Solid Waste Management Department

Drop-Off Recycling Centers

Effective July 11, 2009, the City will close six out of the seven drop-off recycling centers. According to Donald Long, director of the City’s Department of Solid Waste Management, multiple reasons are behind the closure of all but one of the recycling drop-off centers. "With the introduction of our new curbside recycling collection service beginning the week of July 13th, we anticipate that the use of these centers will decrease significantly," Long said. "In addition, since these centers are not staffed, only a minimal amount of usable recyclables are recovered from these locations, mainly due to contamination of what’s left there. Add to this issue the rampant illegal dumping that occurs in addition to considerable staff time used in keeping the sites clean. When we take all of these factors into consideration, we believe it is just not a good use of our taxpayer dollars to keep these centers open, especially since the new 95-gallon recycling roll-out carts should eliminate the need for these centers almost completely."

Long said the only drop-off center that will remain open after July 10 is the City’s Waste Disposal and Recycling Center (Transfer Station), located at 2115 East Club Boulevard, Durham. "This is the only City recycling drop-off center that is staffed, and as a result, the recyclable contamination and illegal dumping that has occurred at our other sites has not been a problem here," Long said. "If our customers need to recycle something that doesn’t fit into their new curbside roll-out carts, they can still use this facility to drop off their items."

The Durham County Convenience Centers continue to be operational and city residents can bring recycling only to the county centers at no charge. A county sticker must be purchased if City residents want to bring garbage to these centers. These centers are located at:

  • Highway 55 and T.W. Alexander Drive (Parkwood), (919) 560-0460
  • Quail Roost Road and Ball Road (Bahama), (919) 477-8552
  • Redwood Road and Electra Drive (Redwood), (919) 682-8200
  • Highway 501 North and Bill Poole Road (Rougemont), (919) 477-4325