When its done right, recycling costs Moore County nothing beyond the hauling costs needed to transfer the materials to an appropriate reclamation facility. Conversely, done wrong, recycling costs the county more per ton than disposing of regular household waste.

Bolstered with grant funding from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), as part of the agencys statewide efforts to improve recycling quality, Moore County Solid Waste launched the Recycle Moore campaign in September. The goal is to educate local residents on whats actually recyclable -- and what is not.

The county has long had a recycling program and so did a lot of our municipalities. But then things changed three years ago in the market, said Solid Waste Director David Lambert during a countywide recycling discussion held Thursday in Aberdeen. It became much more important that we remove contamination.

Contamination is essentially any item in the recycling stream that cannot be recycled, such as a greasy pizza box. One of the bigger challenges is that different areas apply different standards to what is acceptable.

You could wake up in Robbins, go to church in Pinehurst and have lunch in Aberdeen and encounter three different rules on recycling, Lambert said, noting as recycling costs began skyrocketing in 2918, processing facilities began turning back contaminated loads.

Moore County and its partnering municipalities ended up paying for recycling loads to be hauled back-and-forth, only to carry the additional cost burden of having it lumped in with landfill waste.

The good news is while China and other southeast Asian countries severed the export market for recycling, domestic recycling businesses have rebounded. According to a 2020 DEQ study, approximately 13 percent of North Carolinas comingled recycling is being exported whereas about 34 percent stays in the state where it is repurposed.

For a long time weve operated on a linear economy model where materials are extracted, manufactured, distributed, consumed and disposed of, explained Carol Abken, with the DEQs recycling office. In contrast, a circular economy model reciculates recycled material back into the economy.

North Carolina has over 600 recycling-related businesses that employ over 15,700 and have a total annual payroll of around $759 million. Reprocessing and repurposing materials can also conserve natural resources, conserve landfill space, and reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions from resource extraction, Abken added. The N.C. Recycle Right Campaign was developed as part of DEQs initiative to reduce contamination and provide a better feed stock of recyclable materials to North Carolina-based recycling businesses.

Recycle Moore is a single, countywide standard that was developed to reduce confusion regarding recycling and maximize the types of material that can be recycled. These updated standards apply to municipal residents who enjoy existing curbside recycling programs and those who use the countys drop-off facilities.

Courtesy of Moore County Solid Waste

To spread the Recycle Moore message, Lambert used grant funding to produce videos, created pamphlets and colorful magnets that were mailed to rural households or can be picked up at most local government offices, and updated the countys website.

#RecycleMoore was created to reduce confusion and educate Moore County on what can and can not be recycled. Let Eli Brown (a North Moore High School student) tell you more. Credit: Story Focused Media

Recycle Moore is a true collaborative effort. Our communities are so interconnected. We cant really do anything if we dont do it together, Lambert said. We want to make sure we have good quality recycling. If you are in doubt, throw it out. We would rather you be confident that what you put in the bin is recyclable.

Read more:

Countywide Recycling Discussion Focuses on Education, Reducing Contamination - Southern Pines Pilot