Area recycling center may face bleak future without community support

Each year, more than 750 tons of solid waste is diverted from landfills by residents in Butler, Carter, Reynolds, Ripley and Wayne counties.

They utilize a free recycling program that has for decades been supported by the revenue it generates and grant dollars from a state solid waste management program.

The recycling program is struggling now because of changes both locally and worldwide, said Felicity Ray, executive director of Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission, which manages the program.

Jamie Lansford looks at bundles of magazines ready for recycling.DAR/Paul Davis

New solutions, including support from local cities and counties, may be needed to see the program through a tight period some experts say could last up to three years.

“We are funded by two primary sources that make up 98 to 99% of the revenue,” said Ray. “That is the program income from the materials that we collect, process and sell.

“Our second source of funding is grant dollars from the state of Missouri’s solid waste management fund.”

The value of recyclables has dropped off sharply as policy changes in countries like China have reduced how much solid waste will be accepted.

China has long been the world’s largest importer of recyclables like paper, plastic and scrap metal. In 2018, the country stopped accepting some items and set new restrictions on purity levels of the raw materials accepted for processing.

The value of cardboard has fallen in the past year from $115 per ton to $45, for example.

“In my experience, I would expect it to take multiple years to recover to that $115 figure,” Ray said. “We had it fall to $15 in ‘08, temporarily. It recovered quickly but that was due to the recession of ‘08. We had significantly more grant funding at that time to help us survive.”

It takes about $330,000 a year for the recycling center to run well, Ray explained.

Cutbacks have brought it down to an annual budget of $240,000 in 2019, with losses still topping $51,000 at fiscal year-end.

The center generated just under $68,500 in recycling revenue for FY19, compared to approximately $100,000 in FY18, when the market was already being impacted by reduced demand.

An annual state grant of $84,000 helped support operations in FY19, along with another one-time grant of $36,280.

“We have reached out to our cities and counties for financial support,” Ray said. “If we could generate $60,000 a year, then we could commit to maintaining future operations.”

Other impacts felt locally have also hurt the facility.

The $84,000 state grant comes from the state’s solid waste management fund. That fund receives its income from tipping fees paid by trash haulers at landfills across the state.

The state is broken into 19 solid waste management districts.

A district with a landfill receives more from the fund, based off the amount of tipping fees paid within that district.

When the landfill in Butler County closed in recent years, support from the state fund for the recycling center was cut from approximately $200,000 a year to the minimum it receives now, Ray explained.

The center has also seen the amount of community service hours served at the sorting facility drop off in the past year, from more than 800 hours per month to as low as 58 hours in a recent month.

This may be because fewer hours are being assessed to offenders by local courts, or because offenders are choosing to serve their hours elsewhere, Ray said.

The man hours helped with the manual sorting process at the facility.

Materials collected by the center are handled by brokers, who sell raw materials to mills for processing.

Brokers have told Ray they believe it could take 18-36 months for the current lack of demand to turn around.

Ray hopes that interest by companies in reviving American mills will help with that.

In the meantime, Ozark Foothills hopes local community support in the form of funding will help.

“From a consumer standpoint, if you can pay attention and buy recycled products, that indirectly is going to help the whole recycle initiative,” she said.

Another proposal previously explored by a Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce committee also has potential, Ray believes.

It could assess a 1-2-cent bag fee on plastic bags used in local grocery stores. While the proposal still needs additional investigation, Ray says it could help solve the current funding deficits.