MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – For the first time, Myrtle Beach Solid Waste collected more recyclable material than trash over the past month in bins east of Kings Highway. Because commercial recycling isn’t required by the city, leaders are initiating a pilot program to add bins for recyclable trash.
With the pilot program, the city will place four new recycling containers in the boardwalk district. The new containers will be placed east of Kings Highway, near trash compactors to give people – residents and visitors to Myrtle Beach – the opportunity to recycle.
“There is demand from our visitors,” says Myrtle Beach spokesperson Mark Kruea. “I’ve had people from Canada write me and say ‘Gee, I couldn’t find a place to take my recycling, so I packed it in my car and took it back home with me to Canada instead of leaving it in the trash can at the hotel.'”
Myrtle Beach Solid Waste superintendent, Ed Marr, said they applied for a grant with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to fund construction of the recyclable dumpsters.
City leaders say feedback from visitors to Myrtle Beach suggests residents of the city aren’t the only ones interested in recycling. Even though hotels and businesses aren’t required to recycle in Myrtle Beach, Kruea said visitors still want a place to recycle at their hotels.
“A lot of our visitors are coming from places where recycling is required. Not just for the residential community, but the business community as well,” explains Kruea. “They come here and they say ‘what do you mean you don’t require recycling in the hotels?’ We’re getting pressure from our visitors to offer that and the hotel community needs to buy into that, too.”
The pilot program is expected to begin after July 1 in the next fiscal year. Right now, the project is only along the beach. Myrtle Beach leaders say the success of the project will determine if it spreads to the rest of the city.
