Place white rigid foam in the bins with Rex, the dinosaur. Photo | Meckenburg County

Jan. 23. Clothing and shoes, hard and soft back books, white rigid foam and shredded paper now be recycled at the North Mecklenburg Recycling Center in Huntersville.

The list of what can be recycled and dropped off at Mecklenburg County’s full-service recycling centers is much longer because of the county’s enhanced recycling program.   

 “We understand our customers and residents want to avoid placing items in the landfill. Now, we have expanded our recycling services to meet that demand,” said Jeff Smithberger, director of the Solid Waste Management Program. “Our textile recycling donation bins are new this month.” 

Look for the blue bins to place clothing items. Photo | Mecklenburg

Textiles

Blue donation bins for clothes, shoes and accessories are located at each of the county’s four full-service recycling centers. The textile recycling items will be sorted and repurposed.  

White rigid foam  

White rigid foam or expanded polystyrene is used as a packing material and as take-out food containers. Before dropping it off, the white rigid foam must be clean and free of food residue. Once you drop it off, the foam will be melted in a densification machine allowing it to be shipped to market. 

Books

Bring hard back and soft back books that can’t be donated for reading because they are damaged or out of date. Make sure there are no plastic inserts or CDs inside the books. 

Shredded paper

Shredded paper can also be taken to our full-service recycling centers. It should be clean, loose and dry. Inside paper bags is acceptable.

If you have brought the shredded paper in a plastic bag, remove the loose shredded paper from the plastic bag and place the shredded paper in the bin. 

Plastic bags cannot be recycled in Meck County centers.