Circular Services and Mecklenburg County Commence Operations at the Upgraded Amble Drive Recycling Facility, Tripling Material Recovery

The state-of-the-art facility features 16 optical sorters and advances the County’s recycling capacity following more than a year of interim operations at Pence Road.

Charlotte, NC, Oct 2 – Circular Services, the largest privately held recycling, composting and reuse company in the United States, has moved its Mecklenburg County residential recycling operations to the newly retrofitted Amble Drive Materials Recovery Facility, following more than a year of processing the County’s single-stream recyclables at the interim Pence Road facility. The transition marks the next phase of Circular Services’ partnership with Mecklenburg County, first announced in June 2025.

The Amble Drive facility was retrofitted through a collaboration between Mecklenburg County and sortation technology provider Van Dyk Recycling Solutions. The upgraded site is equipped with 16 Van Dyk optical sorters, which are one of the most advanced sortation technologies available today. With a processing rate of 40 tons per hour and average throughput of 300 tons of material per day, the new facility’s capacity is nearly triple that of the former Pence Road system.

“Mecklenburg County invested in the technology and infrastructure that will maximize the value of its recycle program,” said Ron Gonen, CEO of Circular Services. “Amble Drive is now one of the most advanced recycling facilities on the east coast.”

The upgrades also expand what County residents can recycle, including:

• Paper cups, such as coffee and fast-food cups
• Plastic cups
• Polypropylene (PP) containers, such as yogurt cups and plastic take-out containers
• Clear plastic polyethylene (PET) food containers, such as produce and prepared food containers

“The upgrades at Amble Drive allow us to process recyclables more efficiently and keep more everyday items out of the landfill,” said Jeff Smithberger, Director of Mecklenburg County Solid Waste, via the County’s press release.

Circular Services was first selected to operate the interim facility as the County’s recycling partner in 2025 while the Amble Drive facility was upgraded. With that project upgrade now complete, Circular Services will continue managing day-to-day operations, processing, and marketing of recovered materials at Amble Drive. The Pence Road facility will transition to its planned role supporting industrial and construction & demolition material recovery.

Learn more about Circular Services’ solutions for municipalities and businesses at www.circularservices.com.