The Town of Matthews has a residential roll-out recycling cart program.

All single family households in the Town receive one green roll-out recycling cart. The carts are 96 gallons and will be collected every other week on the same day as your garbage collection day. Garbage collection is every week. There is no charge for the first cart.

The Town contracts with Republic to collect its garbage and recycling. Both garbage and recycling collection is done with automated trucks. The trucks use a mechanical arm to lift the carts and dump them into the trucks.

Cart wheels should face your home, and carts should be three feet apart from each other.

Recycling Information Brochure

2011-2012 Recycling Calendar
 

Residential Garbage

The Town of Matthews contracts with Allied Waste/Republic Services for garbage/recycling service for residents and small businesses. Garbage and recycling are picked up from your home or small business. Yard waste service is for homeowners only and is picked up once a week on your scheduled garbage  day. 

2012 Garbage & Recycling Holiday Schedule

Christmas Day - Sunday, December 26, 2011

We will operate on a regular schedule.

New Year's Day - Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Martin Luther King Day - Monday, Jan. 16, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Good Friday - Friday, April 6, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Easter Monday - Monday, April 9, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Memorial Day - Monday, May 28, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Independence Day - Wednesday, July 4, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Labor Day - Monday, September 3, 2012
We will operate on a regular schedule.

Thanksgiving Day -  Thursday, November 22, 2012
We will be CLOSED and operating on one-day delay schedule.

Christmas Day - Tuesday, December 25, 2012
We will be closed and operating on a one day delay schedule.

New Year's Day -  Monday, January 1, 2013
We will operate on a regular schedule.

If your container needs to be replaced due to damage, call us at 704-847-3640 or e-mail for a replacement. Residents are responsible for cleaning the interior of their containers.

Containers should be at the curb by 6:30 AM on your scheduled service day and off the curb by the end of the day. The wheels on your cart should face your home. Please do not place containers on the sidewalk or in the street.Garbage should be bagged and tied before placing inside your roll out container. Overflow garbage should be bagged and placed next to the cart. Large cardboard boxes need to be broken down flat, tied and placed beside your container.  No yard waste is allowed in garbage because North Carolina law prohibits yard waste in landfills.

Special pick up for white goods and bulky items, such as stoves, refrigerators, water heaters, mattresses, carpet (must be rolled and tied) and furniture can be scheduled by calling 704-393-6900.

Matthews is a member of the Mecklenburg County Solid Waste System. The county operates Landfills/Recycling Centers, where items can be taken such as hazardous waste, building materials, lumber, fencing, metal, oil, cooking oil, batteries, tires, paint and other things not allowed in your normal garbage and recycling.

The following are links to the Foxhole Waste and Recycling Center and the Hickory Grove Waste and Recycling Center:

Hickory Center

Foxhole Center 
 

Residential Recycling

Recycling should be put in your recycling cart and placed at the curb. Recycling is collected on your regular garbage day but every other week.

If your container needs to be replaced due to damage or if you need an additional recycling cart, call us at 704-847-3640 or e-mail.

Acceptable Items for Recycling are #1 or #2 plastic milk jugs, drink bottles, liquid detergent, soap and bleach containers; plus aluminum and steel cans, aluminum foil, aluminum pie and roll pans, and clear, brown and green glass containers.  Lids should be removed and all food and other residue should be washed out. Cardboard can be recycled and should be cut into squares no larger than 3' by 3'.  Paper items such as junk mail, newspapers and inserts, office paper, magazines and telephone books can also be recycled. All plastic containers except #6; rigid plastics such as toys, litter boxes and buckets, empty aerosol cans, cartons and juice boxes, flattened cardboard, aluminum, glass, tin/steel cans, telephone books.

Non-acceptable Recycling Items are #6 plastic containers, pizza boxes, bottle caps or lids, plastic bags, shredded paper, plastic food trays and cups, ceramics, pots & pans, glassware, paper plates, napkins, batteries, light bulbs, wire hangers, clamshells or styrofoam.  No hazardous or commercial medical waste may be put in the recycling containers.

Why not pizza boxes or other food containers?  Foil, grease, paint, plastic or oil on food boxes or paper show up farther down the paper-making process, causing a defect that's an "oily" spot on newly formed paper.  These spots don't print or glue properly and cause stains on the paper.  This causes the new paper to be rejected and ultimately end up in the garbage. (source: Anoka Co., Minn. Integrated Waste Management Dept.)

For more information on Mecklenburg County Recycling, please click here or see their website.

Click for videos on recycling.

Looking for fun ways to teach children about recycling? Visit www.recyclingguys.org.

Yard Waste

Yard waste includes brush, tree and shrub trimming, leaves and grass trimmings. Leaves and grass clippings must be bagged in clear bags or other bags left open so the driver can see the contents. Bags must weigh less than 50 pounds each, with a 20 bag limit per week. (Drivers can spend no more than 20 minutes per home collecting yard waste)

Branches must be cut in lengths of six feet or less and can be no larger than five inches in diameter. Stack limbs in small enough piles that an individual is able to handle. Do not leave bagged yard waste or limbs and branches on the sidewalk or in the street.

We cannot pick up dirt, rocks, building materials or any debris from a contractor such as material generated by tree maintenance or landscape contractors as defined by section 50A.01 of the Town code. Residents must require their contractors to remove all debris.

Other Recycling Opportunities

Beginning July 1, 2011 Computers and TVs will no longer be accepted in N.C. Landfills.

Please take them to a Mecklenburg County Recycling Center. Computers and other electronics, such as TVs, DVD players, computer monitors, audio and video cables, cellular telephones, etc. can be taken to Best Buy at Sycamore Commons to be recycled.  Map

Computers and other electronics are also accepted at the Goodwill Store at Plantation Market, near the Sysky YMCA.  Map

Motor oil, oil filters and car batteries can be taken to Advanced Auto Parts or Pep Boys on Independence Boulevard (or any other location).