What residents can put in the bin now
Mecklenburg County's expanded curbside list now includes paper coffee and fast-food beverage cups, plastic cups without straws, polypropylene containers such as yogurt cups, clear PET containers used for produce, bakery items and prepared foods, plastic fruit bins, and clean takeout containers made from accepted recyclable material, according to WSOC-TV.
Prepare containers before collection
Food and sticky residue should be removed from the newly accepted cups, tubs and containers. Plastic cups belong in the recycling bin only after their straws have been removed, WSOC-TV reported. Plastic bags and flexible film remain excluded from curbside recycling because they can tangle sorting machinery. Those materials are accepted under separate rules at full-service drop-off centers, according to Hoodline’s coverage.
The equipment behind the change
The Amble Drive Materials Recovery Facility now has 16 optical sorters, replacing an older setup that used two optical sorters alongside manual workers. The Recycling Partnership reported that the previous system generally limited plastic recycling to containers with narrow necks. Two of the new sorters handle PET, separating conventional beverage bottles from non-bottle and pigmented thermoforms. The equipment is expected to recover an additional 5.6 million pounds of PET annually, according to The Recycling Partnership.
Where recyclables went during the retrofit
While Amble Drive was being renovated, residential single-stream recyclables were routed to Mecklenburg County’s Pence Road Materials Recovery Facility. Circular Services operated that site under a five-year contract, and WFAE reported that curbside service continued during the transition. With Amble Drive reopened for residential sorting, Pence Road’s role in the county’s recycling system has changed, according to Circular Services and WFAE.
What the expansion could divert
County officials estimate that adding materials such as paper coffee cups and polypropylene yogurt containers could keep about 50 tons of waste out of local landfills each year, according to Axios Charlotte. WFAE reported that the countywide recycling program already diverts more than 100,000 tons of material from landfills annually. Paper is sent to South Carolina mills, while glass and aluminum go to facilities in Georgia and Tennessee.
Contamination still affects the system
How the problem fits statewide
The county's contamination figures are part of a broader waste challenge, though statewide data cannot be used as a Mecklenburg County-specific estimate. According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality's 2025 Waste Characterization Study, 67% of materials in landfilled waste statewide could have been recycled or composted; the study covered three disposal facilities in different regions of North Carolina. North Carolina DEQ defines inbound contamination as nonrecyclable material in commingled loads delivered to a materials recovery facility. The agency says those facilities are not designed to separate trash from recycling, and that nonrecyclable items in carts can increase contamination, costs and operational slowdowns, according to North Carolina DEQ.
The broader accepted list does not remove the need to follow the county’s rules. Contamination has cost Mecklenburg County about $1.9 million annually, and nearly 60 tons of nonrecyclable trash reaches local sorting facilities each day. WSOC-TV reported that about one-quarter of material placed in curbside bins should not be there. Keeping the stream free of prohibited items remains necessary for the expanded equipment to process the materials the county now accepts.
