Mt. Airy News: Landfill Sorts Through New Recycling Law
Filed under: Earth 911 - February 12, 2008
By Erin C. Perkins
When he arrived at the Surry County Landfill this week, Don Shumaker was surprised when he was directed to a muddy area to dump a load of glass he had just picked up from a restaurant. He couldn’t understand the piles of broken glass on the ground. Shumaker later learned that the landfill had found a way to deal with a new recyling law that required eateries that sell alcohol to recycle glass containers.
Although House Bill 1518, which went into effect last month, prohibits ABC permit holders from disposing of recyclable items sold on their premises in landfills or by incineration, some waste management services deliver to the Surry County Landfill, where operators plan to use the materials to build roads in the landfill.
“The glass is grinded then flattened to the ground and covered with stones and dirt to make roads for the trucks to travel,” said Jerry Snow, the public works director at the landfill, who added that landfill operators weren’t provided guidelines and regulations for how the materials should be handled or used.
“We weren’t prepared for the amount of material we would be receiving,” he added. “We are just getting used to it.”
Snow said that using the recycled materials to build roads is considered a form of recycling and provides the landfill with useful materials to construct the roads inexpensively.
“It is more use to us to make roads with it,” he said. “It would cost more to ship it out or find another use for it. We are just trying to the best we can. We didn’t know what to expect (and) if you don’t know, then you don’t know how to get ready.”
According to Earth 911, an environmental resource Web site, Americans recycle 13 million jars and bottles every day, which can be used to process new glass, including 1, 300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash and 380 pounds of limestone.
Shumaker, who visits the landfill frequently as a business owner and home owner, said he was concerned that lawmakers didn’t provide adequate time for landfill operators to develop a strategy to handle the glass containers.
“The guys here at the landfill are doing a great job, but the state made a law without informing these workers how to properly prepare for this… the consequences of it just come back on the little man,” he said. “You can’t pass a law to do something when the facility is not set up for it. No one should have to pay for recycling.”
Officials with the North Carolina ABC Commission said 70 businesses in Surry County are affected by the law, which requires that bars and restaurants have recyclable glass, plastics and aluminum hauled to the proper facilities. The expense costs some businesses an extra $100 or more a month.
Many local establishments have hired companies such as Cooke Rentals on West Lebanon Street, which is one of the few disposal services in Surry County that offers recycling services. The company charges $25 per month for each 95-gallon roll-out recycling container.