Richland County Amplifies Recycling Efforts with New Roll Carts, Commercials
February 17, 2015
RICHLAND COUNTY, SC – Residents served by Richland County Solid Waste and Recycling received a shiny new gift last month that will hopefully be put to good use.
Forty-eight thousand lime-green roll carts were delivered to residents in the northern part of Richland County in January as part of a countywide initiative to increase recycling availability. With this final mass delivery of carts, every household served by the County’s solid waste department has received a new cart – 16,000 were delivered to residents in 2013 and 17,000 in 2014.
Anyone serviced by Richland County Solid Waste and Recycling who hasn’t yet received their new lime-green recycling cart should call 803-929-6000 to have one delivered.
The new 95-gallon roll carts, which replace the red recycling bins previously used, provide residents a larger container for holding their recyclables, hopefully increasing the number of people who recycle and the amount of recyclable materials collected.
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In addition to the lime-green carts, all affected residents received a Talkin’ Trash booklet detailing the types of items that are accepted for curbside recycling, as well as a yearly calendar that highlights collection dates. The recycle roll carts are collected every other week.
“As with all change, it will take a while for residents to get accustomed to the new carts and new schedule but this should lead to an immediate improvement in the County’s recycling efforts,” said Richland County Solid Waste and Recycling interim director Rudy Curtis.
To coincide with the thousands of new recycling carts, Richland County Solid Waste and Recycling will debut new radio commercials and print advertisements that inform residents about the many things that can be recycled, such as magazines, plastic containers of all shapes and sizes, aerosol cans, cardboard, junk mail and more.
“We urge residents to take note of everything before placing it in the garbage to see if it might be on the new list of recyclables,” Curtis said. “Recycling plastics is especially important to the success of many in-state companies, so pay extra attention to those items.”
For items that can’t be recycled – such as plastic shopping bags, Styrofoam and aluminum foil – residents can make a positive environmental impact by simply reducing the amount of them used.
Many large items that aren’t available for curbside collection can be taken to the County’s two drop-off centers: the Richland County C&D Landfill Drop-off Center (1070 Caughman Road North) in Columbia and the Lower Richland Drop-off Center (10531 Garners Ferry Road) in Eastover.
Richland Recycles Day, a special annual event that gives residents the opportunity to responsibly get rid of old appliances, tires, mattresses, chemicals and more, is Saturday, May 15 at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds.
Click here to view a video about Richland County Solid Waste and Recycling. For more information, visit www.rcgov.us/richlandrecycles or contact the Richland County Ombudsman’s Office at 803-929-6000.
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