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. 

2010 Residential and Small Business Garbage/Recycling Holiday Schedule

On the following holidays, service will operate on a one day delay:

• Memorial Day - Monday, May 31, 2010
• Labor Day - Monday, Sept. 6, 2010
• Thanksgiving Day - Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010 (Thur. and Fri. service only)

On the following holidays service will operate on a regular schedule:

• Good Friday Friday, April 2, 2010
• Easter Monday Monday, April 5, 2010
• Independence Day Sunday, July 4, 2010
• Christmas Day Saturday, Dec., 25, 2010
• New Year's Day Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011

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. 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. We contract to pick up one roll-out from each resident or small business.  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 bins and placed at the curb on your scheduled garbage day.

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

Overflow items can be placed in clear plastic or paper bags and put next to or on top of the bins. (Excessively wet paper and cardboard becomes contaminated and may not be recycled. Please cover the bin or put papers and cardboard in a clear bag on top of your of you glass, plastic and cans.)

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. Beginning July 2010 these items may also be recycled: all plastic containers except #6; rigid plastics such as toys, litter boxes and bucketsl empty aerosol cans, cartons and juice boxes, flattened cardboard, aluminum, glass, tin/steel cans, telephone books.

Non-acceptable items at this time 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, napklins, 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.
 

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 contractor debris.