Chapel Hill, NC Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 8-26 of the Code of Ordinances prohibits placing cardboard in any public or private bulk container or compactor used for collection and disposal at the Orange Regional Landfill, and separately bars anyone from purposely contaminating corrugated cardboard, such as soaking it in food or motor oil, so that it can no longer be recycled before placing it in a bulk container. Section 8-21(fff) defines corrugated cardboard as three-layered material with a wavy middle layer, excluding waxed boxes and cardboard adhered to packing material like styrofoam.

The same diversion rule repeats for other waste streams: section 8-35(c) bars cardboard in the bulk containers multi-residential developments of six or more units must provide, and section 8-38(b) bars it in the bulk containers used by retail, wholesale, and commercial establishments. Section 8-5 separately obliges anyone on curbside service to keep a recycling container alongside their garbage can, and to set recyclables at the curb before 7:00 a.m. on collection day rather than mixing them into the trash. Because sections 8-26, 8-35, and 8-38 are not among the sections listed for the graduated civil-citation schedule in section 8-11, a violation instead falls under the Code's general penalty in section 1-7: a fine of up to fifty dollars or up to thirty days in jail, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense.