By Wayne King
For decades, plastic recycling in North Carolina has followed a familiar pattern: sort it, bale it, ship it, and hope for the best. But a significant portion of the plastic products we use every day—including plastic bags, snack packaging, and polystyrene containers—does not fit neatly into traditional recycling systems. As a result, much of this material ends up in landfills, even when families and businesses make an effort to recycle responsibly.
North Carolina needs more tools to address plastic waste, not simply more of the same approaches.
House Bill 605 offers an opportunity to expand those tools while creating new possibilities for economic development, manufacturing, and job creation across our state.
The legislation establishes definitions for “mass balance attribution,” “third-party certification system,” and “recycled products” in North Carolina law. These definitions would provide greater clarity for an emerging industry known as advanced recycling, which uses technologies to break certain plastics down into their molecular building blocks so those materials can be used to produce new products.
Advanced recycling is different from traditional mechanical recycling, incineration, and waste-to-energy operations. It provides another potential pathway for recovering materials that conventional recycling systems often cannot process effectively.
For North Carolina to attract investment in this developing sector, businesses need clear and consistent standards for identifying and verifying recycled content. HB 605 would help establish that framework.
This is about both environmental responsibility and economic opportunity.
North Carolina has already demonstrated that recycling can support a substantial economic sector. State figures indicate that the recycling industry supports approximately 550 private businesses and 15,700 jobs, generating billions of dollars in economic activity and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.
Expanding recycling capabilities to include additional types of plastics could create opportunities to build on that foundation. It could also help attract manufacturing investment, support existing businesses, and create new jobs for North Carolinians.
Other states are moving forward with policies addressing advanced recycling and recycled-content verification. North Carolina should carefully evaluate these developments and ensure our regulatory framework allows responsible businesses to compete for investment in this growing market.
Every time a company chooses where to locate a facility or expand its operations, states compete for those jobs and investments. Clear, predictable rules can help North Carolina remain competitive while maintaining appropriate environmental safeguards.
There is also a practical business consideration.
Companies increasingly face demands from customers and retail partners to demonstrate that their products contain verified recycled materials. When a business claims that a product contains a certain percentage of recycled content, consumers and customers should have confidence that the claim can be substantiated.
HB 605 addresses this concern by establishing a framework for third-party certification and mass balance attribution. Mass balance is an accounting method used to track certified materials through complex supply chains. When properly implemented and independently verified, it can help companies document the relationship between recycled inputs and the products they manufacture.
Independent verification matters. Businesses that invest in legitimate recycling practices should be able to distinguish themselves from competitors making unsupported environmental claims. Consumers deserve transparency, and companies deserve consistent standards.
For small businesses, the issue extends beyond product labeling. Many businesses generate plastic film, packaging, and other materials that local curbside recycling programs do not accept. Advanced recycling could offer additional options for managing some of these materials rather than sending them directly to landfills.
Of course, advanced recycling is not a complete solution to plastic waste. Facilities must be evaluated based on their actual environmental performance, and appropriate regulatory oversight remains essential. Traditional recycling, waste reduction, and responsible materials management will continue to play important roles.
But no single approach can address every category of plastic waste. North Carolina should be willing to consider technologies that could complement existing systems and recover materials that would otherwise go unused.
As a businessman and someone who cares deeply about North Carolina's economic future, I believe we should approach this issue with practical thinking. We can support environmental responsibility while encouraging innovation, attracting investment, and creating opportunities for our workforce.
House Bill 605 does not solve every challenge associated with plastic waste. It does, however, offer a framework for providing greater clarity to businesses, verifying recycled-content claims, and positioning North Carolina to compete in an evolving industry.
North Carolina should not allow outdated legal definitions to stand in the way of responsible innovation and economic opportunity. The State Senate should advance HB 605 and give our state another tool to address plastic waste while pursuing the jobs and investment that can strengthen our communities for years to come.
Wayne King
Kings Mountain, North Carolina