Beaufort County, SC Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Beaufort County Code of Ordinances § 62-22(2)
- Who must comply
- Any curbside residential trash collector
- Consequence for skipping recycling
- Suspension of collector's license
- Misrouted recyclables
- Treated as illegal dumping under § 62-22(3)
- Illegal dumping penalty
- Up to $500 or 30 days
Summary
Beaufort County requires any collector that provides curbside residential trash pickup to also provide curbside collection of recovered materials, the county's term for recyclables, to those same households. A hauler that skips the recycling pickup risks having the county suspend its collector's license entirely.
(2)Collectors providing curbside collection of residential solid waste shall provide curbside collection of recovered materials to same residential properties. Failure to provide collection of recovered materials shall be cause for suspension of the collector's license.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 55 Update 1 | Community Development Code: Supplement 16).
Full Breakdown
Beaufort County Code of Ordinances § 62-22(2) ties recycling service directly to trash service, requiring that collectors providing curbside collection of residential solid waste also provide curbside collection of recovered materials to the same residential properties. The chapter treats 'recovered materials' as the county's recycling category, separate from ordinary municipal solid waste. The enforcement mechanism is not a fine against the collector but license suspension: failure to provide collection of recovered materials is cause for suspension of the collector's license. Because § 62-32 conditions every private collector/hauler's right to operate on holding a county-issued collector/hauler license and a vehicle permit for each truck, losing that license under § 62-22(2) means the company can no longer legally collect any residential waste in the county, not just recycling.
00 fine or 30 days in jail for the hauler, not the resident. The rule is aimed at collectors and franchisees, not individual households: no section of chapter 62 requires a resident to separate or set out recyclables, only that a collector offering curbside trash pickup must also offer curbside recycling pickup.
Violations & Fines
A collector that accepts curbside trash customers but fails to also collect their recovered materials faces suspension of its county collector's license under Beaufort County Code of Ordinances § 62-22(2). If that same collector dumps recyclables anywhere besides an approved processing facility without the county administrator's written permission, § 62-22(3) treats it as illegal dumping, carrying up to a $500.00 fine or 30 days' imprisonment under § 62-5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my trash hauler required to pick up recycling in Beaufort County?
What happens if a hauler dumps recyclables instead of recycling them?
Does the ordinance require me personally to recycle?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Beaufort County
Compare Beaufort County to another location·View the South Carolina trash & recycling overview
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