Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: What’s to become of all the plastic bottles that we’re all forced to use for our drinking water? I recall that recently one of the major recycling companies in our area declared that there is no market for recycling plastic bottles. Is that true nationally and/or internationally? Are local landfills big enough to bury all the plastic we’re generating? I fear we are trading one environmental disaster for another one.

My answer: I just know that I’m giving out empty water bottles to everyone I know for Christmas this year. They make great stocking stuffers, you know. You can also make an entire fake Christmas tree out of them. 

Real answer: Abe Lawson, president of Curbside Management, the main recycling handler in our area, first noted that, yes, “There has been an abundance of bottles and other recyclables being produced as a result of the storm and aftermath.” The company is most often called “Curbie,” by the way.

In the daily Helene briefings, Asheville City Manager Debra Campbell has offered a running tab on plastic water bottle and carton disbursements, noting Monday it stood at 3.5 million. So that’s a lot of plastic hitting the stream (Curbie also recycles cartons).

But as we reported in August, Curbie does have a good market for plastic bottles and tubs, so that material does get recycled. That’s really the key wherever you live — if the recycling handler has a good market, materials get recycled.

“We have plenty of capacity to bring all of those bottles into our facility to process and ensure that they are properly recycled,” Lawson said via email. “Markets may go up and down on plastics and other commodities. However, we have and will always accept plastic bottles for recycling.”

You can recycle them through the regular means of recycling you use. Also, after Helene, Curbie has been offering a drop-off center at its 116 North Woodfin Ave. facility for residential recyclable materials only. For the time being, it’s available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Back in the summer, Lawson noted that recycling plastic really comes down to your local recycling company, and whether it can find a market for plastic bottles, tubs, yogurt cups, milk jugs and more. Curbie does have a good market regionally for these plastics, called polyethylene terephthalate or PET.

“We’ve got three or four different vendors that we ship to, and those three or four vendors are either turning that PET into carpet, or some of them are grinding it up and washing it and turning it into a flake or pellet, that can be really turned back into anything,” Lawson said in August. “But carpet is probably the largest consumer of that plastic in this region.”

Question: Why hasn’t UNC Asheville returned to in-person, face-to-face classes? All the other colleges and universities in the area that were impacted by the storm, as well as Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools, are having face-to-face classes. At the university, courses that involve such things as lab sciences or musical performance groups are impacted to a very high degree. I’ve heard that there is great dissatisfaction among students and their parents as well as many faculty. These students lived through distance education during COVID and are extremely frustrated. I was told by someone with campus connections that many students are considering transferring. What is the university’s explanation for why they have continued with online classes? Will there be any level of refund of either tuition or student fees based on the current situation?

My answer: Back in my day, we used beer instead of water in college — for everything. Toothbrushing? Beer. Making coffee? Beer. Cooking spaghetti? Beer. I once watered my weed plants with beer. They thrived.

Real answer: John Dougherty, chief of staff and general counsel at UNC Asheville, answered this one. He said the university made the decision on Oct. 9 to transition to online instruction for the remainder of the semester.

“This decision was based on ensuring the safety and continuity of education for all our students,” Dougherty said. “We communicated this decision well in advance, before classes resumed on Oct. 28, to provide clarity and allow ample time for faculty to adapt their courses. At the time, the outlook on water availability in Asheville was uncertain, making it challenging to plan for a full return to in-person operations.”

The shift was vital to maintain academic access for students, he added.

“Following Hurricane Helene, some of our students, faculty and staff, experienced damage to property, loss of housing and transportation, and other significant barriers including relocation, like many members of our Asheville community,” Dougherty said. “The flexibility of online learning has allowed these members of our community to continue their work and studies without further interruption.”

He said faculty have been able to engage with students in “innovative ways,” and the quality of instruction “has not diminished across the online format.” Faculty have restructured courses with a mix of synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (self-paced) instruction. 

“Regarding financial considerations, we have communicated information about housing, dining, and parking credits as well as a spring tuition grant for our students,” Dougherty said. “Additionally, the university has encouraged our students to apply for emergency grants for students made available by the North Carolina General Assembly.”

You can find more information about the grants and credits here.

Those grants and credits, Dougherty said, are in addition to more than $300,000 that UNCA distributed to impacted students and employees through institutional hardship grants funded through private philanthropy.

Students with concerns can send an email to helene@unca.edu, Dougherty said, or they can contact the Dean of Students Office.

In a Nov. 13 press release, the university noted that safe drinking water had returned to campus. Safe drinking water returned to the rest of Asheville Nov. 18.

UNCA started working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about a month ago to construct a temporary water treatment facility on campus. The university also consulted with the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the water is safe to drink.

Question: Can we get an update on the Craven Street bridge? What is the damage? When will it be reopened? Also, can you share more about the bridge by the Veterans Restoration Quarters, and give us an update on how progress is being made there for restoration?

My answer: Thanks. Now I have Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” stuck in my brain. That’s a real sapfest, you know.

Real answer: Regarding the Craven Street Bridge, NCDOT resident engineer Tom Veazey said the contract for the repair has been advertised and they are awaiting bids. 

“The repairs on this one are very straightforward, so it should be open within a couple weeks once crews begin,” Veazey said. “The alternate routes include the Haywood Road Bridge and Lyman Street to access Riverside Drive.”

Veazey also had good news about the Tunnel Road Bridge near VRQ. Major repairs were to wrap up last week.

“Then, crews will begin placement of roadway fill (this) week, with hopes of placing asphalt and opening the bridge by the end of November,” Veazey said.

Both bridges sustained damage from the Sept. 27 floodwaters of Tropical Storm Helene.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/

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