C&D Operation Considered

A new company hopes to build a recycling center and construction and demolition landfill near the city's existing landfill, which handles only household garbage. MRR of High Point has asked the city to annex and rezone about 160 acres in Guilford County.

"There is an extreme need in the community to have a place like this," said Norbert Hector, who heads both MRR of High Point and Material Reclamation LLC in Raleigh.

Builders in High Point have been forced to haul material to that dump, which is in Greensboro, since the city stopped accepting construction debris at its landfill about 18 months ago.

According to the High Point Economic Development Corp., companies received permits for more than $74 million worth of capital investment between January and June.

MRR's request is scheduled to be heard by the High Point Planning and Zoning Commission later this month.

The new operation will recycle much of what is brought there, said Hector. In Raleigh, Material Reclamation recycles about 75 percent of the debris brought there.

Bricks, wood, certain metals and plastics, cardboard and concrete are among the material the company can pull out and resell. What remains goes into the landfill, Hector said.

Earlier this year, MRR and the city swapped two parcels of property. MRR gave the city a 13.77-acre tract bordering the landfill, which will be used for future expansion. The city paid $190,500 plus gave MMR a three-acre lot on the southeastern edge of the landfill.

That piece will be used to buffer MRR's project from a stream. The total site will be about 160 acres, according to documents filed with the High Point Planning Department.

Besides granting annexation and zoning changes for MRR, the city also will have to change its laws governing development to allow that type of recycling center, said Herb Shannon, a city planner.

"The way our ordinance is written now is more for places that recycle aluminum cans," he said. Those facilities are required to keep their operations indoors, while the construction debris recycling requires outdoor storage and work areas. Greensboro News Record