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

Cherokee County Code § 8-59 controls where containers sit for collection in unincorporated Cherokee County, South Carolina. Residential waste containers are required to be at roadside, adjacent to or within the right-of-way, as allowed by state and county laws. The one exception in subsection (a) is for the handicapped or elderly, who can continue to receive backyard type service after notifying the sanitation department and requesting it. The decision to grant that exception belongs to the superintendent of public works, the pollution officer, or their designee, and it rests on the legal or standard definitions of handicapped or elderly.

Subsection (b) deals with safety. If a container location presents a potential safety hazard by vehicular traffic, in any way, to collection personnel or equipment, or to vehicular traffic, the superintendent of public works, the pollution officer, or their designee meets with the resident and agrees on a new safe location for the containers. The resident does not pick the spot alone once a hazard exists: county officials and the resident settle it together.

Section 8-60 sets the volume limit. For residential and business collections by the county, the county council established a limit on the number of particular sized containers for specific users before requiring them to acquire larger containers. The stated maximum is eight containers, and any residence or business with more than eight containers will be required to obtain a dumpster.

Collection is paid for through a separate annual charge. Section 8-58.1, enacted by Ord. No. 2026-11 on 6-29-26, assesses a solid waste service or user fee of $222.00 per year per residential unit. The fee is charged against the property owner in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county and is collected by the county treasurer at the same time and in the same manner as real property taxes. The ordinance defines a residential unit to include each separate unit or apartment in a building designed for more than one family, and it names mobile homes and modular homes designed for or used for habitation.