North Carolina · Recycling / Large Project · NC-RECY-001
Tax Incentives for Major Recycling Facilities
Publication revised September 24, 2026. Sourcebook page 209.
Credit amount / calculation
Credit package under Article 3C for qualifying major recycling facilities.
Business fit and eligible activity
Only very large qualifying recycling facilities will meet the scale requirements. Qualified investment or approved project activity; confirm eligible property, location and taxpayer type.
Eligibility and practical use
A wood-products plant may have an eligible project when it installs equipment to process a qualifying waste stream into a saleable product. In-plant reuse of ordinary production residuals is not automatically enough.
Illustrative business benefit
Use-of-credit illustration, not an estimated award: assume the agency or completed tax form establishes a $1,000 credit for the qualifying activity described above. If sufficient eligible tax is due, a $1,000 credit available for current use reduces that tax by $1,000. If annual limits allow only $600, that is this year's saving; the other $400 survives only if the carryforward or transfer rules permit. Obtain the actual program calculation before estimating a project benefit.
Timing / first action
Seek approval before signing a purchase order, contract, lease or other binding commitment. Confirm the exact point at which a purchase order, contract, lease, or other binding commitment would make the project ineligible.
Official sources
Related programs
Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credit
Credit based on qualified rehabilitation expenditures for
Directly relevant to qualifying historic or vacant mill property; the credit-generating sunset is currently 2030.
Clean Electricity Investment Credit (Internal Revenue Code §48E)
Generally
Potentially relevant when a forest-products facility owns qualifying zero-emission generation or energy-storage property.
Clean Electricity Production Credit (Internal Revenue Code §45Y)
Production-based
Alternative to the investment credit for owners/operators of qualifying clean-electricity facilities; potentially relevant to qualifying on-site generation.
Credit for Increasing Research Activities (Internal Revenue Code §41)
Regular research-credit method
A sawmill, secondary manufacturer or biomass business can qualify when it performs genuine technological experimentation to improve a product or process.