Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Empire Disposal ended free recycling drop-off in Colfax because of the new economics.
Whitman County commissioners learned Jan. 21 costs for 2019 recycling.
The county lost $47,000 on single-stream recycling. The total represents out-of-pocket costs, not including equipment or labor.
"The plan so far is to continue to recycle, even though it costs a lot of money," said Mark Storey, Public Works director.
"Is there gonna be a market on single-stream recycling?" asked Commissioner Dean Kinzer. "I don't see it turning around soon."
In 2017, county recycling numbers were still a net positive. In 2018 it became a loss and grew the next year. In monthly terms, the county loses $2,000 to $6,500 per month. Three years ago, it made about $2,000 on recycling.
"It costs money now, with no revenue to offset what it costs," Storey told the Gazette later. "We like to recycle. It's just something we pay for now."
The change is largely due to new policies in China and other far eastern countries.
China, which had taken in much of the world's used plastic since the early '90s, changed course in January 2019 and announced no further importing of plastics, citing higher contaminant levels due to single-stream recycling.
As a result, the value of a truckload of recyclables arriving at the Whitman County transfer station went into the negative. It costs the hauler now. It used to be profitable.
"Five years ago this (loss) would've been way out of character for our system," said Storey.
Garbage fees – known as "tipping fees" – pay for local recycling and solid waste operations. In the past two to three years, some Washington counties have cut back recycling or raised garbage fees to help cover the new costs.
County commissioners set these fees.
Whitman County sends its baled recyclables by truck to Spokane, where they are put on a train for the Port of Seattle, Tacoma or elsewhere. From there, they used to be sold overseas.
"At some point, our commissioners may get approached, myself included, about changing fees in Whitman County," Storey said. "I'm not recommending a fee increase now. I suspect we'll revisit this in fall 2020. Should we have a higher tipping fee? Or charge for recycling? That's part of the question."
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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