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

The Board of Commissioners funds the recycling program through the solid waste availability fee charged on roughly 23,000 residential and 1,400 business, industry, and institution electrical connections in the county under section 24-33, plus landfill tipping fees and revenue from selling recycled material under section 24-57. Because that fee pays for the system, section 24-89(a) makes it unlawful for any person, business, industry, or institution to use a county convenience center or recycling center unless the waste being dropped off was generated on property inside Franklin County; out-of-county loads must go to the paid scale at the transfer station instead.

Eleven staffed convenience centers operate Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with the landfill convenience center adding Tuesday and Thursday hours running only to 5:00 p.m. under section 24-90. Section 24-91(b) requires separate containers at the centers for aluminum cans and pans, antifreeze at Sites 4, 6, 7, 9, and 12, corrugated cardboard, glass bottles and jars, lead acid batteries, magazines, motor oil and oil filters at those same five sites, newspapers, plastic bottles and jugs, and textiles such as clothing and shoes.

Nonresidential producers may drop off only a limited list of recyclables, including cardboard, newspaper, magazines, glass, plastic bottles or jugs, and aluminum containers; all other business waste must go to the transfer station instead. Scavenging is separately banned: section 24-93 makes it unlawful to remove any item from a recycling container without written permission from the solid waste manager, and section 24-94 bars loitering or leaving a vehicle unattended at a center, with unattended vehicles towed away at the owner's expense.