North Carolina Landfill Volumes Increase despite Improved Recycling

Date: May 6, 2007

Source: News Room

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR) reports that waste volumes have continued to rise despite improvements in recycling rates, implying that North Carolinians are producing more waste per person per year. More than a ton of waste for each person in the state went to landfills during the fiscal year July 2005 through June 2006, 5% more than the year before. The DENR attributes some of that increase to increased volumes of construction and demolition debris (C&D) wastes that have resulted from a booming housing and development market. North Carolina's 40 permitted municipal landfills have about 20 years of capacity left at the current rate of receiving 7.9 million tons annually, the report said. That does not include construction debris. A bill in the General Assembly would put restrictions on new landfills. The state declared a moratorium on new landfills last year after at least four solid waste sites, including one in Camden County, were proposed to receive large volumes of out-of-state waste.

Other findings from the report include:

  • North Carolina's landfills received 10.7 million tons of solid waste, including construction debris, during fiscal year 2005-06. Approximately 137,000 tons originated from other states, an increase of more than 18,000 tons from the previous year.

  • North Carolina continued to export more waste than it imported. More than 1.2 million tons of waste were exported in fiscal year 2005- 06 compared to 137,980 tons imported.

  • The amount of construction and demolition waste has increased three times faster than the amount of municipal waste.

For a copy of the report, visit: wastenotnc.org/SWHOME/AR05-06.pdf.
To learn more, visit: www.enr.state.nc.us.

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