There was an article today in the Winston-Salem Journal that may be overstating a ban on throwing away plastic bottles. The article leads with:
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.
I have looked at the 2005 legislation (the law goes into effect October 1, 2009) and spoke with someone at DENR. It doesn’t appear to be accurate.
The law says “No person shall
knowingly dispose of the following solid wastes in landfills:
(10) Recyclable rigid
plastic containers that are required to be labeled as provided in subsection
(e) of this section, that have a neck smaller than the body of the container,
and that accept a screw top, snap cap, or other closure. The prohibition on
disposal of recyclable rigid plastic containers in landfills does not apply to
rigid plastic containers that are intended for use in the sale or distribution
of motor oil.”
Anyone that is throwing away a plastic bottle in a trash bin can’t be reasonably interpreted to be knowingly disposing of the item in a landfill.
Practically, enforcement takes place at the landfill level–the municipalities and private waste collectors that dispose of items at landfills are the ones that likely need to worry about this law.
There are other reasons as well why this law likely wouldn’t prohibit disposing of plastic bottles in trash bins. Not to mention, there’s the practical problems of enforcement.
It could be possible that because of this law, private waste companies and municipalities could pass on their legal risks to homeowners and businesses. A private waste company could require that plastic bottles be recycled. Municipalities also could try and pass ordinances to require recycling.
DENR should make it perfectly clear that people can still throw away plastic bottles in trash bins. Their desire to encourage recycling isn’t more important than making sure the public isn’t unnecessarily scared of the plastic bottle police.
