Hilton Head Dump: Convenience Center, Trash and Recycling

People call it the Hilton Head dump, and the county calls it the Hilton Head Island Convenience Center. It is the only public drop-off on the island, at 26 Summit Drive just off Dillon Road. Beaufort County’s Solid Waste & Recycling department runs it, and it is open 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Sunday. It is closed every Wednesday and on county holidays.

The county closes the center on New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and early (1 p.m.) on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The county’s Solid Waste & Recycling office is at (843) 255-2736. The center’s own line, (843) 681-3731, often goes unanswered, so call the county office or check the county site for a change in hours. The county’s other center, at 104 Simmonsville Road in Bluffton, keeps the same hours.

To leave anything that is not a recyclable, you need a county decal. Decals go to property owners with a livable dwelling on the lot, one per household, and the county allows three visits a week (the week runs Sunday to Saturday). Apply on the county’s decal registration page; a digital barcode is available.

Renters do not apply themselves: ask the landlord or property manager. Recyclables can be dropped off by anyone, with no decal. Businesses cannot use the center and have to contract a private hauler. Trailers are limited to 5 by 8 feet.

Beaufort County lists these as accepted at the Hilton Head Island Convenience Center:

• Household garbage and bulky items such as furniture and mattresses

• Appliances and scrap metal

• Electronics (e-waste), batteries, and paint

• Motor oil and filters and cooking oil

• Tires, up to four a day

• Yard waste

• Recyclables: glass, aluminum and steel cans, plastics #1 and #2 (bottles and jugs), paper and cardboard

The Hilton Head Island recycling center is the convenience center, and recycling is free for everyone. The county asks you to bring items clean and loose, not in a bag, with caps and lids removed and containers left uncrushed. Plastic is limited to bottles and jugs (#1 and #2) bigger than a cup and smaller than a gallon, and paper has to be larger than an envelope.

The Town of Hilton Head Island ended its single curbside contract in April 2014, so Hilton Head trash pickup is now a private service you choose. WM, Republic Services, Waste Pro and Capital Waste are the haulers that serve the island, and which of them reaches a street varies by address and community, so ask your neighbors or your property owners’ association who they use. WM has an address lookup on its site. Town rules require a hauler to offer curbside recycling alongside garbage collection.

Your hauler or your community association sets the pickup days. For electric, water and the rest of the setup, see the Hilton Head utilities guide.

Take yard waste, furniture, mattresses and appliances to the convenience center, which accepts them with a decal. Ask your curbside hauler what it will take on pickup day before you set a pile out.

For short-term rental owners and property managers: trash is a rule here, not just a chore. The Town’s short-term rental ordinance (passed in May 2022 and enforced from January 1, 2023) requires a designated trash storage area, fenced or screened so the containers cannot be seen from the street. Containers can go to the curb no more than 24 hours before pickup and have to come back within 24 hours after. Owners also have to display trash removal instructions in the home, including pickup times and any association requirements.

A line for the check-in message and the in-home guide: the trash and recycling pickup days for the street, where the bins live, and when to roll them out and back, within the 24-hour limits. Add that guests can drop recyclables at the convenience center without a decal, but need the owner’s decal for trash, and that the center is closed on Wednesdays. For a checklist covering power, water and internet for a new rental, see the utilities guide; for property managers, see property management on Hilton Head.