Success Stories from Around the Region Cumberland County Schools' Recycling Program will Serve Nearly 60,000! The Scotland County Splash Pad Served Nearly 4,000 in 2006! Keep Moore County Beautiful and the Moore County League of Women Voters have a Record Breaking 2006! City of Raeford Cardboard Recycling Program Saves Money and Reduces Waste! Fort Bragg Reduces Waste and Offers Opportunities to Local Businesses.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Cumberland County Municipal Solid Waste recently purchased 500 recycling bins for schools throughout Cumberland County. The County will be placing five, 64-gallon recycling bins at every school in Cumberland County over the next year. Plastics, magazines, aluminum and white paper will be collected weekly. This will be the first comprehensive school recycling program in our region and, when fully implemented, will include all 100 schools in the district which have a combined student, teacher and staff population of over 60,000.

The first bins are expected to be delivered to high schools throughout the County by the third week of February. The County will then take two months to evaluate how the program is working and make any required changes before delivering bins to middle schools in April, and elementary schools in the Fall, beginning with the 2007-08 school year.

As part of the program, the County will work to educate principals, teachers, school administration and janitors through flyers and educational letters to ensure the success of the recycling program. The program was made possible through the Community Waste Reduction and Recycling Program grant from the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA).  Several local governments have received awards from this grant program over the past five years.  DPPEA also offers financial assistance for entrepreneurs through their Recycling Business Development Grant program.  For more information on these programs, contact Jim Hickman with DPPEA at 919-715-6512.

Contact Janice Albert, Environmental Coordinator with Cumberland County Solid Waste Management at 910-321-6914, if you have specific questions about the CCS recycling program.

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SCOTLAND COUNTY

Scotland County Parks and Recreation opened a water playground, also known as the Splash Pad, in August 2006. Since that time nearly 4,000 children under the age of 12 have used the park and 200 events have been hosted there.

 "Since its opening, the Splash Pad has been enjoyed by all. People of all ages can enjoy the recreational benefit of the water playground," said Shannon Newton, Director of the Scotland County Parks and Recreation. "You often see grandparents bringing their grandchildren to play at the parks and young families with children taking advantage of this resource."

“In an area where we are limited in the number of recreational youth activities, the Splash Pad is a great asset for Scotland County,” said Newton.

The County had been looking at various types of water recreation when they decided on the Splash Pad. At the time of its opening, there were no public pools in Scotland County and the County decided that the Splash Pad was a great place to start, and it cost less to install than a public pool.

The Splash Pad opens Memorial Day weekend and stays open through Labor Day. See the Scotland County Parks and Recreation Website or call 910-277-2585 for more information and hours of operation.

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MOORE COUNTY

On November 18, 2006, Keep Moore County Beautiful (KMCB) collected 18,500 lbs of mixed paper and cardboard. This triples the previous record collection of 5,000 pounds! This success story is shared with the Moore County League of Women Voter's (LVW) Recycling Committee.

The mixed paper and cardboard collection project started in the Fall of 2005 and has continued to grow since its inception. Through 2005, the mixed paper and cardboard collection days were previously held three times a year. The LWV began assisting in 2006, extending the collections to alternating months six times a year. “While we cannot hope to achieve the record breaking 18,500 lbs. collected on Nov. 18 every time,” said Dot Greenwood, “collecting three times the amount ever collected in the past is quite an achievement.”

Some other recent LWV/KMCB achievements have achieved include: helping sell nearly 30 portable recycling bins to Pinehurst Village, Southern Pines Department of Public Works, and the Pinebluff skateboard park - just to name a few. “Dot Greenwood is our link to recycling,” said KMCB Executive Director Joan Neal. “She really is our best volunteer and we couldn’t survive without great volunteers.”

The League of Women Voters also set up recycling bins at numerous festivals: the Holly Fair in Pinehurst, Octoberfest in Southern Pines, the Spring Festival in Southern Pines, the Buggy Festival in Carthage, Farmers Day in Robbins and Kids Golf in Southern Pines.

KMCB is also involved in many other events throughout the year, including an annual Christmas tree recycling and mulching event in January, the Big Sweep Watershed Clean-up Event in the Spring and Fall and Spring Litter Sweeps with the Adopt-a-Highway Program. To get more information on their programs or to get involved with KMCB visit their web-site.

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CITY OF RAEFORD

The City of Raeford has turned a $25,000 recycling grant award into one of the most progressive solid waste cost reduction programs in the state.

 Commercial solid waste in Raeford is hauled by the City of Raeford for a flat monthly fee that depends on the size of the container and the frequency of pickup.  The majority of the commercial dumpsters are either not locked or in unprotected areas, which often results in illegal dumping by the public to dispose of non-commercial solid waste such as furniture, tires, and other waste.  This reality is reflected in Raeford’s 2006 solid waste statistics, which shows the City hauled 3,002 tons of commercial waste and 1,187 tons of residential waste.  In response to this problem, a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) commercial waste program was developed and coupled with a free cardboard recycling program for commercial customers.

Currently, the City of Raeford pays $48 per ton to Hoke County in tipping fees.  So the PAYT Program will not only extend the life of the solid waste landfill, but also result in a major cost savings opportunity for the City of Raeford!

The PAYT program was made possible through the Community Waste Reduction and Recycling (CWRAR) grant program from the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA).  Actions and purchases that were enabled by the grant award are:

• Locking lids will be installed on all commercial dumpsters, with locking lids to prevent abuse by non-commercial customers.
• An electronic scale system has been installed on the waste hauling truck to allow each commercial customer’s waste to be weighed.
• Radio-frequency (RF) tags are attached to each commercial dumpster to tie the electronic weighing data to a customer account and facilitate automatic billing.
• Ten new cardboard recycling bins will be added to the City’s existing supply to divert that major component of the commercial waste stream from ever reaching a landfill.

The new PAYT program is progressive because, instead of paying a flat rate for solid waste services based on the size of their dumpster, commercial customers will now pay “by the pound.”  This provides an obvious incentive for them to prevent unauthorized public use of their dumpsters and to recycle as much of their waste stream as possible!

Public Works Director Johnny Melton estimates that there are a total of 180-190 current commercial customers in Raeford with dumpster box sizes ranging from two to eight cubic yards.   When the ten new cardboard recycling dumpsters are in place, Raeford will have a total of 42 deployed within the city limits.  Melton hopes that over time, as Raeford businesses adjust to the new PAYT program, businesses will consolidate waste services into a smaller number of large dumpster boxes (six to eight cubic yards) with fewer pickups.  That will lead to more efficient operations.  He also hopes to further increase the number of recycling containers.  “We’d love to have a balanced operation one day in the future,” said Melton, “100 large waste dumpsters and 100 recycling boxes.”  

The new PAYT program is just coming on line, with the first new locking trash dumpsters and cardboard recycling dumpsters being deployed in February 2007. The electronic scale system has been installed on the City truck, and the new PAYT billing structure will replace the old flat fee system in the summer of 2007. 

For more information on Raeford’s program, contact Johnny Melton, City of Raeford Public Works Director at 910-875-5031 or Raeford City Manager Richard Douglas at 910-875-8161. 

Several local governments have received awards from this DPPEA CWRAR grant program over the past five years.  DPPEA also offers financial assistance for entrepreneurs through their Recycling Business Development Grant program.  For more information on these programs, contact Jim Hickman with DPPEA at 919-715-6512.

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FORT BRAGG

A new program at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune is working to turn waste and by-products from military installations into valuable resources for local businesses. 

The New and Emerging Military Market Opportunities (NEMMO) program will build local economies and reduce waste disposal costs for the military.  Currently, NC military installations purchase millions of dollars worth of commodities each year. In addition, thousands of tons of waste and other used items which have fulfilled their use are then disposed of in landfills.  

 NEMMO is a multi-stakeholder process that will allow the military to partner with local businesses in order to create “closed materials loops” for products used by military installations. Thanks to NEMMO, many of the items currently disposed of by the military could have new and alternative uses. 

One of the NEMMO success stories at Fort Bragg is a mattress refurbishing program. In the past, mattresses were simply discarded in landfills after their standard use time. Now these same mattresses are refurbished by a local company in Lee County, providing them a solid income, reducing costs to Fort Bragg and reducing the amount of waste in local landfills.

During 2006 this program saved Fort Bragg $87,000 and prevented 1,450 mattresses from being thrown into landfills. Some of the top items in the waste stream at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune include used tires, wooden furniture, paper, coal ash, waste oil, concrete, food waste, electronics, waste paint and construction waste. 

Sustainable Sandhills is kicking off the NEMMO project by hosting a half-day workshop with local businesses, economic developers, and military representatives for a discussion on how the multi-step process will work.   

If you are interested in being involved with this project please join us May 2, 2007 at the Holiday Inn, I-95 in Fayetteville, NC (off Exit 49). Visit the Sustainable Sandhills website to register and for more detailed information on the workshop agenda.  Total cost for the workshop is $30 per person and includes lunch.