Yard Waste

Beginning July 1, 2023, The City of High Point Environmental Services Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Division will no longer accept yard waste in plastic bags.

This change comes after High Point City Council voted unanimously to amend the City’s solid waste ordinance on May 15, 2023. 

The City will have a grace period until Sept. 1, 2023, during which residents will not be fined for the use of plastic bags to dispose of yard waste. Instead, warnings will be issued to educate residents. 

The use of plastic bags poses many issues to City collection and disposal staff and equipment, long-term viability and significant environmental impacts. By prohibiting plastic bags in yard waste, the Ingleside Compost Facility will be able to produce a zero-waste, completely organic compost and topsoil for our residents and commercial users.  

Prohibiting plastic bags for yard waste disposal is also an effort to remain consistent with other local municipalities and prepare for the changing North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality permit requirements. 

According to the revised ordinance, yard waste must be placed at the curb in a City-approved yard waste rollout cart, paper bags or secured in bundles weighing no more than 50 pounds and not exceeding a length of four feet. The City will not collect yard waste discarded in a plastic bag, and repeated use of plastic bags may result in a $250 fine after the grace period. 

Why the switch from plastic bags?

The City of High Point has grown significantly since the Ingleside Compost Facility opened in 1993, which has increased the number of bagged items we receive.

These plastic bags bind up in the compost machinery that grinds the materials the facility receives to produce compost. It is very costly to repair this equipment, and the downtime reduces the amount of compost that can be produced.

In the current process, all compost must be screened to remove the plastic bags that have been shredded by machinery. This creates a large debris pile that takes up a significant amount of room on the site which reduces the amount of room available for the compost.

This debris pile must also be transported from Ingleside Compost Facility to the Kersey Valley Landfill, which is a costly process. Once there, the debris takes up space, which reduces the life span of the landfill.

Even with the screening process, not all of the plastic bag debris can be removed. Therefore, this debris is put right back into the environment and can run off into our streams.

Single-use plastics (SUP) are not recyclable and release harmful toxins during the composting process. Without plastic bags, the compost produced at Ingleside will be an organic product.