Greenville County urges you to Recycle Correctly and Recycle More!:

1. Place a simple cardboard box near the place where you go through your mail. Discard all your junk mail and other paper products in this box.
2. Ask for paper bags the next time you go to the grocery. Then place these paper bags near your trash can. Or, if you have limited space, place them in a closet, in your garage, in the pantry, in the cabinet under the sink, you decide.
3. Determine your schedule for taking the recyclables to a recycling dropoff site, to a Residential Waste and Recycling Center, or to the curb.
4. Educate your family. Call a family meeting if necessary to explain what is recyclable, how your recyclables must be prepared, and where your recyclables go.
5. Execute your plan.

Stay on schedule:
The longer your recyclables sit around, the more will accumulate and the more likely you are to view the recyclables as 'smelly garbage'. Schedule a day for recycling and stick to it.

Presort and Prepare:
If you take your recyclables to a dropoff center, it will take longer to sort the recyclables one-by-one into the recycling container compartments, versus having an entire bag full of aluminum cans that you can pour into the container compartment. Be prepared to place all of your recyclables in the recycling containers. Placing them beside the bin is littering!

Recycling Tips for Specific Products

Note: Some of the items listed below that are not readily recyclable at Greenville County locations can be recycled by private organizations. See our Hard to Recycle Items list for more information.

Glass containers generally include food and beverage containers. These are recyclable because the glass containers are usually similar in materials and manufacturing methods.

Glass products such as crystal, mirrors, cups, ceramics, window panes, and the like are not recyclable because they contain mixtures of other components that are not typically used in making food and beverage glass containers. Inclusions of these types of items introduces a contaminant that may ruin an entire batch.

Glass containers are accepted in all Greenville County dropoff sites, at all Residential Waste and Recycling Centers and the Twin Chimneys Landfill. Most municipal curbside programs, with the exception of the City of Travelers Rest and the Greater Greenville Sanitation Commission, accept glass containers for curbside recycling along with other curbside recyclables.

Glass containers of any color are accepted and placed in the same compartment together.

Do not recycle:
Mirror Glass, Crystal, Drinking Glasses, Ceramics, Window Glass

Metal containers include such items as aluminum cans, bi-metal cans (such as soup cans), and aerosol cans, (such as shaving cream cans).

Metal containers are accepted at all Greenville County dropoff sites, at all Residential Waste and Recycling Centers and at the Twin Chimneys Landfill.

Scrap metal, including appliances that are commonly referred to as white goods, can be recycled as well but generally not with the metal containers.

Scrap metal is accepted at Residential Waste and Recycling Centers and the Twin Chimneys Landfill but not at dropoff centers.

All municipal curbside programs, with the exception of Greer who only accepts aluminum cans, accept metal containers for curbside recycling along with other curbside recyclables. However, the different municipalities handle collection of scrap metal in various manners. Thus, it is best to contact your municipal collector prior to attempting to recycle scrap metal with them.

Do not recycle:
Paint Cans, Wire Clothes Hangers (may be recycled at local dry cleaners), Cooking Pots

In the 1980's, most recycling programs began by recycling newspapers. This seemed like a logical approach to recycling because newspapers tended to accumulate from day to day and took up a lot of space in the trash can when thrown away. However, newspapers compose only 15% of the waste paper stream. Thus, an additional 85% of the waste paper stream is not captured if paper recycling is limited to newspapers only. Furthermore, advances in technology and demand for post-consumer paper have broadened the types of paper that are acceptable for recycling in the US.

Mixed paper is accepted in all Greenville County dropoff sites, Residential Waste and Recycling Centers, the Twin Chimneys Landfill and in all municipal curbside programs except Mauldin and Travelers Rest where recycling of paper products is limited to newspapers, only. Mixed paper recycling by private organizations varies.

Mixed paper can be composed of any paper product from newspapers, to junk mail, to phone books, to colored glossy magazines, to bright colored paper, to envelopes and other office paper, to cereal boxes, to toilet paper ends. You name it: mixed paper accepts it. The only exceptions are contaminated products (e.g. paper plates, tissue paper, napkins) and coated paper such as foil wrapping paper and wax lined cartons (e.g., ice cream and frozen foods' containers).

Corrugated cardboard may be dropped off at any Greenville County recycling dropoff site.

Do not recycle:
Waxed Paper or Cartons, Carbon Paper, Tissues, Foiled Paper, Food Contaminated Paper

Plastics are accepted in all Greenville County dropoff sites, at Residential Waste and Recycling Centers and the Twin Chimneys Landfill.

See our plastics brochure for more information about identifying different types of plastics.

Do not recycle:
Diapers, Plastic Grocery Bags, Films or Wraps, Plastic Tubs (such as yogurt and margarine), Flower Pots, Toys, Food Storage and Microwave Containers, or Styrofoam

The manufacturing process for "tub" containers is incompatible with bottles and jugs. ONLY recycle plastics with "Necks".