Recycling Information

Items Accepted for Recycling at the Transfer Station

  • Aluminum - Beverage cans (rinsed); clean aluminum pie plates and food containers. (Recycling of aluminum is mandated by law.)
  • Batteries - Button-type (hearing aid and watch batteries), rechargeable batteries, car batteries, lawn mower batteries, laptop batteries, etc, all of which are considered hazardous waste. Note: Most alkaline batteries manufactured since 1996 (AAA to 9 volt) are made of relatively non-hazardous materials and can be put directly into the trash.
  • Cardboard - Corrugated only, remove debris and flatten all boxes. No wax or plastic coating. Tape and labels do not have to be removed. (Recycling of corrugated cardboard is mandated by law.)
  • Electronics - TVs, computers and peripherals (mice, printers, keyboards, monitors, circuit boards, tablets, laptops, modems, etc.), copiers and fax machines, stereos, radios, tape and CD players, phones, gaming consoles, etc.
  • Glass - Clear, brown, blue/green. Lids can stay on the bottles. When the glass is crushed during recycling, the metal lids are removed by magnets
  • Mattresses/box springs - Individual sets only, no truckloads
  • Mercury Containing Items - Fluorescent lamps and thermostats - tell the site attendant which items contain mercury
  • Metal - Food and drink cans (rinsed), lawn mowers, metal lamps, toasters, clothes dryers, microwave ovens, etc.
  • Mixed Paper - Newspaper, junk mail, magazines, office paper, phone books,  Not accepted uncoated cardboard boxes (cereal, tissues, beer containers etc.). No containers that are coated with plastic or wax, such as milk cartons.
  • Motor Oil and Oil Filters - 5-gallon limit
  • Plastics - Number 1 and Number 2 only, rinsed. No plastic containers from pesticides, even if they are Number 1 or Number 2. Lids can stay on the bottles. (Recycling of Number 1 and Number 2 plastics is mandated by law.)
  • "Rough" Box - Furniture, small pieces of wood, mixed-material items, outdoor plastic playground equipment, etc.

More than 1 cubic yard of any material must go to the landfill. The CC site employees judge this size by pickup truck load: a full pickup truck bed is ok if the load does not rise very much above its sides.

Accepted at the C&D Landfill

 The items in the first list plus the following are accepted:

  • Shingles/roofing materials
  • Tires - No charge for tires without rims, but approximately $4 fee for a tire on a  rim
  • Wooden pallets (clean of oils and paints. Pallets that are not clean are to be placed in the Transfer Station).
  • Yard waste

Accepted at Jonas Ridge Convenience Center

Jonas Ridge convenience Center
8616 NC-181
Morganton, NC 28655

  • Aluminum
  • Metal
  • Mixed paper
  • Plastics Number 1 and Number 2

Not Accepted at the Landfill or Any of the CCs

  • Asbestos
  • CFLs - take to Lowes Home Improvement
  • Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) - pesticides, oil-based paint, turpentine, solvents, Draino, oven cleaner, etc.
    Note: Dried latex paint is not hazardous and can be put in the landfill
  • Empty pesticide containers
  • Pallets (CC sites)
  • Plastic bags - take to a grocery store

When in doubt, ask an assistant.

Vehicles & Other Similar Items

Burke County currently does not accept vehicles and other items such as boats, RVs, Golf Carts, Riding Lawn Mowers, ATVs, Tractors, etc., but these resources should be helpful for those types of items: