Charleston County, South Carolina, addresses recycling contaminants

“I think what we’re dealing with is a lot of material that people wish they could recycle,” Andrew Quigley, county environmental management director, told the newspaper. “Therefore, we need to do a better job of telling people what we can recycle.”

 

These nonrecyclable items have a detrimental effect on the Horry County recycling plant, where Charleston County sends its recyclables, the article states. Items like plastic bags, garden hoses and pieces of scrap metal can cause damage to the processing machinery that may take over half an hour to repair.

 

“When you’re processing about 15 tons an hour, and that happens two or three times a day, that’s 10 or 15 tons of material that we can’t process,” Mike Bessant, director of recycling services for the Horry County Solid Waste Authority, told the newspaper. 

 

Quigley said that the county must continue to educate residents about what items should not be deposited in single-stream recycling bins. 

 

“If that material isn’t in there, we don’t have to pay for it in future,” he said.