Solid Waste & Recycling E-Newsletter |
- Did You Know?
- Upcoming SWAG Meeting
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Repair Café – Seeking Volunteers
- Leave Your Leaves
- Reduce Your Waste this Halloween
- What’s in the Cart?
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1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins are landfilled in the U.S. every year (wastedive.com). Keep pumpkins out of the landfill by bringing them to one of Orange County’s six residential free Food Waste Drop-Off Sites! The organic material is converted to compost at a local industrial composting facility, which residents can purchase at the Orange County Landfill.
Pumpkins that have been painted or decorated with plastic, glitter, and other non-compostable products are not accepted at the Food Waste Drop-Off Sites. Remove candles before disposal.
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Upcoming Solid Waste Advisory Group (SWAG) Meeting |
Hear about Orange County Solid Waste program updates from the Solid Waste department and local elected officials and representatives at the upcoming Solid Waste Advisory Group meeting on Thursday, November 14, 2024. The meeting will be held from 6 pm – 8 pm in person at the Solid Waste Administration Office (1207 Eubanks Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27516) and virtually on Microsoft Teams. The virtual meeting information will be available on the Solid Waste homepage the day of the meeting.
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Repair Café - Seeking Volunteers |
Do you enjoy fixing things? Volunteer at Orange County’s Repair Café to help community members fix broken items like electronics, furniture, appliances, jewelry, and more.
Signing up to be a repair coach means doing what you love while assisting your community. As a volunteer, you will teach visitors how to repair their own items and learn from fellow volunteers along the way.
To learn more and volunteer, visit www.repaircafenc.org/volunteer. Follow the Facebook page Repair Café NC for updates.
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While it may involve a small shift in your landscaping habits, the simple practice of leaving leaves in your yard has many benefits for our community and the planet. Orange County, in collaboration with the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, encourages the community to leave the leaves in your yard from now through the spring instead of blowing them to the curb or collecting them for yard waste collection/drop-off. Leaving fall leaves will supply your yard with valuable nutrients and biodiversity.
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- Creates fertile soil and healthy trees. Leaves will decompose over 6-12 months, providing a natural fertilizer full of nutrients to your soil, trees, and plants. Leaves can also control weeds.
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Supports local wildlife. Leaves provide habitats for wildlife, including pollinators, butterflies, and beneficial insects. Insects are also a natural food source for baby birds and other wildlife.
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Reduces flooding and improves water quality. Decomposing leaves absorb water to keep yards, trees, and plants hydrated. Leaving your leaves can also reduce runoff and flooding.
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Avoids pollution, reduces waste, and mitigates climate change. Curbside yard waste collection, hauling yard waste to drop-off centers, and leaf blowers use gasoline and diesel. Leaving leaves helps decrease CO2 emissions and air pollution.
- Saves time, effort, and money while avoiding leaf blowers.
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Ways to Leave Your Leaves:
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Leave your leaves where they fall, but clear off sidewalks and driveways as needed.
- Move leaves under trees, around shrubs, or into perennial beds. Spread leaves in an even carpet spanning the tree canopy. Rake leaves underneath their trees of origin when possible, and do not make leaf layers too thick.
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Compost your leaves to create fertilizer for your garden by creating a leaf pile in your yard. This method, known as cold composting or slow composting, will allow leaves to decompose for about 12 months. Apply decomposed leaves around your yard, plants, and trees.
- Use a mulching mower to grind leaves into smaller pieces and spread them around your yard.
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Orange County residents who complete the “Leave Your Leaves” pledge can receive a free yard sign to show their support for climate resilience and biodiversity. These yard signs are available at the following locations from early October through the end of November:
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- Chapel Hill Public Library
- Chapel Hill Town Hall
- Carrboro Century Center
- Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough
- Bonnie B. Davis Environment and Agricultural Center
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Reduce Your Waste this Halloween |
Happy Halloween, Orange County! As the holiday season approaches, check out the following tips to reduce your waste and celebrate more sustainably.
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- Costumes: Make a costume out of clothes and accessories you already own or borrow items from a friend. Swap previous costumes with friends. Shop secondhand items at your local thrift stores, online marketplaces, and community platforms.
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Decorations: Reuse decorations from years prior, shop secondhand, or use compostable decorations like pumpkins and gourds.
- Trick-or-Treating: Use a reusable tote bag or pillowcase for trick-or-treating. Check out online tutorials to turn an old t-shirt into a tote bag if you’re feeling creative!
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Candy: Shop for candy in the bulk section or opt for products packaged in paper rather than plastic. Candy wrappers, usually made of a combination of plastic and aluminum, are NOT recyclable and must be thrown away (see example below). Uneaten candy can be composted (after being removed from the wrappers) at one of the County’s six food waste drop-off sites.
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A monthly review of the most common and obscure findings in recycling carts.
As part of the Recycling Stars Program, Solid Waste staff evaluate curbside recycling carts to educate residents on proper recycling. The program’s goal is to improve the overall quality and quantity of recyclables collected from households around the County. Residents that recycle properly are awarded a star sticker. Residents also receive feedback on unaccepted items found in their recycling cart via a letter or ‘Oops’ tag attached to their cart. For more information on the Recycling Stars Program, please visit our website.
Some contaminants that inspectors have found recently:
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- Chicken wire is not recyclable in curbside/single-stream recycling. Chicken wire can be dropped off at the Waste and Recycling Centers in the scrap metal containers.
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Rigid plastic cat litter buckets are not recyclable in curbside/single-stream recycling. These containers can be dropped off at the Waste and Recycling Centers in the rigid plastics containers.
- Chip bags are not accepted in curbside/single-stream recycling or plastic film/bags drop-off and should be thrown away.
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Box straps are not accepted in curbside/single-stream recycling. Throw away these materials.
- Face masks – both reusable and single-use – are not accepted in curbside/single-stream recycling. Throw away face masks.
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| Become a Better Recycler! |
Download our free app called Orange County NC Recycles in the Apple or Google Play Store where you can:
• Use the A-Z guide to find out the right way to dispose of your materials
• View the recycling collection calendar and receive reminders
• Learn about the Waste & Recycling Centers
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Follow Us on Social Media |
At Orange County NC Solid Waste on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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Can't Get Enough Trash Talk? |
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Listen to OC Solid Waste Representatives the second Tuesday of each month from 8:15 am to 8:45 am on the ‘3-D News’ on local radio WHUP 104.7 FM, over the air and streaming online. Visit this link to listen online. If you missed the show, you can listen online since shows are archived for a month after airing.
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1207 Eubanks Rd | Chapel Hill, NC 27516 US
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