Dive Brief:

• A proposed 80,000-square-foot waste and recycling facility planned for Buncombe County, NC has been unanimously opposed by local officials who said the facility must first get state approval. Yet, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has said that the facility needs county approval first, causing the project to stall. 
• In order to move forward with the proposed facility — which will be operated by Regional Recycling Solutions — the company must appeal to North Carolina Superior Court, or the county will need to rewrite its zoning code. 
• About 200 raucous and opinionated residents attended the county meeting this week to oppose the recycling center, saying that the MRF would lower property values and cause traffic problems in the county.  

Dive Insight:

Aside from traffic and property value concerns, the true issue surrounding the proposed recycling facility is the definition of what the plant will do. While Buncombe County defines the MRF as a "disposal" facility, Regional Recycling Solutions and its attorneys have clarified that the intentions of the recycling center are to simply separate waste and send it back out to landfills and recyclers. According to county rules, any "disposal" facilities must meet the requirements and specifications of the DENR with a set of approved plans to be submitted with the applicaiton for the permit. The DENR will not approve the plans without county zoning approval, which Attorney Derek Allen said "can't be done and won't be done."