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

Section 12-8(c) targets one specific, high-volume recyclable: old corrugated cardboard (OCC), defined as packaging board with a fluted or wavy middle layer and one or more flat outer walls, most commonly shipping boxes and separator sheets. Effective July 1, 1999, the section bans recyclable OCC generated as a waste product from business, industrial and institutional sources from the county waste management facility, and requires those generators to separate it from other solid waste for recycling rather than landfilling it. The ban exempts cardboard that has been wax coated, soiled with grease, adhesives, food waste or chemicals, adhered to polystyrene or other plastics, or otherwise rendered unrecyclable by industry standards, and the code warns that haulers and generators must not deliberately contaminate cardboard to dodge the requirement.

Public and private haulers who deliver solid waste containing banned OCC to the county facility face graduated corrective action under subsection (d): a first violation draws a written warning and the hauler must sort and recycle the material on the spot at the unloading point, while a second violation requires the hauler to pay three times the current tipping fee on the entire load, and the hauler's future loads are refused until compliance is assured. This program does not create a residential curbside recycling mandate; it applies specifically to commercial, industrial and institutional cardboard generators and the haulers who deliver their waste to the county facility.