There鈥檚 a steady stream of cars passing through the Tyler Recycling Center daily as eco-conscious residents carry full boxes and bags of materials inside and sort them into large bins. Those items are spared from going into the city landfill, but where exactly do they go?
Most often, they are bundled up and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The purchaser is often a broker, who then sells the commodity to manufacturers. 鈥淲e are trying to get the best price,鈥� said Russ Jackson, director of Tyler Solid Waste. 鈥淲hen we have a load of material ready, we contact everyone on our bid list, and whoever gives us the best price, that鈥檚 the route we go. Whoever is the highest bidder, we coordinate a pickup date.鈥�
The city鈥檚 solid waste department is run like a business and operates through an enterprise fund. It does not receive tax dollars, rather operating through its fees for garbage pickup. Funds gained from selling recycled items goes back into the budget. The department brings in roughly $100,000 a year by selling its recyclable materials, Jackson said.
The city only makes money on things brought to its recycling center, 414 N. Bois D. Arc Ave. Tyler contracts out its curbside recycling service. Since it鈥檚 not done in house, Tyler reaps no financial benefit. 鈥淭he residential recycling – we don鈥檛 do anything other than pick it up we take it to Rivers Recycling in Kilgore. We don鈥檛 get a dime for it. They used to pay us about $10 a ton, but the market has been bad the last year.鈥�
At the Tyler Recycling Center, which was a fire station in a former life, residents can recycle more than the basics of plastic, paper and aluminum. The center takes used motor oil, coolant, ink cartridges, industrial batteries, cell phones and anything metal. 鈥淲e used to make money on the oil,鈥� Jackson said, adding when prices were high, it garnered about 90 cents a gallon. 鈥淩ight now with the oil market, we are just taking it. It keeps people from pouring it in ditches. It鈥檚 another way to keep that from happening.鈥�
The recycling center takes all electronics – from curling irons to toasters – as well as old TVs. Glass is sold for $30 a ton to a company that uses it to make fiberglass home insulation. Anything that is metal will also be accepted, as well as aluminum pie pans, assuming they are clean. They also take old textbooks. The electronics are broken down. The cord is worth about 60 cents a pound, and the prong that goes into the wall catches a separate value.
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