Recycling centers closing?

Two recycling centers within 30 miles of me have recently closed.  Is this a national trend?

some years ago i remember the center near my mother (western NJ) closed.

the combination of countries no longer accepting exported 'recyclables' (waste) and i would imagine the costs of separating/collecting/shipping seem to have made the whole notion of recycling economically unfeasable.
some countries have their own reclamation centers (we have a lot of centers for reusing plastic and paper), it doesnt seem like the US does though.

I can't speak on an a national scale but I know my local municipality has to look at increasing prices for their trash/recycling service due to increased costs/volume on the recycling side. I can only imagine that the margins on recycling are slim at the best of times?

Hi Timothy,

My organization ran a recycling center for a couple of decades as a service to the community. We never made a profit on it.  What was frustrating to me is that the view of the community at large was that we had to be making money on it…why else would we keep it open? They never did get it through their heads that we were being nice.

The only thing they make money on is typically Aluminum cans.  Rest is expensive and getting more difficult to have done as sorting centers outside the US are shutting down.  Plus the actual value in most cases is more energy intensive than making new.  So in many cases it is a net loss and even environmentalists are coming to recognize the facts.

Guessing AI and automation my change that into the future but for now it is getting harder.

Years ago, the town near where we lived tried doing recycling.  That only lasted a short time.  I never heard why.

Several years ago the nearest town did electronic recycling.  I don't think that is still a thing...

Our recycling options just got larger in Salem, OR this year to include different types of tubs and cartons, so I think it depends on your city. Unfortunately I am just outside the Salem city boundary. Link

We ran aluminum cans. Equipment was through a grant. At the end of a year we made $10.00 profit for the year….looking at the income from the cans alone . ..and not counting equipment costs.  We ran out the requirements of the grant and closed out the can aspect of recycling.  My suspicion is that too many people were putting rocks in the cans. …and it was not being caught.  

Hi Anne,

Electronics recycling is very tricky.  An organization about 60 miles from me went into it big time.  Lots of grants ….it still cost the CEO his job.  The problem for the organization was that long term profit depended upon the skills to remove precious metals from mother boards….quickly and efficiently.   That is not a common skill set for people making a small town assembly line wage.

Timothy wrote:

I can only imagine that the margins on recycling are slim at the best of times?

Things I've read suggest it's a loss with rare exception.

C. Letellier wrote:

The only thing they make money on is typically Aluminum cans.

and John F. wrote:

We ran aluminum cans.  

My sister's city has a blue box program. The drink cans there don't have a refund on them. They're the only thing in the box that generates any profit, and garbage pickers come along early in the morning and take all the cans out of the blue boxes.

My province has a user fee on all drink containers and we have recycling centers where you can take them to get most of your money back. It definitely keeps our road verges cleaner! Even if the user doesn't care and tosses their empty, I see seniors out for morning walks carrying a bag and picking up the empties for the cash they can get for them!

John F. wrote:

Electronics recycling is very tricky.  

And frequently toxic. It needs to be done right, but when it is, cradle to grave, the rare metals recovered are worth it. The trouble is that most mining operations are subsidized by gov't, so if the recycling efforts aren't similarly subsidized, they can't compete.

I've read in many places that the whole recycling concept is a scam to make people feel better. We don't mind the over-packaging because "it's being recycled", when in fact, most of it, in most places, isn't.

Three key solutions: 1. buy less, particularly less over packaged stuff. (Drink water, not pop! Make your own wine/beer!)
2. encourage the development of genuine upcycling uses for the material.
3. encourage genuinely compostable packaging wherever possible.

My county (that I just moved to) - Putnam, in Florida just stopped its recycling services due to "low citizen participation" which is a slick way to save money while placing blame on the people. Now I have to drive all my recycling 45 minutes away to Gainesville one a month. I feel like I just stepped back in time.

In Germany, there are several recycling options.

For (most) glass and aluminum drink containers, one pays a deposit on purchase.  The container can then be returned to get the deposit back.  (Most supermarkets have automatic machines to make this painless.)

People do go through garbage cans to pick out containers for the deposit; I think of it as a mitzvah to leave those containers on the ground by the can for easier finding.

Paper, colored glass, clear glass, compost and green waste are all supposed to go into specific outdoor containers and not in the garbage.  Plastic (some kinds) are supposed to go into yellow bags left outside and picked up every other week.

I must admit that I slack on compost (my dehydrator-thing died and regular countertop composters go poorly for me) and have no green waste in my apartment (I have a compost pile in the garden, of course).

Glass containers are usually returned to the brewery, power washed, and re-used directly.

Aluminum and glass are, of course, melted for re-use.

I would not be shocked if almost everything else, including garbage, is burned for electricity.  Not great, but in Europe there’s no space for landfills, so…

(Oh, and electronics are supposed to go to their own recycling; again, because so many things are burned for power and electronics are nasty for that.  There are several specialized bins for small electronics and recycling facilities for larger ones.)

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:
People do go through garbage cans to pick out containers for the deposit; I think of it as a mitzvah to leave those containers on the ground by the can for easier finding.

We do this as well, saving aluminum cans. Every so often someone with a hard-luck story will come through my neighborhood looking for money or food, they get the stash of beer cans, which they can sell and are generally thrilled.

I was amazed the last time I was in Europe (Italy) at how little plastic was in the food market when I went to do some shopping. Most everything I would get here in plastic was packaged in glass (and the glass recycling containers, emptied twice weekly, were always consistently overflowing). There were few cans and nearly no plastic packaging, it was lovely to see.

For some perspective: here in Brazil I live on the outskirts of a capital city known for its "green policies" (it's mostly just spin, but it's better than nothing).
We have recycling pickup twice a week curbside (trash pickup is thrice weekly). They will take any plastic with a recycling symbol, pulpable paper/cardboard, glass, tetrapaks and metal and even styrofoam. The tetrapak and styrofoam people have manufacturing plants here in the state and I think are required by law to accept their products back for some sort of reprocessing.
The waste is sorted by local co-ops, reprocessed or repurposed. I'd say most of my recycling is plastic and cardboard, as I save nearly all glass bottles for canning and other than that there's maybe the odd sardine can.
People collect and sell to scrapyards on their own though, and most days someone takes my bag of recyclables before the trash comes. This without the aforementioned aluminum cans that are worth more!
For hazardous waste or e-waste there are places to drop it, or a truck that is at every local city bus station on a certain day of the month.
For things like light bulbs, old paint or whatever that's a good option, but many large hardware/home stores also are required by law to take these things.

The best program though I think is a city outreach program where people who collect recyclables can exchange a certain amount for a delivery of vegetables purchased by the city from community gardens. it's like 1kg of recyclables for 5 kg veggies, i think, with distribution points in different neighborhoods once a week. For the poorest of the poor, this is a way to get some fresh food and also helps with a bit of roadside cleanup.

I think citizens world wide need to understand the true cost and effects of waste. I belive it should be a producers concern not the consumers concern.
Then recycling will work.
Some ideas;
- Limit plastics types used for beverages to one type only
- penalise consumers who  dont care and mix up things
- reduce packaging
- make building sites sort their rubbish

John F Dean wrote:Hi Anne,

Electronics recycling is very tricky.  An organization about 60 miles from me went into it big time.  Lots of grants ….it still cost the CEO his job.  The problem for the organization was that long term profit depended upon the skills to remove precious metals from mother boards….quickly and efficiently.   That is not a common skill set for people making a small town assembly line wage.

While I have no idea, I assumed that a young guy had taken over a Radio Shack store and that was the idea behind the electronic recycling.  He fixed it and resold it though I don't know...

Sara Carver wrote:My county (that I just moved to) - Putnam, in Florida just stopped its recycling services due to "low citizen participation" which is a slick way to save money while placing blame on the people. Now I have to drive all my recycling 45 minutes away to Gainesville one a month. I feel like I just stepped back in time.

If you are driving for no other reason than the recycling, the fuel/tires/oil/brakes consumed is probably worse for the environment than landfilling the recyclables.

Our unstaffed recycling collection dumpsters were recently removed.  They were often overfilled.  Dumping of trash was the reason given for removal.  The staffed centers are still open.  They recently moved from sorted to single stream with the exception of cardboard and glass.  I’m guessing they compress the loads and ship them overseas.

    Here on Long Island, we have trucks pick up recyclables once a week.  Glass and plastic (#1-#5) one week, alternating with paper and cardboard.  The problem is that we don't know where these truckloads of plastic are going since other countries have stopped taking our trash and we don't know how to efficiently do anything with it here in the USA.  Now  I focus on buying/using as little plastic as possible and avoiding single-use items.

Plastics can be turned back into fuel if that is a required outcome.
I think Governments need to get involved with this sort of program.
1 - Recognise Waste is the manufacturers problem
2 - ban coloured glass and plastics to aid recycling
3 - standardise drink container materials to eliminate mismatching plastics
4 - Encourage more efficient packaging.
5 - Takeaway food businesses should print car registration number on packaging.
    Germany does it to minimise it being dumped anywhere.
Such a plan will overall be better value than the current system that is failing.
It just needs community to push for it.