In my mind, the bigger issue is not the fact that Charlotte’ recycling program is broken but who is recognizing that fact:

At Mecklenburg County’s recycling facility off North Graham Street, the situation is not as dire, though officials said the economics of recycling are “broken.”

The county and its contractor, Republic Services, sometimes give away bales of plastic and mixed paper or even pay countries to take them.

Republic said Charlotte’s recyclables aren’t ending up in a dump, even though some bundles are, for now, worthless. But the county’s solid waste director said he is concerned that some emerging countries like Vietnam or India may be putting some of Mecklenburg’s recyclables in landfills.

….”We were getting $120 tons (for recyclables) and now we are getting nothing or paying to get rid of it,” Isenhour said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Isenhour said Republic is scrambling to keep municipalities nationwide from not scrapping their recycling programs all together. Some cities and towns have already abandoned recycling glass, since it’s expensive and often contaminated. (Think peanut butter inside jars.)

“Getting rid of the recyclable program is not the best way to deal with this,” he said. “We are trying to be sustainable.”

I may be stating the obvious here, but Republic Services is huge— serving over 2700 municipalities nationwide, so I can’t imagine this isn’t a problem elsewhere. So the question is whether we have hit the recycling bubble is about to burst. At some point–as the Charlotte Observer concludes–people will recognize that recycling directly competes with funding schools, affordable housing and public health. Municipalities all around North Carolina—and the country–might have to make some difficult choices.