In parts of North Carolina (I'm somewhat familiar with the southwestern corner) there are no options for recycling or even salvage, sadly. You either pay for trash removal, or take your own trash to the dump, where you have to pay to leave it there. In the fiercely independant mountain mindset, there is a resistance to having to pay to dump your trash. So, you get piles of refuse out back, or in Bobert's case, on a convenient burn pile.

There's not a lot of environmental education in those regions, and a hint of "it's bad for the environment" could be greeted with hostility as a political statement. It's sad that caring for the planet is interpreted as liberal hippie hogwash, but it's part of a long, long, complicated story of the South that calling him an idiot doesn't help.