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New Study Says North Carolina Must Step Up Recycling Efforts

Sorters make sure the right items get separated out at a material recovery facility. Image courtesy Waste Management.

A new study warns that North Carolina is facing serious recycling challenges. 

State of Recycling in North Carolina was issued by the Environment North Carolina Research and Policy Center and is meant to address recycling problems and potential solutions statewide.

The study outlines how North Carolina's combined composting and recycling rate is a fraction of the national average. It also reflects how reliance on East Asian markets, which are no longer reliably taking American waste, has impacted some regional programs.

According to a news release, possible reforms include cutting back on the amount of plastic waste being created, encouraging the reuse of already existing objects, and making sure that products are recycled at the end of their working life.

Alex Truelove, a co-author of the report, says he hopes the study instills a sense of urgency to waste reduction efforts.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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