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Amid blue bins and carts, schoolchildren with signs, economic impact posters, artwork, and about seventy-five attendees; political, recycling-industry and conservation leaders promoted a new ABC recycling bill and announced the economic impact of recycling to the state earlier today in the lobby of the Statehouse.Senator Ray Cleary (R-Georgetown) discussed his bill (S.461) which calls for establishments that are permitted for on-site consumption of alcohol to implement a recycling program in the next two years for plastic, corrugated cardboard, aluminum and glass. The legislation provides establishments without access to glass recyclers three years to implement glass recycling. The bill also calls for these stores, bars or restaurants to develop recycling plans guided by DHEC. Funding would come from 0.5% of the accommodations tax which is approximately $200,000 ($42 million collected by this tax in 2009. Recently, the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee carried this bill over for further discussion at its next meeting. Senator Cleary finished his remarks by holding up an empty wine bottle that he then placed in a blue recycling bin. Representative James Smith, who represents the Midlands, then announced data on the economic impact of the state’s recycling industry. According the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s 2010 Capital Investment Report, the recycling industry announced over $438 million in capital investment and the creation of 1,130 new jobs with 28 new or existing companies investing in South Carolina in 2010. (The recycling industry is comprised of haulers, collectors, processors, brokers, recycling equipment sales and manufacturers, and end-users or manufacturers who take recycled material feedstock and make recycled content products from them). “I am proud to say that I support recycling and you see around me the evidence of that,” said Smith. “My wife, Kirkland’s, artwork using recycled content materials is just one example of how broad the industry is (see attached photo). From my wife who is an artist and company of one here in the Midlands to companies like Sonoco in Hartsville who employs over 17,000 employees globally, we have a truly diverse recycling economy which is growing at annual growth rate of 12%,” he said. Gerry Fishbeck, VP of URRC, one of the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle plastics recyclers located in greenville, announced a new Recycling Industry Group (RIG) strategic plan. “This strategic plan will help continue to grow the industry and compete nationally and globally for recycling jobs,” he said. For more information on the plan, please click on the link below: http://www.newcarolina.org/UserFiles/publications/Recycling%20Strategic%20Plan%20final%2010-6-10%20.pdf. Will Sagar, president of the Carolina Recycling Association, discussed landfill issues. “Estimates say that in SC, more than 400,000 tons of easily recyclable materials were sent for landfill disposal in FY09, representing nearly $15 million spent to dispose of the material and a loss of roughly $52 million in marketable materials,” he said. Ronnie Grant with Sunoco -- the Recycling Industry Group’s anchor company – wrapped-up the press conference. He said, “What we need to do is move from the mindset that in today’s world waste is not waste. It is truly a resource that needs to be recovered and conserved.” (Image provided by New Carolina.)
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