With the holidays just around the corner and packaging or aluminum foil pans from family meals headed to your trash bin, this is a good time to review what can and cannot be recycled. Seabrook Island follows the recycling rules of Charleston County, so anything the County takes can be sent to recycling. The November 16, 2019, Post and Courier had a good article on recycling in Charleston County. Click here to see the full article or read below to get the list of what goes where…and just as a reminder, items that contained food should be rinsed thoroughly before placing it in the recycling bin.
What can be recycled in the green curbside bins?
- Christmas gift bags
- Wrapping paper
- Tissue paper
- Paper board such as packaging for cereal and cracker boxes along with toilet and paper towel tubes
- Aluminum, steel or tin cans
- Vitamin bottles
- Suntan lotion bottles
- Protein drink bottles
- Milk jugs
- Energy drink bottles
- Plastic apple sauce cups
- Food storage containers
- Toothpaste tube boxes
- Blueberry, strawberry or other fruit plastic containers
- Paper bags or boxes from restaurants as long as they are not contaminated with food.
- Pizza box top, but not greasy bottom. Rip off the top.
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Paper surrounding a new air filter
- Paper inside a shoe insole package
- Pharmacy paper bags
- Medicine bottles
- Envelopes with or without windows
- Junk mail
- Detergent boxes or bottles
- Fabric softener boxes or bottles
- Spray bottles
- Aluminum foil boxes but not wrap
- Cardboard egg cartons
- Juice bottles
- Snack pack plastic bottoms but not the plastic wrap on top
- Large plastic cups
- Shaving cream cans
- Soap dispensers
- Face wash bottles
- Shoe polish containers
What cannot be recycled in the green curbside bins and must go out in the blue bins?
- Plastic bags
- Household HVAC filters
- New Year’s noisemakers
- Candy, cereal or energy bar wrappers and bags
- Toothpaste tubes
- Shoe insoles
- Plastic packaging for shoe insoles
- Cereal box liners
- Plastic bags holding new shirts
- Styrofoam packaging and containers
- Walmart’s new reusable plastic bags
- Detergent scoop
- Sandwich food wrappers such as fast-food offerings
- New clothing paper price tags or plastic strip attached to clothing
- Sponges
- Floss and floss packages
- Swabs
- Razor heads
- Disposable razors
- Toothbrushes
- Heads on electric toothbrushes
- Toothbrush packaging
- Comet cleanser cans
- Deodorant containers
- Lip balm containers
- Thread spools with or without thread
- Matches
- Cigarette lighters
- Firearms
- Fireworks
- Charcoal
- Hoses
- Belts
- Ropes
Bulky Household Items. Brown & White pick up is usually scheduled for the first Friday of each month, except in February, when it is scheduled to coincide with the Annual Meeting weekend. Brown & White items include appliances, mattresses, and other large household items. All items for Brown & White pick up must be curbside by 7:00 am on the first Friday of the month (except as noted above).
Hazardous Material Disposal. Hazardous waste such as old paint cans, electronics, batteries, fluorescent lights, and old yard or household chemicals can be taken to the Maintenance area (adjacent to the Community Garden) on the mornings there is a Brown & White trash pick up. Drop off of hazardous materials is between 9 am and 2 pm. Hazardous materials must be handed directly to the attendant on duty. The materials cannot be left on the ground.
–Tidelines Editors
(Image credit: The Post & Courier)