Recycle Florence

The City of Florence offers residents of the City curbside recycling and picks up recycled materials on the same day as household garbage collection.  Recycling is a worthy goal for all residents and communities. Note: The City of Florence does not offer recycling for commercial businesses. Only residential recycling is provided.

The City utilizes “Single Stream Recycling”, where all recyclables are mixed together in one collection bin.  In addition to being easy on consumers, this approach delivers an added efficiency by reducing vehicle miles for collection trucks and related tailpipe emissions.  The “single stream” recyclables are collected and transported to a “hauler” which bundles the recyclables and delivers them to a Material Recovery Center or sorting facility.  There, the materials are separated by type so they can be recycled. 

Recently, the City’s “hauler” was made aware that certain types of recyclables/materials will no longer be accepted by the Material Recovery Center.  Please see below items/materials that will be accepted and items/materials that will no longer be accepted for collection.

Items that Are Recyclable

  • # 1 Plastics (soda bottles, cooking oil bottles, peanut butter jars, etc.)
  • # 2 Plastics (detergent bottles, milk jugs, water jugs/bottles, spray bottles, etc.)
  • Aluminum, Tin or Steel (foil, soda cans not crushed, cans – coffee, soup, etc.)
  • Newspapers & Inserts
  • Magazines & Phonebooks
  • White Paper
  • Cardboard (must be cut down to fit in recycle bin)

Items that Are Not Recyclable

  • No Glass
  • Do Not Bag your Recyclables (recyclable items should be placed loose in the recycle bin)
  • No Plastic Bags (plastic bags are a serious contaminant and jam sorting machines at recycling facilities)
  • No Flattened Bottles or Cans (when “flattened, the sorting equipment mistakenly sends them to the paper side of the facility)                        
  • No Hazardous Household Materials (Paint, automotive fluids, household cleaners and similar materials must be disposed of properly)
  • No Non-Recyclable Plastics (plastic lids, styrofoam, to-go boxes, etc.)
  • No Liquids or Food (please empty and rinse plastic bottles to eliminate spills and splatters)
  • No Shredded Paper or other Small Items (often become litter before reaching recycle centers – once at the facility many times fall through cracks, stick to belts and contaminate sorted materials)
  • No Rope-like Items (water hoses, holiday lights, leather belts, etc. – these items wrap around machines in the sorting facility)
  • No Diapers or Bio-Hazardous Waste (diapers or sanitary products, syringes and needles – these items pose a risk to workers)
  • No Scrap Metal (special scrap metal collection is offered at least once a year by the City)

City residents are provided one free 18 gallon green bin for recycling through the City’s Sanitation Division.  Additional bins are available for purchase.  To purchase a bin or if you have questions please call the Public Works Department at (843) 665-3236 between the hours of 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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If you have questions, please contact the Public Works & Utilities office (843) 665-3236. For more information on locations, call 843-665-3022 or visit Florence County’s recycling information center.

Additional Recycling Information

Please also visit the Keep Florence Beautiful recycling information for more details.

The City provides waste oil sites for your residential used motor oil, which you may generate from your vehicle. 

These sites are located at:

  • Marion St. Fire Station – E. Marion Street
  • Ben Dozier Fire Station – W. Palmetto Street
  • Edisto Fire Station – S. Edisto Drive

These sites are for residential use only. A maximum of 5 gallons per trip is permitted. We encourage you to use these sites for your motor vehicle waste oil.

Florence County's Recycling Centers

Florence County has provided manned recycling centers for the collection of Cans (aluminum, steel), plastic (#1, #2), glass (brown, green, clear), paper (newspaper and inserts, cardboard), aluminum pans, foil, lead-acid batteries, white goods, used oil, yard waste.

Transition from Sorted to Single-Stream

Many residents have expressed concern over the recent change in material collection at various Manned Convenience Centers (MCC) throughout the County. The County is transitioning to single stream recycling in an effort to reduce costs and increase the amount of items recycled.

Advantages of Single Stream:
  • Recyclable items do not have to be sorted prior to bringing to the MCC saving valuable time for citizens.
  • MCC staff time is reduced by eliminating the monitoring of multiple bins which frees attendants time to be of more service to citizens in other areas.
  • The recyclable items are transported collectively which reduces transportation costs. The recyclable items are sorted later to be sold in bulk which reduces taxpayer dollars for solid waste fees.

If you have any further questions concerning this matter, please contact Kathy Nephew, Recycling Coordinator at 843-292-1603.

Recycling Centers drop off sites:

  • Greenwood Site, Carnell Dr. off Hwy. 51, behind Greenwood School
  • Airport Site, McCurdy Rd. and Stadium Dr.
  • Quinby Site, intersection of Hwy. 24 and Hwy. 358
  • Timmonsville Site, Hill Rd., 3 miles east of Timmonsville
  • Pamplico Site, corner of First St. and Old River Rd.
  • Coward Site, Hwy. 52, one-half mile south of Coward
  • Lake City Site, corner of Church and Sylvan Sts.
  • Landfill Site, Old Georgetown Rd., adjacent to County Landfill
  • Effingham Site, Friendfield Rd., next to Public Works Department
  • Hannah Site, off Hwy. 378, behind Hannah Farm Supply
  • Paul Jones Rd. Site, behind Langston Supply
  • Ebenezer Site, Ebenezer Rd., next to ESAB
  • Olanta Site, Hwy. 341, 1 mile west of Olanta
  • Johnsonville Site, SR 1331, one-quarter mile east of SR159, Johnsonville

Hours: 7AM – 7PM, Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday, CLOSED: Tuesday & Thursday

Additional used motor oil collection sites:

Florence

  • City fire station, W. Palmetto St. (Used oil filters also accepted)
  • City fire station, Edisto St. (Used oil filters also accepted)
  • Advance Auto, 931 Irby St.
  • Advance Auto, 1802 West Evans St.
  • Auto Zone, 830 S. Irby St.

Lake City

  • Advance Auto, Hwy. 52 and Ron McNair Blvd.
  • Auto Zone, 215 S. Ron McNair Blvd.

For more information visit, https://scdhec.gov/environment/recycling-waste-reduction/where-recycle-locally/florence-county-recycling-locations or call 1-800-768-7348 or write DHEC’s Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling, 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201.