Sharon Mahovlic and Jim Schleper have been married for 53 years and describe themselves as "each other's best friend, next to Jesus." The Fuquay-Varina residents have been attending landfill tours at least once every other year since 2015.
Jim and Sharon, who both retired from Wake County School System, are avid learners and share a passion for reducing waste in the environment. While they've been recycling in Wake County for 26 years, the couple say they still enjoy the tours because they keep gaining new insights.
“Things are always changing and it's so informative and you learn something new every time,” Sharon said, when asked what keeps them coming back to the tours.
Jim and Sharon noted that from the landfill tours they learned a few items are not accepted in mixed recycling, such as:
- Cash register receipts
- Pill bottles
- Anything smaller than a Post-it note
- Plastic bags
During their most recent tour in October 2025, Jim and Sharon said they learned razor blades were recyclable in scrap metal, but they'd always thrown them away before. While they're not birdwatchers, the couple were also impressed with the variety of birds seen at the landfill, saying that they noticed at least 10 bald eagles during their latest visit.
They say they remain motivated to do something about the environmental health of the County due to the amount of waste seen at the landfill.
“The first time we saw (the landfill), it's amazing to see. People need to see it and not be so wasteful," Sharon said.
Educators at Heart
Sharon, who was once a teacher for both children and adults with special needs, says she believes it's best to teach people best practices for waste reduction when they're younger so they can carry the lessons into adulthood. The pair acknowledge that it's sad most people are either indifferent to the need for waste reduction or just uninformed. They say they always encourage friends to come along with them on the free tours and love to share the things they learn from both the landfill tours and Sonoco Recycling facility tours with others so they can help educate them. They've been on two Sonoco Recycling facility tours so far and have said they plan to visit more in the future.
The pair live outside of the town limits of Fuquay-Varina, so they don't have garbage removal services provided by the municipality, but they bring recyclables and trash to Convenience Center Site 2 and compost at home. The former educators say it's best to be informed about what's recyclable and to sort waste items going into the bins correctly, but when you're in doubt, it is better to just throw it out, and not to guess.
Why Recycling Matters
Jim said the most eye-opening fact for him from the landfill tours is "the amount of work that's put into managing the landfill and the (number of resources) it takes to keep everything straight." The couple said the biggest misconception about recycling is that it doesn't make a difference, but they know firsthand that it does. They also recognize that people will trash items, like sheets of paper, before completely using them or even considering recycling or composting when they have no further use.
Sharon says seeing the landfill and recycling process in person is a lot different than viewing it on a computer screen.
“Without the tour, you really don't know what's going on," Jim says. "I mean, (some people) just throw stuff in a wastebasket, and don't think about it again. They don't even think about recycling or anything. So, I would think (the tours) open people's eyes."
The pair agree that even though they've been recycling for as long as they can remember, the educational tours continue to open their eyes.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, 972 people took a landfill tour and 668 people toured the Sonoco Recycling facility. If you would like to join the number and get an eye-opening look at the landfill and the recycling process, visit wake.gov/recycling.
