Ban on trashing plastic bottles takes effect Thursday

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina residents need to be careful about what they put in their trash cans starting Thursday.

A new law taking effect Oct. 1 bans plastic bottles from landfills as a way to encourage recycling and reduce the amount of trash in the ground.

Chris Frazier with the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance said state regulators won't rummage through people's trash. Some local government sanitation departments have said they won't pick up trash that contains plastic bottles.

Motor oil filters, wooden pallets are also banned from solid waste disposal facilities in the state.

Dee Freeman, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the new law could create jobs for those who collect, process and recycle the banned materials back into a wide range of products.

“Recycling is a proven job creator in North Carolina and if we do our best to recycle the newly banned materials, we will not only grow businesses in the state, but also protect disposal capacity, recover valuable resources, save energy and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

122 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 122 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

I have lived in wake county for just over 5 years. We have had containers to put our: plastic, metals, glass to go to a recycle, at least that long. So how is this new law any different?

Eduardo1
October 1, 2009 7:41 p.m.

RKBA, Police? No. No. The extra created jobs will be The Garbage Gestopo--they could be anywhere, your neighbor, your brother, your wife.

larieke
October 1, 2009 5:47 p.m.

"Trash Nazis. Super. I recommend throwing your bottles out the window on I-540."

I wish the fine for littering was $10,000 for the first offense. $20,000 for the second offense, etc. Then maybe people would finally stop littering. But that's another blog for another day.

TruthBKnown Returns
October 1, 2009 5:36 p.m.

I guess this is yet another offense the police can lock me up for in the future.

RKBA
October 1, 2009 5:29 p.m.

Dugmeister, good info. Thanks. Here's some more:

The new landfill in Holly Springs has foot print of less than a third of a square mile. And is designed to accept 4 million pounds of trash a day for the next 10 years and longer.

larieke
October 1, 2009 5:18 p.m.