Recycling Do’s and Don’ts

February 15, 2019  News, SAC
Feb 152019
 

Many changes are occurring in the global recycling industry that will affect our recycle costs in the near future.

  • The volume of trash mixed with recycling is at an all-time high and this is creating serious problems for the entire recycling industry.
  • Previously the single-largest importer of recyclable materials worldwide, China has reduced its imports of recyclable materials and set strict contamination limits of less than 1%.
  • The buyers of recycling materials at home and abroad are all demanding much higher levels of quality.
  • Recyclable material commodity prices have declined and continue to fluctuate.

The net of this is that because of contamination, much of what we are recycling is ending up in the trash anyway and the cost to recycle (remove trash and contaminants) is increasing.

Please ensure your cycling stream is clean and free of contaminants.  Remember these 3 easy rules:

For more information, you can google the series of articles the Arizona Daily Star did this summer on recycling or you can check additional recycling tools here:  www.RecycleOftenRecycleRight.com.