Mecklenburg County Opens New Materials Recovery Facility

Recyclables have a new home. Mecklenburg County Solid Waste held a grand opening yesterday for its new Pence Road Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), the processing hub for all single stream recyclable materials collected from residential curbside programs, schools, and drop-off programs throughout the County and several surrounding areas.  

The 48,510-square-foot facility at 7833 Pence Road provides the County flexibility in managing sustainable resources and keeping more items out of local landfills. This facility will operate as the main processing center while the County undertakes a major retrofit of its flagship Metrolina MRF on Amble Drive. This retrofit is expected to be complete by summer 2026.  

“After the original MRF on Amble Drive is retrofitted with state-of-the-art technology, the Pence Road facility will focus on expanding our abilities for recycling in the future,” said Jeff Smithberger, director of Solid Waste. “We’ll have multiple facilities in our community that can accept and process recyclable items from our great community.”

The grand opening also marks the new partnership between Solid Waste and Circular Services, which began serving as the County’s processing and operations partner earlier this month.  

Mecklenburg County expects to deliver over 6,000 tons of residential single-stream recyclable material to the Pence Road facility monthly. Circular Services will manage the processing and marketing of these materials, as well as maintenance and upkeep of the facilities.