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1. What do you accept for recycling in the blue roll carts?

• Aluminum and Steel Cans (empty and rinse)
• Plastic bottles, tubs, jugs, and jars
• Mixed paper (newspaper, magazines, inserts, office paper, unwanted mail)
  • NOTE: DO NOT include shredded paper
• Paperboard (e.g. shoebox, tissue boxes, cereal boxes, paper towel tubes)
• Corrugated Cardboard/Cardboard Boxes
  • NOTE: MUST be free of all packing material, trash, Styrofoam
  • Please flatten large boxes and stack next to your recycling cart for later collection

**ALL RECYCLABLES MUST BE PLACED LOOSE IN YOUR ROLL CART; DO NOT BAG RECYCLABLES**

**DO NOT PLACE GLASS, STYROFOAM, PLASTIC BAGS, OR GARBAGE IN YOUR ROLL CART**

2. Why is the city no longer accepting glass?

The City of Spartanburg regrettably does not accept glass through its residential curbside recycling collection program. Sweeping changes in the recycling marketplace forced this change several years ago, including a dramatic drop in the price for glass recyclables. As a result, there are no outlets for residential glass recycling and no viable opportunities for the material to be reused. 

3. Is this glass situation unique to Spartanburg?

No. Many communities across the nation have been left with no viable opportunities for their glass recyclables and have stopped accepting glass. Some are facing even more widespread issues and making more significant cuts to their recycling programs.

4. Can I take my glass to the County's recycling centers?

No. Spartanburg County also has also been forced to stop accepting glass.

5. How do I dispose of paint, fluorescent tubes/bulbs, batteries, hazardous materials, medications, or syringes?

-All Spartanburg County recycling centers offer a paint exchange where any City resident may drop off or pick up paint during their open hours. Click here to view Spartanburg County recycling center addresses and hours of operation. 

-Compact fluorescent tubes/bulbs may be taken to big box stores such as Lowe's or Home Depot, Cleanlites Recycling in Spartanburg, or the Spartanburg Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event (which is held in the City limits in the spring of each year). Please call 864-596-2932 for further information. 

-Lead-acid batteries are accepted for recycling at all Spartanburg County recycling centers. Alkaline batteries may be disposed of with household trash, or taken to the Spartanburg Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. All other types of batteries (e.g. NiCd, lithium, lithium-ion) may be taken to Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy, Batteries Plus, or Cleanlites Recycling, OR can be taken to the Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. *NOTE: DO NOT DISPOSE OF LITHIUM OR LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES IN HOUSEHOLD GARBAGE. THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED FOR DISPOSAL IN YOUR GARBAGE ROLL CARTS OR AT COUNTY RECYCLING CENTERS, AS THEY POSE A SIGNIFICANT FIRE RISK.

-City residents may dispose of household hazardous waste at the Spartanburg Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event which is held in the spring each year. For more information on this disposal event or how to safely dispose of hazardous materials if you are unable to attend the event, please contact us at 864-596-2932, or contact Spartanburg County Solid Waste at 864-949-0211. 

-Both the Spartanburg Public Safety Department at 145 W Broad St. and Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department at 8045 Howard St. operate a medication drop-off kiosk year round. Please take medications to either location for safe disposal. Medications are NOT accepted at the Spartanburg Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event. 

-To properly dispose of syringes, please place them in a sturdy plastic jug (e.g. laundry detergent or bleach jug), tightly screw on the lid when full, and mark on the jug, "CONTAINS SYRINGES." Dispose of the plastic jug with household garbage. Please do NOT put a jug containing syringes in your recycling roll cart, and please do NOT dispose of loose syringes in bags. See SC-DHEC's website for more information on safe syringe disposal. 

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

Our rule of thumb is, "when in doubt, throw it out." Items that you're not sure about should most likely go into your garbage roll cart. If you want some more specific information, however, please feel free to email tatkins@cityofspartanburg.org or call 864-596-2932. 

7. Why can't I recycle Styrofoam, plastic bags, etc.?

Typically items are not accepted for recycling for a variety of reasons including low market values, logistical concerns, processing issues, or the nature of the raw materials used to make the product. 

Styrofoam, while it may contain a recycling symbol, requires expensive specialized equipment to prepare into a marketable product. It is often too lightweight to justify the cost to transport, let alone the cost to prepare. Very few municipalities accept Styrofoam for recycling, and it is universally considered unacceptable in curbside collection programs nationwide.  

Plastic bags, though they almost always have a recycling symbol, clog the machinery used to sort and separate recyclables at local processors. They are known as "tanglers" and can cause time-consuming and costly equipment malfunctions if they become entangled in sorting equipment. Oftentimes, however, local grocery stores do have a separate bin available for plastic bags and plastic film recycling. These bags are not sent through the same sorting equipment, and are accepted by recyclers in bulk, therefore can be processed. While we strongly encourage residents to reduce waste by using reusable bags for groceries, if you choose plastic grocery bags, please return them to grocery stores for recycling. More information can be found here. 

Batteries, especially lithium and lithium ion batteries, and fluorescent tubes are unable to be recycled in traditional programs due to safety hazards. There are multiple recycling options for these types of products locally, including the Spartanburg Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event, and private programs, such as the battery recycling program at Best Buy, Lowe's, Home Depot, Batteries Plus, or Cleanlites Recycling. 

We encourage you to contact Solid Waste Coordinator, Tim Atkins, if you have questions about hard to manage items: tatkins@cityofspartanburg.org or 864-596-2932. You may also contact Spartanburg County's Solid Waste Department about materials that the City cannot accept for recycling in your roll cart, such as motor oil, cooking oil, lead acid batteries, electronics, tires, and antifreeze at 864-949-0211. 

8. How do I recycle electronics, what is "e-waste," where do I recycled electronics?

All residential electronics, also known as e-waste, is defined as televisions (flat screen, projection screen, wood console, and CRT/"old" style TVs), computers (towers, laptops), computer monitors, printers, keyboards, mice, and other computer accessories. These items are NOT collected by the City, and residents must take these materials to a Spartanburg County recycling center. The County recycling centers that accept electronics for recycling are: 

-White Stone, 379 Brown Rd. Spartanburg, SC 29306

-Wellford, 595 Little Mountain Rd. Wellford, SC 29385

-Cooley Springs, 390 Sulphur Springs Rd. Chesnee, SC 29323

-Hobbysville, 1493 Kilgore Bridge Rd. Woodruff, SC 29388

 The County also accepts electronics at events throughout the year. Please contact them at 864-949-0211 or visit their website for more information. Please note that the County accepts residential electronics free of charge from all City residents. 

Please note that residential electronics MUST be recycled, per South Carolina state law. 

9. How do I recycle tires?

The City does NOT collect tires for recycling. City residents must take any tires to the Wellford Landfill, 595 Little Mountain Rd. Wellford, SC 29385 to be recycled. Residents may bring up to 5 tires per household free of charge, and anything past that is $1.50 per tire (passenger sized) or $3.50 per tire (oversized). Tires are also accepted at some County clean-up events. Contact them at 864-949-0211 for more information. 

If someone has illegally dumped tires onto your residential property, please contact the City's Environmental Services Enforcement Department at 864-596-2911, or fill out the form on their page here. 

If you are a business needing to recycle tires, please contact Spartanburg County Solid Waste at 864-949-0211. 

10. I heard someone goes through all the trash, so there's no point in separating it into different roll carts. Is that true?

No one goes through your trash, and no one goes through your recyclables. We rely on residents to learn what recyclables are accepted, and to properly separate recyclables from household garbage and place into the correct roll carts. If you choose to recycle using the City's curbside collection program, it is important that you place only recyclable material in your recycling roll cart, and you place your roll cart on the curb to be serviced on your scheduled collection day. 

11. Do my recyclables actually get recycled, or does it all get thrown away?

Recyclables get recycled. Recycling is a huge industry in Spartanburg and in South Carolina, and there is value in recyclable materials. Recyclables that the City collects from your curbside roll cart are delivered by City trucks to local processors who are responsible for sorting and separating recyclables and selling them on the open market to manufacturers who then process those materials into new goods. 

While recycling is important, it's just one step in the "3 R's" process, and we encourage reducing waste, reusing products, and recycling materials that are accepted in our municipal program. We urge residents to consider the "end-of-life" disposal options for any product they buy, and encourage residents to look into packaging for goods they purchase in order to make informed decisions on the products they buy. Purchasing products made from recycled materials helps keep the recycling process sustainable by creating demand, conserving resources, and supporting a strong economic market for recycled materials. 

The well-known "chasing arrows" recycling symbol represents the three steps in the recycling process: 

-Step 1: your recyclables make it into your City roll cart and get taken to a local processor

-Step 2: a manufacturer buys those raw materials from the processor and uses them to manufacture new goods

-Step 3: consumers "close the loop" by purchasing goods made from those recycled materials.