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Recycling companies feeling the pain
People still recycling, but some businesses forced to downsize
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| Erica Burrus Journal / Dumpsters sit packed with material for recycling along Sublette Avenue. While the companies that incorporate these materials into new products aren't paying much, people are still recycling. | ||
Cardboard went flat. Aluminum got crushed. Plastic lost its sheen.
The market for recyclable materials tanked in October.
The good news is people are still recycling. It's just that businesses that collect and sell the materials are taking a hit.
Margaret Gasperi of Recycling Concepts Inc., closed her facility in Overland and scaled back. She now simply works as a recyclables broker out of an office in her Glendale home.
The economy has caused manufacturing to slow down, so there's less of a need for material, she said.
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When people aren't building as many kitchen cabinets and appliances, there's less of a need for corrugated cardboard in which to package them. When car companies build less, there's less need for cardboard boxes to ship parts. The mills that turn old cardboard into new products are full.
"There's a tremendous amount tied to car production," Gasperi said. "It's supply and demand."
Stricter lending practices have caused another problem for small businesses like Gasperi's. She can't get a loan. Without capitol, she can't pay to haul materials even when she can find buyers. She had to start charging companies to haul their recyclables away.
One client told her he would rather pay the cost to put his material in a landfill rather than pay her the same amount to haul it away, Gasperi said. He didn't like that she would make a profit at his expense.
The desire to just dump the material is not prevalent. Many people are still calling and wanting to bring material to Gasperi.
People in Kirkwood are still recycling. In February, they dropped off 255 tons of recyclables at the city's depository.
The center is finding companies to take the material, although it makes no money for it, said Jennie Faenger, customer service assistant at the depository. The city previously had received $5 to $60 per ton depending on the material. The money was used to cover the expenses of the depository.
"Our hope is that it picks up here pretty soon and starts to turn around," Faenger said. "But no matter if the market is down, we're still keeping items out of the landfill and that's our ultimate goal."
That's also the goal of Abitibi Recycling's community programs. The company's Recycle Challenge and Paper Retriever programs help community groups make money by collecting cans and newsprint. More than 800 parochial schools and non-profits participate.
Despite the lack of a market for such materials, the company has maintained the rates it pays to these groups, said Stefanie Fairless, area manager for the Abitibi Bowater Recycling. However, these groups are making less money for their efforts.
After St. Louis County began offering curbside recycling last year, people found it more convenient to recycle from home rather than haul it to a bin at a school, Fairless said. This, coupled with the reduced average size of many newspapers, has kept the weight of the materials down.
Some schools were making thousands of dollars each year for their efforts prior to this change, Fairless said. Now they could make a fraction of that.
"So many people don't realize what these bins do," Fairless said. "They can pay for a child's tuition, technology in the classroom, a mission trip a church is trying to support or it could be to adopt a family."
One group that participates in Abitibi's programs is the Guffey Community Organization at George Guffey Elementary School in Fenton. The community in Jefferson County has curbside recycling, but residents must pay for it.
Jill Wright, a member of the group, said people are still bringing in just as much of their recycling to the school's collection bins. Money for the cans goes to the GCO, while money for the newspapers goes to another school effort. The GCO makes little from the effort - between $32 and $35 per quarter - but that doesn't matter, she said.
"We're in it almost as much just to teach kids how to help the Earth and do something good for the community," she said. "You really can't put a price on that."
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