Scott Mouw

NC Division of Environmental Assistance &

Outreach

Solid Waste Management Annual

Report: Recycling

Recycling Trends in North Carolina

Positive growth in recycling programs and recycling

tonnage.

Disposal bans helping increase material recovery.

Breakthroughs in the recycling of new materials.

Recycling contributing to job and business growth.

Recycled materials essential to NC manufacturers.

2

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Curbside Recycling Programs

3

Curbside – Transition to Carts

Many major cities now using carts:

Greensboro Charlotte

Fayetteville Durham

High Point Jacksonville

Raleigh Winston-Salem

New small and medium sized town

programs starting with carts.

Estimated total # of households who received a cart in 2011:

400,000

12,000,000 gallons of additional household recycling capacity

Cart trend will continue to grow.

4

Recovery of Paper and Container

Materials by NC Local Governments

-

100,000.00

200,000.00

300,000.00

400,000.00

500,000.00

600,000.00

Fiber (Tons)

Containers (Tons)

5

Recovery of Plastic Bottles in NC by

Local Government Programs

-

5,000.00

10,000.00

15,000.00

20,000.00

25,000.00

30,000.00

35,000.00

40,000.00

FY 2003-04

FY 2004-05

FY 2005-06

FY 2006-07

FY 2007-08

FY 2008-09

FY 2009-10

FY 2010-11

Other Plastics

HDPE Bottles

PET Bottles

6

Local Government Electronics Collection

(in tons)

-

1,000.00

2,000.00

3,000.00

4,000.00

5,000.00

6,000.00

7,000.00

8,000.00

FY 2008-09 FY 2009-10 FY 2010-11

Televisions

Other Electronics

7

Effects of Oil Filter Disposal Ban for Filter

Recycling Companies

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

2008 2009 2010

Oil Filter Collection Customers

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

2008 2009 2010

Tons Collected

8

Effects of Pallet Disposal Ban: Pallet Recyclers

Private Wooden Pallet Recovery in

North Carolina, 2008-2011 (in tons)

• Over half of pallet recyclers said the disposal ban helped their business grow.

81%

62%

91%

38%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Increased pallet tonnage

Increase revenue

Increased Customers

Hired more workers

Effects on Pallet Recycling Businesses

9

Construction & Demolition Waste

and Organics Recycling Increasing interest and activity in C&D

recycling, despite construction economy -

amount of tonnage recycled at C&D

landfills has doubled since 2005.

Main challenge: relatively low market

value for some C&D materials.

Growth in commercial

composting facilities.

Separated food waste collection still at small scale but expanding

10

Shingle Recycling Early adopters: Greenville Paving and

Pitt County

Regulatory issues resolved.

Oil prices helping increase interest and

improve economics of shingle recycling.

Many asphalt paving companies now

scrambling to source materials.

Approximately 264,000 tons in potential

diversion; estimated currently at 40,000

tons.

11

Independent Recycling Haulers

Small haulers and new recycling start-ups playing an increasing role in material collection:

ABC customers

Other commercial customers

Unincorporated residences

Examples:

Green Pieces, Stanly County area – 130 to 2290 customers in four years.

Hatteras Recycling, Dare County – 335 to 1100 customers

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

2009 2010 2011(projected)

Change in # of customers since 2008

12

NC Recycling Employment Trends

1110 1137

7,757

11,76212,776

14,49015,187

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

1994 2000 2003 2008 2010

Employees

Year

Private Sector Jobs

Public Sector Jobs

13

Examples of Recycling Economic

Development in NC in 2011 Electronics Recycling International: announcement of new electronics

recycling facility in Badin with projected 150 jobs.

Synergy: completion of $30 million electronics processing facility in Madison.

McGill Environmental:$2 million upgrade of composting facility in Sanford.

New material recovery facilities (MRFs) built by Sonoco (Charlotte), North Davidson Sanitation (Welcome), Benfield Sanitation (Mooresville), and American Recycling (Candler)

Reflective Recycling: new $8 million glass processing facility in Wilson, NC

Unifi: new $8 million textile manufacturing facility converting plastic bottle plastic into polyester in Yadkinville.

14

Examples of Recycled Glass Movement in NC

Foothills Sanitation MRF,

12 employees

Planet Recycling,600 ABC

accounts, 23 employees Pratt Industries MRF,

52 employees

Reflective Recycling, $8

million glass cleaning

plant, 26 employees

Verallia Glass - makes

bottles for Anheuser

Busch, 310 employees

15

Examples of Recycled PET Movement in NC

Unifi $8 million Repreve

polyester manufacturing plant

Curbside Management

MRF, 30 employees

Clear Path $75 million PET

bottle processing plant Sonoco MRF, $1.5 million

plant, 15 employees

Sonoco MRF, $11 million plant

75 employees

16

Questions?

Scott Mouw

NC Division of Environmental Assistance & Outreach

919-707-8114

scott.mouw@ncdenr.gov

17