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N.C. to ban throwing away bottles
Hard-plastic containers, such as soda, water bottles will have to be recycled starting Oct. 1
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Published: June 3, 2009
ELIZABETH CITY - North Carolina is set to make recycling history this fall when it becomes one of the first states to ban the disposal of plastic bottle waste in traditional trash bins.
Beginning Oct. 1, such rigid plastic containers as soda and water bottles, milk jugs, and laundry detergent can no longer be discarded in nonrecycling waste bins.
Rigid plastics are defined as bottles that have a neck smaller than the body of the container.
The legislation, adopted by state legislators in 2005, does not prohibit the purchase of these everyday plastic items; it only affects how they're disposed.
Introduced by state Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Chatham, who is now the N.C. House Speaker, the law was designed to reduce energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions while providing economic incentives for entrepreneurs.
"There's a huge environmental payoff, but what made this bill so attractive to legislators was the economic benefits it will provide statewide," says Scott Mouw, environmental supervisor for the N.C. Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.
North Car-olina is the first state in the Southeast to move forward with a statewide bottle ban. Massachusetts imposed a similar disposal ban, and Wisconsin law requires that residents recycle plastic bottles. A handful of municipalities across the U.S. have also imposed similar plastic-bottle bans.
Plastic-bottle recycling is big business both domestically and internationally, as corporations can cut their costs by reusing the containers instead of producing new ones from virgin materials, Mouw said.
For example, Polyethylene terephthalate plastic, or PET, is a type of resin in the polyester family typically found in water and soda bottles. It's used to manufacture synthetic fibers and other liquid containers. PET is assigned the number 1, which can be found in the center of the recycle symbol at the bottom of the bottle.
PET plastic is a profitable commodity for China, which annually competes with the U.S. for its purchase.
"They depend on the supply of PET and competition is fierce between the U.S. and China," Mouw said. "And here we are throwing away this massively lucrative product."
A bit more locally, Clear Path Recycling in Fayetteville is building a $50 million plant that will rely heavily on the company's ability to amass recycled PET plastics from regional material-recovery facilities. After municipalities collect recycled waste from curbside pickup, materials are sent to MRFs where they are separated to be sold to corporations or recycling centers for profit.
Once Clear Path has acquired these plastics, they will be converted into polyester and sold primarily to national carpet manufacturing giant Shaw Floors, Mouw said.
"What's the alternative for Shaw, or companies like Coca-Cola?" Mouw asks. "They would have to use natural gas, or virgin petroleum material to create their product, which is much more expensive. By cleaning, washing, chopping up and remaking recycled plastic containers into a new product, they can save money and energy and lower their bottom line."
He admits that enforcement of the legislation will be limited. He also realizes that a certain percentage of plastics will continue to end up at the landfill.
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