New Law Has Durham Residents Paying More Attention to Their Trash

"I have a lot of stuff to recycle, and with a family of four, that's a lot."

Burnette is working hard to stuff all her recyclables into a blue bin, but the amount of trash she has this New Year's evening is more than the bin will hold.

"I had a lot of paper that I couldn't fit in there," she says. "I read the sticker on the trashcan and realized I didn't have enough space. I had to organize my trash."

A sticker on her trash can lays out a new Durham law requiring residents to recycle newspapers, glass, aluminum and steel cans, cardboard and anything else that can be recycled.

"We have to be serious about it," says Burnette, who is a driving force behind the new law. She is one of the city councilmembers who voted for the law.

"Some people just throw it out there anyway. They think that nobody really cares, but we want them to know that we think it is a serious matter."

People violating the law can be fined up to $15.

"Durham is growing by leaps and bounds and we don't want to have the issues we had two years ago -- where to put our garbage."