All North Carolina businesses that serve alcohol must recycle their glass bottles and aluminum cans under a law that came into effect on 1 January 2008.
The new law applies to all restaurants, bars a…
All North Carolina businesses that serve alcohol must recycle their glass bottles and aluminum cans under a law that came into effect on 1 January 2008. The new law applies to all restaurants, bars and other businesses with an Alcoholic Beverage Control permit. Businesses are exempt for one year if there is no recycling market in their area. Mark Center, a district supervisor for Alcohol Law Enforcement, said recycling will be checked during routine, unannounced inspections. Failure to comply is a class one misdemeanor with a possible fine. One of the cities most affected by the law is Wilmington: the 60-some downtown bars and restaurants consume about 2 million bottles of beer and 140,000 bottles of liquor a year. Officials have said that amounts to between 10 to 12 tons of glass recyclables every week.