' J I I MEND N.C. Center for Public Policy Research Board of Directors Chairman Secretary Thad L. Beyle Beverly A. Blount The North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research is Vice Chair Treasurer an independent research and educational institution formed to Keith Crisco V.B. (Hawk) Johnson study state government policies and practices without partisan bias or political intent. Its purpose is to enrich the dialogue James Bell Daniel T. Blue, Jr. between private citizens and public officials, and its constituency Ruth Cook is the people of this state. The Center's broad institutional goal Daphne T. Copeland is the stimulation of greater interest in public affairs and a better Francine Delany understanding of the profound impact state government has Walter DeVries Charles Z. Flack, Jr. each day on everyone in North Carolina. Virginia Ann Foxx A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, the Center was Karen E. Gottovi formed in 1977 by a diverse group of private citizens "for the R. Darrell Hancock purpose of gathering, analyzing and disseminating information William G. Hancock, Jr. concerning North Carolina's institutions of government." Wade H. Hargrove Mary Hopper It is guided by a self-electing Board of Directors and has Thelma Lennon individual and corporate members across the state. Isaac Miller Center projects include the issuance of special reports on Ed O'Neil major policy questions; the publication of a quarterly magazine Roy Parker, Jr. Betty Chafin Rash called North Carolina Insight; joint productions of public H. Smith Richardson, Jr. affairs television programs with the University of North Caro- Grace Rohrer lina Center for Public Television; and the regular participation Jerry Shinn of members of the staff and the Board in public affairs programs Patricia J. Shore around the state. An attempt is made in the various projects McNeill Smith Asa Spaulding, Jr. undertaken by the Center to synthesize the integrity of scholarly Robert W. Spearman research with the readability of good journalism. Each Center Geraldine Sumter publication represents an effort to amplify conflicting ideas on H. Patrick Taylor, Jr. the subject under study and to reach conclusions based on FrancesWalker Patricia Watts sound rationalization of these competing ideas. Whenever pos- Cameron West sible, Center publications advance recommendations for changes Betty H. Wiser in governmental policies and practices that would seem, based on our research, to hold promise for the improvement of government service to the people of North Carolina. Executive Director Center Staff Interns Ran Coble Jack Betts Mike McLaughlin Amy Carr Mary Fant Sharon Moore Adrianne Goins Lori Ann Harris Nancy Rose Kim Kebschull NORTH CAROLINA INSIGHT is a quarterly magazine published by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, Inc. (a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation), Suite 701, 5 W. Hargett St., P.O. Box 430, Raleigh, N.C. 27602. Telephone (919) 832-2839. Annual membership rates: Individual, $36; Organizational, $50; Supporting, $100; Corporate, $200; Full-Service, $250; Supporting Corporate, $500; Patron, $1000; Benefactor, $2000. Third class postage paid at Raleigh, N.C. Copyright 1989 by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, Inc. Articles may not be reprinted without permission. Graphic design by Carol Majors. Production by PUBLICATIONS UNLIMITED. Printed by Theo. Davis Sons, Inc., Zebulon, N.C. The Center is supported in part by grants from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, as well as by I I 1 corporate contributors and 700 individual members across the state. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Center's Board of Directors or staff. Published December 1989. Printed on recycled paper. Cover Photos by Karen Tam, Amy Can, and Jack Betts North Carolina Insi t Vol. 12, No. 1 December 1989 FEATURES 2 Recycling North Carolina's -Mike McLaughlin Resources: The Long Campaign and Amy Carr to Cut Tar Heel Waste 8 How You Can Cut Waste Production 15 Mecklenburg County: An Urban -Mike McLaughlin County as a Model Manager of Waste 18 Chatham County: A Rural County -Amy Carr with a Big Recycling Effort 34 No Bottle Bill for North Carolina - Yet -Amy Carr 40 Black Legislators: From Political -Milton C. Jordan Novelty to Political Force 45 When Black and Republican Interests -Jack Betts Coincide , Does the Democratic Party Lose? 55 Assessing the Black Legislative -Milton C. Jordan Agenda After 20 Years DEPARTMENTS 59 In The Courts: The Judging -Katherine White Business: Does the Court of Appeals Follow Precedent? 63 In The Press: When the Legislature's -Jack Betts Editor Jack Betts in Session, Does Other News Take a Back Seat? Associate Editor Mike McLaughlin 70 From The Center Out: School Spending -Ran Coble Disparities Persist, Center ArtDirector Carol Majors Reports in New N.C. Focus Production 76 Index to Volume 11 of North Carolina Insight PUBLICATIONS UNLIMITED 78 In The Mail 79 Memorable Memo Recycling North Carolina's Resources: The Long Campaign to Cut Tar Heel Waste By Mike McLaughlin and Amy Can Through its adoption of landmark legislation, the 1989 General Assembly laid the groundwork for an ambitious assault on the state's bulging waste stream, with recycling the major weapon to be deployed in the battle. The new law sets a goal of diverting 25 percent of waste from the state's landfills by 1993. But the architects of the law agree that more work is needed if local governments are to have a chance of meeting this goal. What must be done to move the state past the current crash waste reduction diet to a lastingly leaner solid waste stream? before the day was over, leaving the route only tom-designed recycling truck to the long enough to haul the materials to market. curb along a shady narrow street in Welcome to curbside recycling, Raleigh E centralddie Hill Raleigh maneuvered. What his happened 23-foot nextcus- style . The pilot program was an instant hit when it was a blur. Hill raced to a 14-gallon green plastic was introduced to 4,000 households in October bin and picked out paper, cans, and bottles, and 1989. And residents still greet the truck with flipped them to his assistant, Stephen Whitley, who slam-dunked them into the proper compart- Mike McLaughlin is associate editor of North Carolina ments on the specially designed "Eager Beaver" Insight . Amy Carr, a 1989 summer intern at the N.C. truck body. Center for Public Policy Research , is a graduate stu- Less than 30 seconds later, both men were dent at the London School of Economics. This edition back in the truck and headed towards the next of North Carolina Insight was published on recycled green bin. The two would collect from 409 homes paper , which increased paper costs by 4.9 percent. 2 NORTH CAROLINA INSIGHT Eddie Hill (r) and Stephen Whitley grab a bin full of recyclables on one of Raleigh's curbside recycling routes. questions and curious stares. But because of a law ment nigh, the Senate could only give the bill the passed by the 1989 General Assembly, the recy- green light and tack on a few changes in confer- cling truck will become as much a fixture in many ence committee. "It got to the Senate so late, and North Carolina communities as the meter reader there was such pressure to get it passed, that I felt or the postal carrier. like the Senate had no voice in it," says Winner. That law is called the Solid Waste Manage- The legislation, according to Rep. Joe Hack- ment Act of 1989.1 The legislature thought it so ney (D-Orange), was actually "20 or 30 bills" important that Democrats and Republicans alike rolled into one, which he says justified the length laid aside partisan bickering to enact it on the last of time the House spent on it. Much of that time day of the longest session on record. was spent in Wicker's subcommittee, which, un- "Most of our landfills over the next 10 years der Wicker's guidance, worked to shape legisla- will be closed down because they are full," said tion that ultimately would win broad support. Rep. James Craven (R-Moore) in legislative de- "His having the confidence of both the environ- bate over the law. "Our counties are going to find mental community and the business community themselves buried in waste. Garbage is the great- helped tremendously," says Hackney. est problem in our state today." The law's most sweeping provision is Rep. David Redwine (D-Brunswick) declared summed up in a single sentence: "It is the goal of the bill "one of the most important pieces of leg- this state that at least 25 percent of the total waste islation we will look at this year" before the House stream be recycled by January 1, 1993."2 With passed it after debate in numerous meetings of a that sentence, the legislature committed the state subcommittee chaired by Rep. Dennis Wicker, to behavior modification on a grand scale, enact- (D-Lee). Sen. Dennis Winner (D-Buncombe) ing into law the notion that Tar Heels can be says he only wishes his Senate colleagues had taught to stop tossing out so much trash. been left time to scrutinize the bill. With adjourn- In so doing, the General Assembly joined an DECEMBER 1989 3 s Stephen Whitley and Eddie Hill separate glass, aluminum and newspapers into appropriate compartments of a specially designed truck body. increasing number of states that are stepping up to their particular needs, they cannot escape one the plate to take their cuts at a mounting prob- clearcut directive in the law. All must ultimately lem-what to do with an overflow of solid waste.