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Bottle ban makes good sense

Our Voice

Hickory Daily Record Editorial

Published: September 30, 2009

In a move that will add life to landfills, plastic bottles will be banned from landfills in all 100 counties as of Thursday. The ban also includes motor oil filters and wooden pallets.

Other items already prohibited in landfills are aluminum cans, lead-acid batteries, antifreeze, motor oil, appliances, oyster shells, beverage containers from ABC permitted facilities, scrap tires and yard waste.

It makes sense to keep these things out of landfills. Most of these items can be easily recycled.

Plastic bottles, for example, should never have been included in permitted household and industrial garbage. They are made to last. They do not decay. They do not compress easily.

Plastic bottles take up lots of space and are not conducive to the stability of a landfill. They do have an enormous number of uses as a recyclable material, from more plastic bottles to fleeced fabric for apparel.

Aluminum cans are also made to endure. So is glass.

Oil and antifreeze are toxic pollutants. Wood deteriorates, but requires a lot of landfill space.

Landfills require many acres of land. Nobody wants a landfill near their home or business, even though state law requires the trash to be covered and the landfill lined to minimize seepage. Landfills also generate a lot of traffic.

Starting a new landfill is also expensive, so it makes sense to use a landfill as long as possible.

But, many people won't recycle. Everything goes in the garbage. It's an asinine attitude, since garbage collection provides recycling, and many businesses have recycling containers and encourage their use.

You don't have to pay an arm and a leg to haul trash to a collection station in Catawba County.

Recycle, and the rest of the trash is free or the cost is significantly reduced.

Take paper, cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, cardboard and other recyclables if a trip to a collection site is necessary. That stuff is just as good as money.

North Carolina is serious about the banned items. Thus, so are the counties. No more plastic bottles in the landfill.

It's a good move. Recycling is far better than taxpayers having to shell out good money for another landfill.

We cannot afford to waste our resources. The bans are ways of encouraging beneficial recycling practices.