Pleasant Garden Hosts Combined Recycling, Medication Take-Back and Food Drive Event

Guilford County Environmental Services and the Town of Pleasant Garden brought together four separate community services under one roof on Saturday, March 14, drawing residents to 5024 Alliance Church Rd. for a free event running from 8 a.m. to noon.

The gathering was one of four community recycling events Guilford County Environmental Services hosts annually, but its scope went well beyond curbside cast-offs. Alongside hard-to-recycle items and personal document shredding, the Guilford County Sheriff's Office staffed a Medication Take-Back station while A Simple Gesture collected non-perishable food donations for residents in need.

The recycling component gave households a sanctioned outlet for bulky or obsolete items with nowhere else to go. Lawnmowers, grills, and VHS players were among the examples of what the event accepted, alongside personal documents fed into on-site shredders.

The GCSO's medication station offered disposal of bottled prescriptions, loose pills, creams, and vitamins. Liquids were not accepted. Needles and sharps are not typically part of take-back programs, but county guidance allowed them if properly capped and placed in small, sealed plastic containers. Guilford County's own release framed the public-health stakes plainly: "Proper disposal of medications can help prevent addictions, overdoses, deaths and prevent environmental pollution."

Residents who arrived with batteries, fuels, or light bulbs left with those items in hand. Household hazardous waste is not accepted at these community events. The county's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center at 2750 Patterson St. in Greensboro absorbs that material instead, operating Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Business waste was also turned away; the event was restricted to Guilford County residents.

Anyone with follow-up questions about the recycling event can contact Briana Steele at bsteele2@guilfordcountync.gov or 336-641-2082, or reach Ruthie Conrad with the Town of Pleasant Garden at adminassistant@pleasantgarden.net or 336-674-3002 ext. 104. Questions specific to medication disposal can be directed to GCSO Public Information Officer Bria Evans at bevans2@guilfordcountync.gov or 336-641-2752. Additional recycling information is available at GuilfordCountyNC.gov/Recycles.