Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Those taking recycling to the Colfax drop-off center on Sumner Street next to Empire Disposal may have noticed a difference. The dumpsters for glass, plastic and aluminum are gone.
They were taken away April 1.
“The market is really bad right now,” said David Nails, solid waste and recycling director. “I’ve been working at this for 12 years. This is the worst it’s ever been.”
Aaron Lawhead, site manager for Empire Disposal which collects the recyclables at Sumner Street, made the decision after consideration.
“I tried to push it off for several years,” said Lawhead. “We’re a hauling company. We pay an exorbitant amount of money to get rid of what we take in for free. Recycled should be called reduction now.”
A change in policy in China and other Far East countries has led to the situation. China, which had taken in much of the world’s used plastic since the early ‘90s, changed course and announced no further importing of plastics earlier this year.
As a result, the value of an Empire Disposal truckload to the county transfer station is now in the negative.
It costs the hauler now. It used to produce a profit.
Whitman County is also a hauler, in that it sends baled recyclables by truck to Spokane, where they are loaded on a train headed for Seattle, Tacoma or other ports. That is where it used to be sold overseas.
Now though, for example, the waste transfer station’s May bill for 10 loads baled – including transportation to Spokane – came to $21,945.97, or $638.20 per 27-ton load.
The price marks the opposite of what previously happened.
“That is a negative charge to us,” Nails said. “Usually you get a check.”
Republic Services of Spokane – which ships the bales to port – used to pay Whitman County. Now Whitman County pays them.
China cites too much residual material in single-stream loads as reason not to take further U.S. recyclables.
“Our biggest export market has shut us down,” Nails said.
Whitman County Public Works has put out education pieces about keeping single-stream recyclables clean, and Pullman Disposal has run radio ads. Co-mingled recyclables (single-stream) was instituted in Whitman County in 2013.
Loss
The county’s loss in revenue is passed on to the haulers – Empire Disposal and Pullman Disposal. Also, the county retrieves recyclables from large bins in smaller towns.
For cardboard, Whitman County gets paid $12.75 per ton. After transportation costs and a $30 per ton for processing, it ends up $40.90 to the negative.
China also does not take cardboard .
The deficit does not impact the county budget because the costs are passed to the haulers.
Pullman Disposal now charges a fee to take in recyclables at their drop-off site on Harold Street.
Empire Disposal
With Empire Disposal quitting collecting of glass, plastics and aluminum at their drop-off site, the company continues its curbside pick-up of each.
“I’m not pleased with how the recycling economies have shaken out,” said Lawhead.
He indicated that soon the large blue newspaper/paper receptacle at the drop-off site may be taken away.
“The cardboard market is far healthier than any other commodity. “Paper is a negative market now.”
Single-stream recycling was supposed to make it a step easier.
“And it created contamination issues,” said Lawhead. “We’re playing right now a hand-off game.”
Empire Disposal makes money from subscription fees for curbside garbage and recycling collection. Before, profit included hauling recyclables from the collection site to the transfer station
“It used to be a no-fee or proceed receivable, now it’s an expense,” said Lawhead.
Will the paper bin be gone?
“Very likely,” he said.
Whitman County Transfer Station still takes in single stream, glass, scrap metal and other recyclables at no charge.
Pullman Disposal
Up to a year ago this month, it was free to drop off co-mingled recyclables at Pullman Disposal’s public drop-off. They now charge rates of $5 for glass for any amount, $8 for a car bringing co-mingled, and $10 for a truck.
Residents also have the option to keep driving another six miles and drop it off at the county transfer station for no charge.
“People don’t expect to have to pay for recycling,” said Devon Felsted, president of Pullman Disposal.
Dropping off cardboard and aluminum is still no charge at Pullman Disposal.
“We’re thinking about having to charge for cardboard,” said Felsted. “It’s a crazy situation.”
Has he heard complaints about the drop-off charges?
“We heard a lot of whining from the Facebook crowd,” he said. “That was about three or four days.”
Is single-stream the problem?
“It kind of sounds that way,” said Felsted.
China began to import more plastic trash as it grew to become the largest manufacturer in the world, using the material to process it into goods.
Far East
On Jan. 1 of this year, China, which took as much as 70 percent of recyclables collected in the U.S. per year, cut the percent of contaminants it would accept. Food scraps, glass shards and the wrong type of plastic, previously allowed at five percent was dropped to a one-half of one percent.
Since last year, the entire West coast has been paying to get rid of recyclable materials.
Single-stream recycling changed the practice of residents separating cardboard from aluminum from glass and paper at the curb – which brought new problems, as recycling materials are only as valuable as what is or is not mixed in with it.
Recyclable materials’ buyers want to know its contaminant levels because items such as glass shards mixed in with paper fibers can break down equipment.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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