Chatham County, NC Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Who it binds
- Private residential haulers collecting for a fee
- Required program
- Collect and recycle aluminum, newspaper, steel cans
- Governing section
- § 50.06(F)
- Alternative
- Refuse those materials commingled with garbage
- Non-compliance penalty
- Tipping fee 2x, 3x for repeat, § 50.99(D)
- Related duty
- Annual recyclables report, § 50.06(D)
Summary
In unincorporated Chatham County, every private hauler that collects residential waste for a fee must run a program to collect and recycle aluminum cans, newspapers and steel food cans, or refuse to take those items mixed with garbage, under Chatham County Code § 50.06(F). Haulers who skip this recycling program face the penalty set out in § 50.06(F) and § 50.99(D), and must also report recyclables volumes to the county.
(F) All private haulers who collect residential waste for a fee shall establish a program to collect and recycle aluminum cans, newspapers and steel food cans, or else not accept the materials commingled with the residential garbage that they collect. In addition, haulers are encouraged to promote recycling of glass bottles, corrugated cardboard, recyclable plastic and other recyclables. Haulers who do not establish satisfactory programs to remove the recyclables from the waste stream shall be subject to the penalties specified in § 50.99(D).
Full Breakdown
06(F) layers a recycling-specific duty onto residential haulers: any private hauler collecting residential waste for a fee has to establish a program collecting aluminum cans, newspapers and steel food cans, or else decline to accept those materials commingled with the garbage it hauls. The same subsection encourages, without mandating, that haulers also promote recycling of glass bottles, corrugated cardboard and recyclable plastic. 99(D), the tipping-fee multiplier the chapter otherwise reserves for banned material delivered to the transfer station. 06(G) backs the program requirement with a truth-in-advertising rule: a hauler cannot claim it is recycling material that in fact it is not.
06(D)'s separate reporting duty, under which every hauler must tell the County Recycling Department the quantities of recyclables or recovered material it collects or deposits in county receptacles, either at annual permit renewal or on request from the Recycling Coordinator. 06(C) for any failure to comply with the chapter, a hauler that ignores the recycling-program duty risks its ability to operate in the county at all.
Violations & Fines
A private hauler that never establishes the required aluminum-can, newspaper and steel-can recycling program, or that accepts those materials commingled with garbage without one, is subject to the tipping-fee penalty in § 50.99(D): twice the standard tipping fee for the contaminated load, rising to three times the fee for a repeat offense. The county can also revoke or suspend the hauler's operating permit under § 50.06(C), and falsely claiming to recycle material under § 50.06(G) is a separate violation of Chapter 50.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my residential trash company have to offer curbside recycling in unincorporated Chatham County?
What happens if a private hauler in Chatham County refuses to recycle anything?
Can a hauler advertise that it recycles when it actually throws everything away?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Chatham County
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