If you live in rural Horry County, you probably don't have curbside recycling pick-up, but that may soon change. A recycling program in one neighborhood is being used as a test to see if it can be done on a larger scale.
Every Wednesday morning, a Solid Waste Authority truck picks up recyclable materials at homes in the Heritage Preserve, a small subdivision off Highway 90. In just a little more than a month, the program has collected 3,300 pounds of newspapers, cans, bottles and other recyclables. The program is popular enough that some homeowners, like Marilyn Donegan, are already asking for additional bins. "I just got a second one because I really don't have enough room for the first one."
The results of this pilot program will be used to see if the Solid Waste Authority should offer curbside recycling county-wide. "At this point in time, I don't know for sure that this will be something that we will pick up, but it's a fact finding mission," said Esther Murphy, Solid Waste Authority.
Murphy says the results so far are impressive, with the numbers growing each week. Many of the folks in the subdivision came from northern states where recycling programs are commonplace or even mandatory, so for them, putting out a recycling bins just seems like the natural thing to do. "We were used to doing it up there, we did it when we first got down here and now this is getting us back in, reinforcing the remembering to put the recyclables out," said David Lappell, a Heritage Preserve Resident.
Only about 50 homes participate in the pilot program, but officials say that's enough to determine the cost and popularity of going county-wide.
It's a small start, but every item that goes in the bin, is one less that ends up in the landfill.
Information from the program will be gathered for six months, with the results revealed next spring.
