Recycling鈥檚 become second nature to so many of us that it鈥檚 easy to forget it鈥檚 just as subject to the laws of supply and demand as any other activity.
Ultimately at the mercy of global commodity markets, recycling centers across California have struggled to get by on thinner and thinner margins.
Centers across the state lost more than a total of $20 million last year, according to a report by the nonprofit Container Recycling Institute. And as the losses add up, more and more of the privately owned facilities are going out of business: more than 400 statewide 鈥� more than a fifth of the facilities in California 鈥� over the past year, and five in Humboldt County alone within the last 18 months.
It鈥檚 dire news for county and the state. According to Brian Sollom, operations supervisor at Recology Humboldt County, a waste management company in Eureka, recycling markets are the lowest they鈥檝e been since 2008.
Under the current California system, beverage container manufacturers pay fees to reduce recycling centers鈥� expenses when those expenses exceed the value of recycled goods. Consumers can get a smaller rebate from the California Redemption Value program than those offered in other states 鈥� but curbside recycling programs offered by municipalities up and down the state effectively cut out the middleman, keeping the rebate for themselves. The centers can often find themselves in competition with nonprofit groups collecting recyclables for the rebate 鈥� to say nothing of the poorest among us.
鈥淭ransients and the less fortunate rely on CRV. It鈥檚 their sustenance,鈥� Brent Whitener, director of operations and facilities at the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, told the Times-Standard last month. 鈥淚t鈥檚 their sustenance.鈥�
While a recent deal between state Senate leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown鈥檚 administration helps retailers impacted by recycling centers鈥� closures, it did nothing to help the centers.
A state government with any degree of foresight might be interested in salvaging a recycling program that keeps trash out of landfills, helps nonprofit groups raise money, and can put more food in the hands of the state鈥檚 poor.
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