Items to Recycle
Surry County operates thirteen recycling/convenience centers. These centers are available for residential drop-off of bagged household waste and provides an outlet for recycling. These centers are not available to commercial business waste disposal. All centers accept bagged household waste for disposal. Household waste consists of trash and food waste from the daily activities of a home. Anything other than household waste such as wood, metal or in general “spring or basement” cleaning must come to the landfill at Mt. Airy. Users of the centers are discouraged from bringing pickup loads of bagged trash to the centers for disposal. The centers are not equipped to handle large loads. Large loads should be delivered directly to the landfill for disposal. No liquids, paints (unless dried) or hazardous waste is accepted at any of the County’s disposal areas. Disposal methods of liquids and hazardous waste are available from the source of purchase or the manufacturer of the product. Recycling facilities at each center are available for newspaper, magazines, aluminum cans, plastic, cardboard and auto batteries. Newspaper, magazines and cardboard should be free of any foreign materials such as string, paper or plastic bags and should not be co-mingled with other paper types.
The Mt. Airy center has facilities for all paper types. Paper such as envelopes, color paper, plain paper, paper with black or color ink are considered mixed paper and do not have to be sorted. Computer paper is acceptable, but must be segregated from other paper. Also, the Mount Airy Center accepts scrap metal, appliances, acid batteries, cardboard, aluminum cans, and clean plastic and computers, televisions, fax machines, copiers and other electronics.
The Surry County Public Works Department will NOT be collecting glass at convenience centers. Unfortunately, glass does not have a stable market and is not cost-effective to recycle.
There will be a charge for any commercial businesses wishing to drop off electronics.
List of items that can be recycled.
- Aluminum Cans
- Automotive Batteries
- Cardboard
- Cooking Oil
- Electronics
- Magazines
- Newspaper
- Office Paper
- Plastics
