But don't look for the trash cops to come knocking if soda bottles end up in your garbage cans.
"That's not the spirit of the law," said Scott Mouw, the state's recycling director. "Clearly, this is more of a law of spirit or intent, everyone recognizing the positive reasons to recycle."
Any state enforcement efforts will be aimed at haulers who show up at landfills with big loads of banned material. Most local governments don't have the power or the interest in dogging residents who don't recycle.
"We don't have the resources to police individuals" by going through their garbage bags, said Tim Broome, Johnston County's director of public utilities.
Without such enforcement efforts, though, North Carolina's embrace of recycling has been more of a half-hug. North Carolina missed a 10-year recycling goal it set back in 1991 for reducing trash disposal across the state. In fact, people ended up sending more trash to landfills rather than less. Garbage disposal went from 1.01 tons per person in 1992 to 1.21 tons per person by June 2001. (N&O)
* The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law sued Mecklenburg and six other counties Monday to force them to consider giving money to charter schools for construction and capital projects.
The charter schools receive public funding for operating expenses and per-pupil allotments just like traditional schools, but have been frozen out of construction and maintenance money.
That leaves the schools with less "money for teachers and other supplies," said Jason Kay, an attorney for the Raleigh-based advocacy group.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman and a county attorney have said state law does not give counties or public school boards power to give charter schools capital funds. (Char-O)
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