Fort Mill residents can toss plastic drink cups, yogurt containers, takeout boxes and fruit bins into their curbside recycling bins starting Monday, Sept. 14.

Mecklenburg County's Wipe Out Waste program announced the expansion after completing a $24 million upgrade to the Amble Drive Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), where Fort Mill's curbside recyclables are processed. WSOC TV reported that Fort Mill is among several communities outside Mecklenburg County that send recyclables to the facility.

The newly accepted items include paper cups such as coffee and fast-food beverage cups, plastic cups without straws, and polypropylene containers like yogurt cups. Clear plastic food containers used for produce and bakery items, along with clean takeout containers, are also accepted.

One rule applies to all of them: rinse before you recycle. Items must be clean, dry and placed loose in the bin.

No plastic bags.

"If they're leftover with last night's lasagna from the nice dinner that you had somewhere, no, we still need that cleaned out," Jeff Smithberger, director of Mecklenburg County Solid Waste, told WSOC TV.

The upgrade replaced every piece of sorting equipment at the Amble Drive facility. Smithberger said the county swapped out "every bit of it down to the last conveyor belt," installing 16 optical sorters, most manufactured in the Netherlands. Before the overhaul, about 25% of curbside materials placed in bins should never have been there, he said.

The shift from hand-sorting to mechanized processing is what made the expanded list possible. Smithberger called the result a "state-of-the-art facility" with few peers in the country.

The Wipe Out Waste program's official website had not been updated to reflect the new items as of Tuesday, Sept. 15. Residents can check for updates on the Wipe Out Waste curbside pickup page.

Fort Mill's recycling contact is Brian Harris at the Town of Fort Mill, according to the state Department of Environmental Services. Tega Cay residents should contact Operations Director Charlie Funderburk at 803-548-3512, ext. 129, to confirm whether the expansion applies to their curbside service.

Upcoming community events: Fort Mill High School hosts a college fair featuring 65-plus schools on Monday, Sept. 28.