Pickens County, SC Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Chapter 34, Division 3 of the Pickens County Code sets out where and how residents may get rid of solid waste, since the unincorporated county runs a network of drop-off collection and disposal sites rather than curbside trash pickup. Section 34-76(b) confines solid waste, including recyclable materials, to solid waste facilities and recycling stations the county owns and operates, open only during posted operational hours, or to privately owned and licensed landfills and other licensed disposal facilities; dumping waste anywhere else, including vacant property, is barred outright under § 34-76(a).

Section 34-77 spells out who can use the county sites and how: individual residents disposing of household waste, licensed collectors, municipalities, and commercial and industrial establishments may use county-owned facilities, but large bulky items such as furniture, appliances, lumber, grass clippings, limbs and leaves must go into the designated containers at recycling centers or the county's construction and demolition landfill, and small dead animals go to the county collection and disposal landfill under staff instructions. Waste generated outside the county cannot be brought in or disposed of at any county facility, and it is unlawful for a non-resident business, collector or municipality to use the recycling centers at all.

Every county taxpayer must display a county decal, issued free of charge, to use a solid waste facility; a taxpayer without a decal can still dispose of waste by showing proof of residency while getting information on obtaining one. The solid waste fee schedule itself is set separately by the county council through the annual budget ordinance or resolution under § 34-33.