The Town of Wilkesboro reminds the citizens and public of three new landfill bans that will begin later this year. Motor oil filters, plastic bottles and wooden pallets will officially be prohibited from entering any North Carolina landfill beginning on October 1, 2009.  

The North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance have created a web-

site about the upcoming landfill bans http://p2pays.org/BannedMaterials. The site contains a wealth of information specifically about plastic bottles, since that ban will more likely affect North Carolinians in their day-to-day lives. The site provides citizens and businesses with information on how, where and why to recycle plastic bottles, as well as information about how to recycle wooden pallets and motor oil filters.

Wilkesboro citizens have for years done a great job with recycling and we hope to continue increasing our recycling levels. The Town currently has recycling programs in place for the following items: Paper, Newspaper, Magazines, Mixed paper, Junk Mail, Plastic with recycle codes 1-7, Cans, Aluminum, Metal, Tin, Aerosol and Glass curbside bi-weekly and at our Recycling Convenience Centers:  located at Wilkesboro Civic Center on School Street and Cub Creek Park on Bridge Street which are open 24 hours. Other recycling convenience centers outside our town limits are Mt. Carmel Center, Mt. Pleasant Center, Grassy Fork Center, and Roaring River Center and are open Mon, Wed, Fri 9 AM – 5 PM and Sat 8 AM – 5 PM.  

North Carolina General Statute §130A-309.10(f) lists the items currently banned from North Carolina landfills: aluminum cans, lead-acid batteries, antifreeze, motor oil, appliances, oyster shells, beverage containers from ABC permitted facilities, scrap tires and yard waste. Wilkes County recently began accepting most items at their Convenience Centers but for more information on pallet recycling, please contact the Wilkes County Landfill at 336-696-3867.

The list of items banned from North Carolina landfills continues to grow. Not only will these three items be added to the list in October, televisions and computer equipment will also be added to the list in order to combat the increase of electronic waste in our landfills in January 2011.

For more information on banned items, please contact the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance at (919) 715-6500 or (800) 763-0136. You may also visit their website at www.p2pays.org. For more information on Recycling at the Town of Wilkesboro, you may call Jim Wyatt, Public Works Superintendent or James Minton at 336-838-0188 or visit our website www.wilkesboronorthcarolina.com under the Town Services tab.

Recycle for Tomorrow!