What’s happening to Cary’s convenience center? Town weighs options
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Railroad will take back right-of-way; town must remove operations by Dec. 31.
- Town council weighing options: full public closure, partial services or relocation.
- Relocation design could cost around $175,000; construction could cost millions more.
A big change is coming to a Wake County convenience center.
Part of the Cary Citizen’s Convenience Center on North Dixon Avenue is in the North Carolina Railroad’s right-of-way, and the railroad informed the town in September that it needs the space for an improvement project.
As a result, the town will have to remove convenience center operations from the right-of-way by Dec. 31.
While the railroad will take the land, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the convenience center — where Cary residents can drop off residential solid waste, recycling, food waste and yard waste — will cease to exist.
The convenience center, which has been its location since the 1950s, serves around 250 visitors per day and around 90,000 per year, though it’s unclear whether the same visitors are making multiple trips, assistant town manager Shelley Curran said in an early February council work session.
What could happen to the existing Cary Citizen’s Convenience Center?
During the meeting, Curran presented three possibilities for what could happen to the convenience center, the only site of its kind in the town. The options were developed with consultant Garrett & Moore, which the town hired for $40,000.
- The first option is to close the convenience center to the public. Cary spends around $800,000-$900,000 annually to operate the center. The town’s Public Works Department expects that there may be additional yard waste at residences if the town lost its convenience center, but other and more specific impacts have not yet been determined.
- The town could also keep yard and food waste disposal at the current site, but close the other services. The town would need to pay to formulate a design plan that would relocate the yard and food waste services and the public access point, which is currently in the right-of-way.
- Or, the town could keep yard waste at the current site, but move other services to a different town-owned property. The site in question is a 4.8-acre location at 801 Old Apex Road, west of downtown Cary, and does not have enough space to accommodate yard waste. Curran estimated that the town would pay around $175,000 for a design plan to fit the services on the site, and an additional $3 million to $4 million to construct it. More precise construction cost estimates would be determined later.
Regardless of which option the town selects, it will still have to pay to remove convenience center operations from the right-of-way.
The town’s public works department will continue to use the part of the property that is outside the right-of-way as a transfer site for all yard waste collected in Cary, and as a storage space for equipment, Curran told The News & Observer in an email.
It is possible that there could be minimal disruption to yard waste and food waste disposal service, if the town opts to keep those services at the site. However, it depends on where the yard and food waste is located, and how quickly the site could be set up.
Service disruptions could last longer if the town decides to relocate the convenience center to the Old Apex Road site.
The council has not made a decision about the future of the convenience center. Town staff are working to gather information the council needs to make a decision, Curran told The N&O.
Wake County convenience centers
Wake County residents can use any convenience center in the county.
The nearest convenience center to Cary’s convenience center is at 266 Aviation Parkway in Morrisville, about 5 miles away. It accepts cardboard, clothing, garbage, mixed recycling, oyster shells and scrap metal.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 3:18 PM with the headline "What’s happening to Cary’s convenience center? Town weighs options."
