For a while, we were thinking Fayetteville could be pretty proud of its new recycling program, successful beyond its boosters' dreams.

And the city does have a right to be proud. Residents have embraced recycling and happily wheel their well-filled blue carts to the curb on trash pickup day.

But that pride lacks perspective. Yes, people who live in single-family homes within the city limits are doing a good job with recycling. But another view arrived this week, statistics accompanying a state law that takes effect today - a ban on burying plastic bottles in landfills.

It turns out that Cumberland County, along with all but three counties in the Cape Fear region, has been doing a perfectly lousy job of recycling its plastic bottles. Cumberland County ranks 87th among the state's 100 counties in plastic-bottle recycling. Annual per-capita plastic bottle recycling last year was about eight ounces per person. But those figures were compiled for the fiscal year that ended a day before Fayetteville's curbside recycling program began. Our ranking will surely rise when 2009 figures are compiled.

In this region, only Scotland, Lee and Moore counties ranked in the top half of the state's counties, with Scotland leading the pack, recycling more than five pounds of plastic bottles per person last year. That put Scotland at 26th in the state. Orange County topped everyone, averaging 40 pounds per resident.

Cumberland County's numbers will get better and so will Harnett's, which last year ranked 96th in the state, recycling only three-hundredths of a pound of plastic bottles per resident. But the county has made big improvements in its recycling efforts since then.

We'd like to think the new law would dramatically improve recycling. Unfortunately, it is toothless. There are no penalties for noncompliance, nor are many cities or counties likely to force their garbage collectors or landfill operators into law enforcement. (Note to General Assembly: We need some fine-tuning.)

While residents of our region are gradually embracing recycling, we'll soon be a major player in the plastic recycling market. Clear Path Recycling will open one of the nation's largest plastic-bottle recycling plants in Fayetteville. But unless local recycling grows exponentially, Clear Path will import much of its raw material from elsewhere. We hope there are good rail connections with Orange County.

Or better yet, we'd like to see Fayetteville and Cumberland County expand recycling to include businesses, apartments and condominium complexes. There are a host of good reasons to recycle - starting with saving the expense of replacing a full landfill. And there's no good reason to avoid it.