Guilford County guide explains trash, recycling and disposal services
Guilford County’s trash rules depend on your address. The guide shows where to haul white goods, paint, tires and hazardous waste, and what private service can cost.
A dead refrigerator, a hardened paint can or a missed pickup in Guilford County can send residents to very different places depending on where they live. The county’s waste system is a patchwork built around Greensboro, High Point, 11 smaller towns and the unincorporated county, and the difference matters the moment a refrigerator dies, a paint can hardens or a pickup is missed. The county’s 2026 Solid Waste Services Guide lays out those choices to keep residents from losing time, paying fees and making failed trips.
How the county map works
The guide is arranged by municipality and covers Archdale, Gibsonville, Greensboro, Guilford County, High Point, Jamestown, Oak Ridge, Pleasant Garden, Sedalia, Stokesdale, Summerfield and Whitsett. That structure reflects how waste service actually works on the ground: some people rely on a city or town system, while others outside municipal limits buy service from a licensed private hauler.
Guilford County Environmental Services handles more than curbside pickup. It covers waste collection, recycling, disposal options, illegal dumping and burning enforcement, landfill inspections and public education.
If you live outside city limits, your hauler matters
Residents in unincorporated Guilford County can buy garbage and recycling service from licensed private collectors. The Board of Commissioners sets a maximum fee schedule, and all licensed haulers must follow county performance standards known as the Solid Waste Customer Bill of Rights.
In August 2022, commissioners voted to raise the maximum solid-waste collection fee rate to $25.50 for unincorporated areas. At that hearing, Republic Services, GFL Environmental and Randolph County Garbage Service were the licensed haulers named for unincorporated Guilford County. The county also lists Republic Services and GFL Environmental as licensed options in its residential garbage guidance.
The Bill of Rights gives residents several concrete protections. It says customers may choose a hauler competitively and discontinue service with at least 30 days’ written notice unless a contract says otherwise. It also says residential haulers must provide at least twice-monthly curbside recycling service.
What to do with white goods and bulky appliances
The county’s clearest no-cost option is the Scrap Tire & White Goods Collection Facility at 2138 Bishop Road in Greensboro. North Carolina bans white goods from landfill disposal, and state rules define white goods to include refrigerators, ranges, water heaters, freezers, air conditioners, washing machines, dishwashers and clothes dryers.
That facility is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and customers are asked to arrive at least 30 minutes before closing. There is no charge, no appointment is required and staff will help unload. The facility accepts items such as stoves, washers, dryers, refrigerators, water heaters, freezers, air conditioners, dishwashers, microwave ovens, range hoods and lawn mowers once fluids have been removed.
For larger loads or items that do not fit the white-goods category, the county points residents to the Solid Waste Transfer Station at 6310 Burnt Poplar Rd. in Greensboro. The transfer station is a separate disposal site with broader services, while the white-goods facility is the no-charge destination for appliances and scrap tires.
Paint cans, chemicals and other hazardous waste
Paint cans belong at the Household Hazardous Waste Center, not in a trash cart or at a landfill. The center is at 2750 Patterson Street in Greensboro and is open to all Guilford County residents at no charge.
Its hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center accepts batteries, paints, solvents, fuels, pesticides, fluorescent bulbs, propane tanks and many other household chemicals, but it does not accept garbage, medical waste or unknown materials. Old paint, leftover driveway sealer, lawn chemicals and similar leftovers belong there, not in regular disposal streams.
Recycling rules that prevent rejected loads
Recycling in Guilford County requires clean, dry materials, and plastic bags should not go in recycling bins. Foam, cardboard and plastic bags have special options such as the Triad Foam Recycling Coalition.
The county’s Environmental Services staff, led by program manager Bonnie Ware, oversees solid-waste and recycling programs that include scrap tire and white-goods disposal, electronics recycling, residential garbage collection, special collection events and environmental education.
Why the rules are written this way
Waste disposal is treated as a public-health and environmental-protection issue, not just a convenience issue. Guilford County says improperly handled waste can contribute to air, water and soil contamination, and the NCDEQ Division of Waste Management says illegal dumping is worse where communities lack convenient drop-off centers and where tipping fees or weak enforcement make dumping easier.
Guilford County says volunteers collect nearly 20,000 pounds, about 10 tons, of roadside, stream, neighborhood and park trash each year.
Why the paper trail still matters
Guilford County’s Solid Waste Management Plan was last updated in 2012, because North Carolina no longer requires counties to keep updating those plans.
Each county must submit a Solid Waste and Materials Management Annual Report to NCDEQ, and Guilford County keeps an archive for FY 23-24, FY 22-23 and FY 21-22.
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