1989's Hurricane Hugo created more waste in a night than Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, normally generates in a year. As part of the clean-up effort, the county ground 300,000 tons of trees into mulch.

(Chandler is a reporter for the Charlotte Observer.)

n a fall night in 1989, Hurricane

Hugo roared into Charlotte, North Carolina, turning this so-called "City of Trees" into a city of trash. The 90 mile per hour winds snapped trees and downed power lines to create more waste overnight than all of Mecklenburg County's 511,000 people generate in a year. By dawn, the city and county had launched a cleanup that would last 18 months, cost more than $27 million, and become the biggest test ever for the community's commitment to recycling.

To preserve landfill space, government officials decided to collect and grind 300,000 tons of trees into mulch. "The hurricane inundated us with waste-particularly yard waste," says Charlie Willis, chairman of the county's solid waste advisory board.

"We couldn't bury it. We didn't have a place for it all. And we thought it would be a step backward from our commitment to recycling. So we had to go out and find places to stack thousands of tons of trees until we converted them to mulch."

The nation's 35th most populous city, Charlotte has become accustomed to adversity in waste disposal. The city, which spreads over 80 percent of Mecklenburg County, boomed during the 1980s, growing to the nation's third largest banking center, reaching the final cut for a new National Football League team, and landing on Newsweek's Top 10 "hottest" cities list. And along with a 10-year growth spurt that added 25 percent more people, came tons more trash. Today, residents and businesses generate

The Situation Today

about 600,000 tons of garbage a year, and now the community is without a public landfill.

The 300-acre dump that served for 20 years hit capacity in April. Citizen lawsuits have blocked attempts to open a new one. Neighboring South Carolina, which borders Mecklenburg County, recently joined the fight to stop a planned 574-acre landfill on the South Carolina state line. The South Carolina legislature passed a law in June that would make that state's low-level radioactive waste dump off-limits to North Carolina if any North Carolina county builds a landfill within a mile of the South Carolina border. Lacking its own landfill, Mecklenburg County has contracted for space in a private dump-a move that has pushed up dump fees and sparked a new round of legal battles.

It is the constant struggle of siting new landfills that has propelled recycling from a modest experiment to a top priority in this community. Citizens have embraced recycling with 75 percent of eligible households participating at least once a month in Charlotte's voluntary curbside program. Seven local governments in Mecklenburg County, including Charlotte, have joined in a waste management plan that makes recycling the most favored disposal method.

The plan calls for reducing the amount of trash buried or burned by 25 percent per capita by next July. The goal jumps to 40 percent reduction by 2001. So far, the community has reduced disposal by 13 percent since 1990-a long way from next year's target.

To meet the goals, the city and county have set up aggressive recycling programs. This year, the two governments will spend $6.2 million on recycling collection and processing, up from $1.8 million three years ago.

They also plan a $10 million recycling center for business waste. In January, curbside collection will be extended to 84,000 apartments and condominiums. And a new law requires all private haulers who serve businesses and citizens outside Charlotte to provide recycling to residential customers.

There's already an array of recycling programs in Charlotte: residential curbside pickup, yard waste pickup, dropoff centers, and a

remove-and-resell operation for bulky appliances left at the landfill. The county mines and sells metals from ash at its incinerator. It also runs small recycling programs for cardboard, car batteries, and motor oil.

Curbside collection in Charlotte reaches 110,000 single family homes

Recycling coordinators won't accept new materials until they are certain they have buyers.

and is nationally recognized for its high participation. Residents toss glass bottles, aluminum and steel cans, newspapers, and milk containers and other plastics into bright red "Curb it" bins and place the bins at the curb. City collectors carry the material to recycling headquarters, where glass is smashed, cans are crushed, and plastic and newspaper are baled for sale.

Recycling headquarters is a converted warehouse about twice the size of a high school gym. Recyclables are dumped on the floor, pushed by tractors onto conveyor belts, and separated by workers into bins. Loads are then baled for sale to buyers. A private company runs the processing center at no cost to the county. In return, the company keeps whatever

profits it makes.

Charlotte took a big step in recycling in 1991 when it cranked up yard waste collection. Residents place tree limbs and brush at the curb. Grass clippings and leaves must go in clear plastic bags, so workers can see what's inside. City haulers drop the materials at two sites, where county workers take over. With a shredder and three giant machines called tub grinders, county workers grind scrap wood and limbs into mulch. Other yard waste is composted: It's laid out in long rows, watered, turned frequently to aerate, and sometimes has nitrogen added to it. Within six months, the waste becomes a black humus, which is used to enhance soil.

Both products are sold to residents and landscapers. The county last year made $100,000, an amount expected to jump this year because of a new state law that prohibits putting yard waste in landfills. Mulch goes for about $1 for a 20-pound bag; compost sells for $3.50 for a 40-pound bag. The county has a revenue sharing deal with a private company to sell compost at local retail stores.

Recycling coordinators won't accept new materials until they are certain they have buyers. Charlotte, for example, claims to be the first city to accept spiral paper cans-from products like frozen juice-for recycling. Officials added the cylindrical cardboard cans only because they struck a deal with a nearby company that converts the cans into low-grade paper for cones that are used for textile yarn, carpet, and tape. "We would never have picked up spiral cans unless the market had approached us," says Cary Saul, the county's deputy engineering director. "We know markets have been a problem. We're cautious. You have to know your market before you get into

Charlotte recycling organizers say they have strong markets for their recyclables because their supply is clean and thoroughly sorted.

something."

As competition for buyers heats up across the country, Charlotte recycling organizers say they've maintained strong markets because they supply a clean, thoroughly sorted product. "We're going after the best quality paper we can get to supply our plants," says Kenny King, a buyer who has a contract for Charlotte's newspaper. "We've got to have a large quantity. We want it

source-separated.... They do an excellent job at it."

Says the county's Saul: "When things get tight, buyers are going to want the best material. They don't want a bunch of newspaper with broken glass mixed in."

Despite everything that Charlotte is doing, city and county leaders admit they probably won't make the

25-percent reduction goal next July. More likely, it will be 1994, after a new commercial recycling center opens. The center is the city's first significant venture into attacking the business waste stream, which accounts for 55 percent of all trash.

The success of the center is not guaranteed. County leaders last year took steps to ensure a steady supply of recyclables with a "flow control" ordinance. It required that all waste generated in Mecklenburg County be dumped at a county disposal facility, and it gave county officials power to

dictate which facility haulers used. The plan was to direct commercial waste rich with paper, cardboard, and other recyclables to the new recycling center. But one Mecklenburg County company, wanting to use its own landfill outside the county, sued and blocked the new law.

Now the county has turned to old-fashioned competition to lure haulers. Officials are devising strategies, such as cut-rate dump fees and tax incentives, to lure haulers to use county facilities. "We can't go too far, because it could backfire," says Saul. "If we make disposal too cheap, there's no incentive for companies to cut the amount they produce."

Despite recycling's popularity, nobody believes it's a cure-all. The county's waste management strategy also relies heavily on incineration. Landfilling is the least-favored option. "Recycling is one of the options we've chosen to manage a portion of our waste," says Saul. "It's part of the answer.... We want to recycle everything we can, then incinerate the rest. We only want to put things that won't burn in the landfill."

Mecklenburg County's incinerator opened in 1989; it burns 200 tons of refuse daily. Steam generated from incineration heats buildings at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in the winter. And the electricity produced is sold to the Duke Power

Company. The plant burns about 11 percent of the county's waste; energy sales help defray about half the $2 million annual operating costs. The rest of the money comes from dump fees charged at county disposal sites. The county plans a second incinerator that will burn 600 tons daily. Set to open in 1996, the $90 million burner is to be paid for through revenue bonds and energy sales. All told, the two incinerators are projected to burn 26 percent of the county's waste in 1996.

So far, the incinerators have dodged the kind of citizen's legal challenges that stalled a new landfill. Officials have calmed neighbors' fears by monitoring air quality around its current burner and publicizing the results. The county pledges similar tests around the new incinerator and will build in anti-pollution devices, such as stack scrubbers and a bag house.

Mecklenburg County has spent more than $100,000 to study a myriad of waste disposal options, including such obscure methods as refuse-derived fuel and bioconversion. Officials say they're confident the recycle-burn-bury combination is best. Still, it's going to take more than a disposal plan to reach the 40-percent reduction goal by 2001. "The real key is reducing waste at the source," says Saul. "That takes time. That means plants have to change processes, and people have to change habits."

Board chairman Willis says people are beginning to do that. "There's a tremendous intangible benefit derived from curbside recycling. Those red boxes are like advertisements. Public awareness is so great that it filters into everything people do. They buy smarter. They think greener. They are more aware of their impact on the environment."