One-bin recycling test begins today

Charleston County's one-bin recycling initiative begins today in selected neighborhoods, where residents will be able to put all of their recyclable glass, metals, paper and plastic in a single garbage-can-style container.

The county plans to monitor the results to see if the one-bin system increases or decreases the amount of materials collected from roughly 4,600 homes in the communities chosen for the pilot program.

According to the county, neighborhoods with both high and low rates of recycling were selected.

In addition to allowing residents to put all materials in a single bin without any sorting, the system being tested involves trucks that can lift and dump the containers mechanically. Currently, residential recycling is collected by hand, and residents must separate paper and cardboard from other materials.

"Not only is single-stream recycling easier for residents, it enables neighborhoods to stay cleaner and neater with the use of larger, closed-top carts," said Nancy Carter, the Charleston County Environmental Management Department's community representative. "Our goal is for non-recyclers to begin participating in the curbside program and for current participants to recycle even more."

The county launched a related one-bin pilot program for businesses last month in North Charleston. That initiative has been criticized by for-profit recycling companies, because the county is competing with them for the commercial recycling.

The changes to recycling collections are part of the county's ongoing project to improve the way waste and recyclable material is collected, to reduce costs and reduce the amount of material that goes to landfills.

The county's goal for the amount of material recycled rather than landfilled is 40 percent. The county's recycling rate is currently about 20 percent, and much of that amount is yard waste composted at the Bees Ferry Landfill.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552.