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

The Guilford County Solid Waste Collection Customer Bill of Rights, which every licensed hauler must comply with under Code Sec. 5-6(e), applies to any customer receiving solid waste service, expressly including recyclables, from a licensed hauler in the county. Item 3 of that Bill of Rights requires solid waste haulers to provide optional curbside recycling service to residential subscribers, meaning a hauler cannot simply decline to make the service available even though individual households are not forced to subscribe to it. Whatever recycling rate a hauler charges is bound by the same rate ceiling that applies to its other services: collection rates, including for back-door or other elevated service levels, may not exceed the rate approved by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, and haulers must give customers 30 days' written notice before any rate change takes effect.

Haulers must also make their terms and conditions, presumably including how the recycling program works, conveniently available for customer review. Once a household is set up with recycling service, the county's separate frequency rule in Sec. 5-3(f) kicks in for material that piles up: recyclable materials must be removed at least once every fourteen days by whoever owns or occupies the property, twice the interval allowed for ordinary trash. The Board of Commissioners reserves the right to amend these customer service performance standards on a case-by-case basis, and hauler compliance is checked through periodic review and inspection tied to license renewal.