Lighter Living: Slouching economy hurts recycling opportunities

By Matt Weafer
VENT Magazine

The green movement permeates our society so thickly that the average consumer has bent their focus from buying the newest trendy item to curbing their carbon footprint.

Reduce, reuse, recycle has been the moniker of environmentalists for years. And regardless of the newest environmentally-friendly car or energy-saving appliance, recycling remains one the most beneficial activities for an eco-conscious lifestyle.

But Owensboro residents are limited.

The recycling center now located at the Public Works Building on W. 5th St. only accepts newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans, steel cans, clear plastic and opaque, colorless plastic.

What about the other five types of plastic? Or glass? Or even computer products, fluorescent lights and hazardous wastes?

Unfortunately, Downy Ward, manager of the Owensboro Sanitation Department, said, currently, there is not a market in the area for glass and other recyclables. And hauling the material would not only put out a significant amount of particulate matter from the trucks but would also be fiscally irresponsible as the city’s trucks cost $4 to $5 per mile.

The recycling industry as a whole has taken a hit along with the rest of the economy.

“Everybody wants to do the right thing,” Ward said. “People’s hearts are in the right place . . . (but) the bottom has dropped out of the market.”

Owensboro sells its recyclables to local recycling distributor Resource Recycling.

“They dictate the amounts and quantities of what we recycle based on the industry that will accept it,” Ward said.

Glass and the other types of plastic are “tremendously hard to recycle,” Ward said. And there are no industries nearby to which Owensboro can sell its post-consumer product; therefore Resource Recycling does not accept those items.

And the industry is struggling so much that Resource Recycling has suspended payment on newspaper and cardboard, so the Sanitation Department collects those at a loss.

The largest buyer of recyclable paper product is China, Ward said. And along with the rest of the global economy, China’s production of recycled paper products has either slowed or stopped, which means Resource Recycling cannot sell the recyclable newspaper and cardboard.

In the meantime, Resource Recycling is stock-piling paper waste until it can find a buyer, Ward said.

“We’ve tried to talk to local paper companies like Scott Paper Co. about purchasing recycled paper,” Ward said. But the city can’t produce enough product at the purity level the companies request in order to create a viable relationship.

With the economic slump, businesses and industries trim excess costs and in many cases, industries can purchase virgin resources significantly cheaper than recycled.

Regardless of the troubled market, the Sanitation Department is still accepting the same six items, including agricultural waste such as leaves and grass clippings at the Sports Center.

Home Depot offers recycling drop-off for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). GreenWorks Recycling, located at 101 E. 9th St. recycles e-scrap such as old computers, cell phones, game consoles and other technological hardware.

Ward said that he’s waiting to hear from the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex about purchasing recycled, glass cullet to use in refilling culverts and other applications. The Sanitation Department would then begin accepting glass.

For the other recyclable products, the solution, Ward said, is to increase demand for recycled material.

“If people say, I want to do what’s right and pay that extra cost, then there’s a market and a factory that can sustain itself,” Ward said.

While the motto is reduce, reuse, recycle, there’s another unspoken step, buy recycled products to maintain the demand.

As the recycling industry continues to grow, more options will become available to Owensboro, but in the meantime, Ward said, “The best thing you can do is try to reduce the amount of virgin product you consume,” and when you can, buy recycled products.