For the second consecutive year, and for the third time in six years, Lexington County has exceeded both of the state’s waste reduction and recycling goals. 

The South Carolina Solid Waste Management Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2019, published by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on April 16, 2020, contains waste reduction and recycling data that was collected from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. The report shows solid waste disposal and recycling activities from curbside collection companies, collection and recycling centers, landfills, and from local businesses in all 46 counties in South Carolina.

According to the report, Lexington County exceeded SCDHEC’s goal to dispose of a maximum of 3.25-pounds of solid waste per person, per day, achieving a waste rate of 3.16-pounds per person, per day in fiscal year 2019. Additionally, Lexington County exceeded SCDHEC’s goal to recycle at least 40% of the amount of material generated with a recycling rate of 54.26%. This is an increase of 10.51% over Lexington County’s fiscal year 2018 recycling rate of 43.75%. 

Six counties have met the recycling goal in the past six years, and Lexington County is the only county in the state to have met the goal more than once in this time period.  

To achieve this, Lexington County assists businesses with their recycling efforts and works with 19 different vendors to recycle 26 different materials collected through curbside collections, and at the County’s 11 Collection and Recycling Centers, as well as at the Edmund Landfill and at Recycling Drop-off Events. 

Although businesses are not required to report their solid waste and recycling practices, SCDHEC requires local governments to collect and report as much data as possible by November each year. 

The Lexington County Solid Waste Management team is very grateful for the many businesses that track and report their recycling data each year and for all of the Lexington County residents who continue to “Recycle Right!”