CHARLOTTE, N.C. â Compost Central and Recycling Center in northwest Charlotte sits on 55 acres at your disposal. It is the largest composting and recycling facility in Mecklenburg County.
But when summer rolls around and it's hotter outside, county officials said the number of customers who reduce, reuse and recycle declines.
Unlike spring and fall with 600 customers properly disposing of their waste daily, summer is the slowest season at Compost Central.
"Just because it's hot outside, people don't like to do a lot of yard work," Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Director Jeff Smithberger said. "They don't like to do a lot of garage cleanup outside when it's hot. So, they bring less material to us in the heat of summer."
Smithberger said if you can't recycle everything, they have the resources to help residents and small businesses reduce and reuse all year.
"Waste reduction helps Mecklenburg County be less reliant on a landfill," Smithberger said. "So, we try to preserve the capacity, so after we have a storm event or any event that causes us to have a lot of material to throw away. We want to make sure we have adequate capacity locally in Mecklenburg County."
Tuesday, truckloads of tree debris were being converted into mulch after tornadoes uprooted trees just last week.
"About 100,000 tons of logs, and limbs, and leaves every fiscal year," Smithberger said. "We grind that material up. We give some of it away as brush mulch."
Smithberger said providing mulch only lays the groundwork for what they offer at solid waste.
"In our waste reduction, you may have heard of reduce, reuse, recycle -- but another word is refuse," Smithberger said. "There are some items you can refuse to buy that might not be recyclable. For example, something that is made with plastic but also made with glass. Glass is easier to recycle."
When you come out to Compost Central, you'll see two different colors of mulch. The dark mulch is brush mulch, it will be free of charge until the end of June 2022. The lighter mulch of the two is pure hardwood. It'll cost $15 per yard.
Contact KJ Jacobs at kjacobs3@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.