Schuylkill County recycling update

What’s the state of the Schuylkill County recycling program? How much does the county get for each category of recyclables, such as paper, glass, plastic, cardboard and metal? How do current prices compare to prices from five years ago?

Well, that depends, according to Joseph Scribbick, Schuylkill County Recycling Coordinator, Office of Solid Waste. During a meeting last week, the Schuylkill commissioners made an annual budget adjustment to cover the fees for paper and plastic collected from the county’s recycling drop off locations. Fifteen years ago, the county had 28 of such sites; today there are 16.

“The market for materials collected through recycling, as with other commodities, goes through ups and own over time so prices vary,” Scribbick said. “With market changes, option availability and material prices, prices can change dramatically.”

“For example, oil prices, strength of the dollar, China’s policies, you name it, they all have an impact,” he added. “When I look at trends with recycling from the early ’90s until now and from what I’ve seen, there have been at least four major market downturns — and in the last five years, overall commodity prices continued to decline, reflecting a downward trend with recycled commodity market prices.”

But, Scribbick said, any business involved with commodity markets must learn to ride out the lows and enjoy the highs. Overall, recycling tonnage received by the county from the drop off sites over the past five years has gone down, he said.

“There is a clear downward trend in tons received, and in many cases, the decrease in tonnage has been dramatic with 20 to 30% reductions,” Scribbick said.

Scribbick said that modification to product design and packaging are contributing to the tonnage decrease.

“Those changes have resulted in lighter weight — for example, instead of packaging things in cardboard, corporations are using shrink wrap or plastic to package their products,” he said. “You’re also seeing more plastic bottles used for drinking containers instead of glass.”

Also, the county’s drop-off centers are being used less because of the increasing use of curbside recycling. Over the past 15 years, drop-off bins were removed from sites as some municipalities exercised their right to terminate their lease agreements, due to liability or because they went curbside.