Where does my Trash and Recycling go?
Monday through Friday, trash in Curry County is collected on residential and commercial routes in garbage or recycles trucks, or self-hauled to one of our four transfer stations.
The day’s garbage is prepared at the transfer stations for transport to permitted facilities. Material that cannot be recycled is processed and placed daily into two to four large semi- trailers and then transported to Dry Creek Landfill located in White City just east of Medford.
Recycle material is baled and trucked to paper mills, glass or electronic waste processors, or Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) where your commingled recycled material is sorted and then sent to paper, plastic, or metal processors.
Transfer stations are not landfills or dumps. Modern day landfills are well-engineered, well controlled land disposal sites for solid, non-hazardous waste in which delivered wastes are spread and compacted in layers a few feet thick. At least once a day the wastes are covered with a layer of earth and then compacted again. Some of us remember open dumps where one backed a pick-up truck or trailer and off loaded trash onto a heap of waste. These open dumps have been closed and are no longer legal to operate.