

While recycling is important, it is just one step in the "3 R's" process, and we promote reducing, reusing, and recycling in that order. We urge residents to consider the end-of-life disposal options for products they buy, and we also encourage residents to research product packaging and choose to buy products made from recycled materials.

Buying products that are made from recycled materials is arguably more important than recycling items; buying products made from recycled materials creates a demand that processors and manufacturers of recycled goods require to stay in business and to keep recycling. The well-known recycling symbol represents the 3 steps in the recycling process: 1) residents recycle their waste products, 2) manufacturers turn those waste products into new recycled materials, and 3) consumers purchase goods made from those recycled materials.