Charleston County to host Earth Day event April 19 at material recovery facility

Charleston County will hold an Earth Day celebration on April 19 at its material recovery facility (MRF) that will include facility tours, presentations, a household hazardous waste (HHW) drop-off, a paper-shredding event and children’s activities, LaMonica Smalls, a community representative with Charleston County Environmental Management, said on the Charleston County Connects podcast.

The event is intended to educate residents about recycling and reduce contamination of recyclable materials, Smalls said. "MRF stands for material recovery facility," she said. "HHW is household hazardous waste." She urged residents to bring household chemicals and some paints to the HHW drop-off rather than discarding them in regular trash so the county can dispose of them properly.

Smalls described the MRF’s on-site education center, which includes displays on composting, the county’s recycling history, examples of what the program accepts and the process that recycling trucks follow when materials arrive: "the total process of what happens when the recycling truck comes to empty, going on the sorting machine, sorted and bailed, and shipped off to become recyclable materials," she said. The facility displays large bales of aluminum and cardboard; staff invite visitors to guess the bales’ weights as part of tours.

The family-oriented event also will include a children’s drawing contest; the winning child’s drawing will be posted in the MRF, Smalls said. Face painting and giveaways will be available, and the podcast host said logistics and the event address would appear in the episode description.

Smalls outlined items the MRF does not accept and suggested alternatives. "No plastic bags. No type of soft plastic at all," she said, adding that many grocery stores accept soft plastics for recycling. She also said Styrofoam is not accepted at the MRF but that some retailers — Smalls named Harris Teeter and Publix — may accept it for recycling. In response to a listener question about unusual items, Smalls recounted that animal parts brought in from a school dissection once reached the Romney Street facility; she said staff have also rescued animals found in the stream of incoming material.

For school or community outreach, Smalls said she conducts educational visits to Charleston County schools and organizations to reduce contamination and increase recycling knowledge. "I can be reached through email at lrsmalls@charlestoncounty.org. I can also be reached by phone at (843) 720-1966," she said on the podcast.

The episode emphasized education as a way to increase household recycling accuracy and divert more material from landfills. The podcast host noted the event’s shred service is popular and encouraged schools and community groups to request outreach through the contact information provided.