Solid Waste E-News:  March 2021

• Did You Know?
• Upcoming Events:
  • Shred-A-Thons
  • Compost: Your Garden’s Best Friend Webinar
  • Composting 101 Webinars
  • Litter Sweep 2021
• How to Properly Dispose of Latex Paint
• Mulch and Compost for Sale

Any Orange County resident can drop off their residential food waste and other compostable material (list of acceptable materials) for free during operating hours (hours of operation). Plus – we can accept materials that you can’t compost in your backyard, such as compostable plastics, meat, bones, dairy products and more!
 
This program helps divert valuable waste from the landfill, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and supports the community’s need for soil-enriching compost. The food scraps collected at the Waste & Recycling Centers are sent to an industrial composting facility in NC. 

Upcoming Events

Shred-A-Thons

Shred-A-Thons are back! These events are both drive-through, from 10am to 2pm and limited to residents, small Orange County businesses, and employees of Orange County, as well as employees of the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. There is a four bag limit and we strongly recommend clear heavy plastic bags so the program operators can see into the bags for contamination. We will also accept paper in boxes but not in black/colored bags.
 
To ensure the safety of employees and residents, this event will be ‘contactless’ meaning that those bringing paper for shredding will have to unload and dump their paper in the carts at the site themselves, with no assistance from County staff, volunteers, or Pro Shred staff. All attendees are required to wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart and maintain all safety protocols to avoid spreading COVID 19 or its variants.

Composting Webinars

March is a great time of year to start preparing garden beds for spring planting! In the first part of this virtual workshop, learn about the benefits of composting and how to set up a backyard compost system at home with Orange County Solid Waste Management.
 
After learning the basics, you'll hear from the North Carolina Botanical Garden and their team at the Carolina Community Garden on how to use finished compost on your garden beds, accompanied by several demonstrations. After the main presentation, we will wrap up with a Q&A with the panelists.
 
Register here to participate on Zoom (recommended for participating in the Q&A!)
We're also planning to stream this workshop live on Facebook – stay tuned!

Composting 101 Webinars

If you’re interested in learning more about how to start composting and the options available in Orange County, sign up for one of the upcoming webinars. Solid Waste Education and Outreach Coordinator, Kyra Levau, will be discussing the importance of composting, various types of composting bins, maintaining a pile, and using finished compost. In addition to backyard composting, Kyra will go over other options for composting such as various food-waste drop-off sites and local compost collection services.
 
Upcoming Composting 101 Webinars are Saturday, March 13^th from 10:30 – 11:30 am and April 1^st from 12-1pm. You can register for the webinars using this link. If you have any questions about the upcoming webinars or have trouble signing up, please email Kyra Levau at klevau@orangecountync.gov or call (919) 918-4909.  

Litter Sweep

Participate in the annual Litter Sweep this year during Earth Month! Litter Sweep is the N.C. Department of Transportation’s statewide roadside litter removal initiative. Residents throughout the state participate in local efforts to help clean up North Carolina's roadways. 

Volunteers can pick any road or highway that they want to clean up or they can be provided with recommendations of roadways that have received several litter complaints. In addition to volunteers, NCDOT maintenance crews devote one week of their time to pick up litter and collect orange bags placed on the roadsides by volunteers.

NCDOT will also provide volunteers with cleanup supplies for the litter sweep, such as reversible orange/blue trash bags, gloves and orange safety vests, from their local NCDOT County Maintenance Yard office. Contact a NCDOT litter program coordinator in your county to get you and your team set up with supplies (find contact information here). For Orange County, contact Cynthia Hyler at 919-296-6080 for supplies.

Your group’s litter cleanup can take place safely by making sure everyone spreads out along the route, keeping six feet between each other. In addition, everyone should wear a mask and gloves, and we kindly ask that people not attend if they have been diagnosed with or recently exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Check out DOT’s Litter Sweep page for more information on the event and how to volunteer. For any additional questions, contact Angela Tilson via email (aktilson@ncdot.gov) or phone (919-296-6081).

How to Properly Dispose of Latex Paint

If you have latex paint, follow these tips to safely dispose of the paint at home:

• Air Dry: If there is not much paint left in the can, you can leave the lid off to let the paint air dry. This method works best when there is an inch or less of paint left in the can.
• Cat Litter: If you have clay base cat litter, mix equal parts of litter with paint to help speed up the drying process. The cat litter will absorb the paint and is a very fast-effective method.
• Separate the Paint: If you have a lot of paint, separate them into different containers to help speed up the drying process.
• Hardening Products: Some hardware stores sell a paint hardening product that you mix into your remaining paint to thicken and harden it.

 
After you have hardened and dried your remaining paint, you can throw it away in your regular trash can. The lid should be left off the can so it is apparent the paint is dried. You do NOT need to dispose of dried out latex paint with household hazardous waste at the Waste & Recycling Centers. If the paint can is metal (only metal no plastic parts), you can recycle the can with scrap metal at the Waste & Recycling Centers.

Mulch, Compost and Compost Bins For Sale

Mulch and Compost are available for purchase at the Orange County landfill. $25 per three cubic yard scoop of mulch and Solid Waste will deliver any size load for a delivery fee plus the cost of mulch.

Each scoop of mulch is approximately 3 cubic yards/1,200 pounds. 

• For pickup, we load your truck or trailer.

• You must tarp your load securely before leaving the landfill.

• We deliver mulch within a 20 mile radius of the landfill for a delivery fee plus the cost of the mulch; call (919) 968-2788 or email recycling@orangecountync.gov for delivery details

Compost is available for $30 per cubic yard but is selling fast - call ahead if you are interested in buying compost. Check our website for details.
Mulch and compost are available during landfill operating hours of 7am -4pm Monday - Friday and 8am to 12noon Saturdays. You must arrive at least 15 minutes before closing time.
Orange County Solid Waste is pleased to again offer counter top compost pails and ‘Earth Machine’ backyard composters for sale. Sales are by APPOINTMENT ONLY. A limited number of appointments are available each Wednesday.  To schedule an appointment, please call (919) 968-2788 or email recycling@orangecountync.gov.
You can pay with cash, check or money order ONLY. Exact change is REQUIRED. 

The sales will take place at the Orange County Scale house located at 1514 Eubanks Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27516. Face Masks and compliance with social distancing measures are required. Due to the pandemic, employees are prohibited from assisting with the loading of purchases into customer’s vehicles. Purchasers must load their purchase themselves. The composter comes in two pieces and will fit in any size car.

If a customer misses their appointment time, the customer must call to schedule another appointment.

Can't Get Enough Trash Talk?

Listen to OC Solid Waste Representatives the second Tuesday of each month from 8:15 am to 8:45 am on the ‘3-D News’ on local radio WHUP 104.7 FM, over the air and streaming online. Visit this link to listen online. If you missed the show, you can listen online since shows are archived for a month after airing.