South Carolina trash pickup is run by cities, counties and private haulers, not by the state.
Your pickup day comes from your city’s or hauler’s own lookup. Among the largest cities, Charleston, Columbia and North Charleston collect curbside themselves. South Carolina has an electronics recycling law and a ban on yard waste in landfills, but no statewide bottle deposit, PaintCare paint or mattress program.
Find your city
The largest South Carolina cities and their official collection pages:
- Charleston: City of Charleston Environmental Services (Department of Public Service). Residential garbage is collected once weekly from standardized containers, which should go out no earlier than 6 p.m. the day before pickup. Official page ↗ Look up your collection day ↗
- Columbia: City of Columbia Public Works Department, Solid Waste and Recycling Division. The Solid Waste and Recycling Division provides collection and disposal of garbage, recycling and yard waste within the city limits. Official page ↗ Look up your collection day ↗
- North Charleston: City of North Charleston Public Works Department, Sanitation Division. The city collects garbage and yard waste (yard waste only in paper bags), recycling is a Charleston County service collected the same day, and the city no longer picks up e-waste. Official page ↗
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in South Carolina
- Each of South Carolina’s 46 counties has a residential recycling program, and the state counts nearly 70 curbside programs, over 535 drop-off centers and more than 900 used-motor-oil collection sites. Source ↗
- Large appliances, household electronics, tires, lead-acid batteries and used motor oil are required by law to be recycled in South Carolina. Source ↗
National haulers (Republic Services, WM, Waste Connections) hold contracts in many places; the city or county names the hauler for each street.
State-level rules
- Container deposit: No statewide container deposit law. NCSL’s state beverage container deposit laws page says ten states and Guam have deposit-refund systems and South Carolina is not among them. Source ↗
- Paint: Not a PaintCare state. PaintCare’s own list of program states covers twelve states and the District of Columbia and does not include South Carolina. Leftover paint goes through the local household hazardous waste program; see paint. Source ↗
- Mattresses: No statewide mattress take-back program. The Mattress Recycling Council’s Bye Bye Mattress program operates only in California, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: The S.C. Manufacturer Responsibility and Consumer Convenience Act bans knowingly discarding computers, computer monitors, printers and televisions in a waste stream bound for a landfill, effective July 1, 2011, and sets recycling obligations for manufacturers. Source ↗
- Yard waste: Banned from landfills statewide. SCDES says Class 3 (municipal solid waste) landfills in South Carolina cannot accept yard trimmings, along with hazardous waste, lead-acid batteries, whole tires, used motor oil and large appliances. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: South Carolina Department of Environmental Services, Bureau of Land and Waste Management (Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling). It permits South Carolina landfills and other waste facilities, gives counties and schools technical help and grant funding, reports statewide waste data, and publishes a county-by-county guide to local recycling programs. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: Where to Recycle (Recycle Here SC, by county) ↗
- Contact: (803) 898-3432
Flag of South Carolina. Public-domain artwork. Artwork: Design by South Carolina General Assembly, SVG by Steve Hall. Source. Resized to 480 pixels wide.
Materials with their own rules
Paint · Lithium-ion batteries · Household hazardous waste · Mattresses · Pizza boxes · Christmas trees
Neighboring states
Sources
Official pages used: des.sc.gov · des.sc.gov · charleston-sc.gov · charleston-sc.gov · charleston-sc.gov · publicworks.columbiasc.gov · publicworks.columbiasc.gov · northcharleston.org · ncsl.org · paintcare.org · byebyemattress.com · des.sc.gov · des.sc.gov · des.sc.gov.
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