Catawba County, NC Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 32-9, titled 'Reservation of rights,' states that the board of commissioners expressly reserves the right to require the source separation of materials from solid waste prior to collection for disposal, and to require participation in a recycling program approved by the board. That reserved authority sits inside the county's franchise-based collection system: under Section 32-3, the board grants exclusive licenses to haulers to collect, transport, and dispose of solid waste and recyclable materials within designated areas, and licensees must detail their equipment and routes when applying.

Section 32-4(c) sets the operating baseline for those franchisees, requiring the licensee to collect a monthly fee for roadside collection and disposal of solid waste and for collection of materials separated for recycling from the customer's premises at least once a week. In practice, this means unincorporated county residents served by the franchise hauler already receive weekly curbside recycling pickup bundled with their trash service, and the board can expand mandatory source-separation requirements by ordinance or through the franchise agreement without needing new statutory authority.

Materials recovery facility operation is also addressed in the licensing application requirements of Section 32-3(b), which requires applicants seeking a franchise to disclose their capacity to own and operate a materials recovery facility as part of the county's waste management network.