Brad Reeves pulls his truck close to a large container at Marblehead鈥檚 transfer station and unloads piles of scrap metal into a bin, which is filled with twisted steel, tangled wire and rusty sections of iron fence. 鈥淚t was taking up too much space in my garage,鈥� said Reeves, 43. 鈥淎t least the town can get something for it.鈥�
Like many communities, Marblehead recycles the plastic, paper and metal it collects from residents like Reeves. The material gets trucked away and sold on regional and global markets.
But Marblehead and other communities aren鈥檛 getting as much as they once did, and the result is a growing strain on cities and towns that have spent years developing recycling programs and encouraging residents to participate.
A few years ago, scrap metal sold for about $250 a ton. Now Marblehead gets about a quarter of that, said Town Administrator John McGinn. Its return on recycled paper has shriveled, too, from $10 a ton to $5 a ton. 鈥淎nd if the quality is very poor, we only get $2.50,鈥� McGinn said.
Plunging oil prices and other factors have led to declines in how much buyers are willing to pay for recycled commodities.
That means communities that once made good money recycling are getting far less – or even have to pay to get rid of it – said Michael Durfor, executive director of Northeast Resource Recovery Association. The group works with cities and towns to develop recycling programs. 鈥淲hen it costs more money to recycle something than to throw it away, that creates a big challenge for local governments,鈥� said Durfor. 鈥淭he question is how long can many cities and towns afford to support that?鈥�
Saving, not making, money
Durfor and others say the financial pinch affects recycling haulers, too. A few years ago, the businesses could sell recycled materials for $150 a ton, but they now make just a fraction of that. In some cases, those companies are looking to deals with local governments to recover their money – through trucking or processing fees.
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