Market for Recyclables in U.S. Dwindling Rapidly

Published December 08, 2008

The struggling American economy has hurt more than just employment rates, small business, and large corporations — it has also destroyed the market for recyclables.

Recycling contractors are having an increasingly hard time finding buyers that will buy at reasonable prices, and as a result some recyclables are heading to the dump.

Tin, for example, is worth $5 a ton—down from $327 less than a year ago.

One county in West Virginia has stopped accepting plastics and metals, and a Montana recycler now refuses anything except cardboard.

The town of Frackville, Pennsylvania has actually stopped taking recyclables altogether because it is cheaper to send the materials to the dump.

I've always thought of recycling as an untouchable institution, but these events have proven that even the most basic green services are controlled by the economy—a sobering thought, but one that is important to remember.

Ariel Schwartz is a blogger for GreenBiz.com and the editor of Cleantechnica.com. A graduate of Vassar College, she has previously worked in marketing, organic farming, and newspaper journalism.

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