Recycling trailer in Avon removed for suspected abuse

By Connie Save, Correspondent

Five months after a trailer for recyclables was set up in Avon on Hatteras Island, the container has been removed because of its alleged misuse by businesses that are now required to recycle glass and aluminum if they serve alcohol.

"It's being abused," said Carl Walker, head of recycling for Dare County. "We dumped it Wednesday, and I got a call on Thursday that it was already full."

Walker said he suspects restaurants and other commercial establishments were dumping their empty bottles - even though there was no sign prohibiting them from doing so.

"Even if it's residential, we can't keep up with that," he said. If local residents want a recycling center, "find the property and I'll be more than happy to set it up."

A new state law requires restaurants and other businesses serving alcohol to recycle glass and aluminum.

More than 200 businesses in Dare County are affected, and it has been estimated that the mandate could generate an additional 2,500 tons of recyclables each summer.

Tony Soto, manager of the Village Grocery on whose property the trailer was located, said he doesn't believe the businesses are to blame.

"I've seen a lot of locals from this village I've known for a long time who I didn't expect to be recycling and they are," he said.

"Everybody's using it," said Kente Gwyn, owner of Toppers Pizza & Pasta. "It was being used for the purpose it was intended."

"It seems like it would be a good thing to me if that many people were recycling," she said.

Sal Palazzolo, manager of Nino's Pizza, said he took his restaurant's recyclables to Avon, Buxton and Manteo. The closest full recycling center is in Buxton.

Carol Bauer, an Avon resident who worked with the county to find a place to drop off recyclables, said she would search for an area large enough for the county to set up a center.

"The main thing I want the community to know is that it's gone because (the county) couldn't handle the volume," she said.

The trailer was 15 to 20 feet long, Walker said, and was meant to be used only by residents. It was serviced by the county once a week.

"I'm not anti-Avon," he said.

With the rising price of gas, residents and visitors are not going to make the 14-mile round trip to Buxton to take their recyclables, said Village Grocery manager Soto.

"The recycling that was starting to build a good reputation has been destroyed because the county does not have the money to put one more guy on to make sure recycling is taken care of," he said.