April 25 - May 01, 1996 / Volume V, No. 17
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Anchorage Recycling Center; Photo by Stephen Nowers
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"Everything we get has a grade," explains Presler, "It's our job to upgrade the material." How far the material is upgraded, says Presler, depends on the value ARC can realize from its efforts. It's always worth it to upgrade copper, but as we walked by a dumpster of aircraft materials, Presler said he wasn't sure what would happen to it. The box was so 'contaminated,' filled with small bits of broken plastics and metals of all kinds, that cleaning it would be a major chore.
Likewise, upgrading newspaper materials can be demanding, and the markets for clean and dirty news, like most of the markets for the other materials at ARC, are constantly in flux. Staring at a mountain 20 feet high, Presler says ARC has cleaned news before. "We used to get day laborers, line the papers up on the floor, and remove the glossy paper and non-newspaper items." The time-intensive process was profitable when clean news fetched a high price on the market, and dirty news wasn't selling. The market for recyclable goods is in such a state of flux that the Recycling Center must constantly change its processing methods to keep pace.
And then there are the materials the Recycling Center processes at a loss, like glass and plastic. "Technically, 100% of our trash could be recycled," says ARC Marketing Director Tom Turner. Currently, 8% of Anchorage's trash is recycled - 24,000 tons, compared to the 295,000 tons contributed to the landfill last year.
The amount of trash recycled largely depends not on people's individual commitment, but on the value of the recyclable materials, and the feasibility of converting them into useful end-products. Materials with a high market value floating in the trash stream are attractive to firms like Anchorage Recycling, who go to great lengths to collect it.
There are currently no markets for recycled products in Anchorage - all the materials are shipped to Seattle. Without the assistance of Sea-Land Corporation, which provides discount shipping to Seattle, and Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling, says Turner, no recycling would be possible because shipping costs would be prohibitive.
As it is, the recycling center concentrates on the materials that yield the most profit, while still allowing for disposal of certain household items that yield little or no profit as a service to the community. But the recycling center doesn't go out of its way to get the worthless stuff. "Household goods are the consumer's responsibility to recycle," says Turner, "The stuff we choose to collect, we do pretty well on."
Aluminum cans, for example, are the Recycling Center's bread and butter. At 33 cents per pound, they yield high profits. The Recycling Center collects "close to the national average" of all the aluminum cans used in Anchorage - around two-thirds. They collect 25-33% of the office paper waste, most of which is high-grade paper. And they collect 50% of all the newspapers produced.
The Center does not accept any plastic except for the transparent white HDPE #2 milk containers, and also does not accept green glass - no suitable markets have been found. The percentages of glass, plastic and other household waste which the recycling center doesn't pay for or collect are, says Turner, "very low."
"People want to recycle more," says Turner," but if they do, I can't make a profit."
The value of recyclable material is grossly deflated, largely because the value of our natural resources and environmental integrity are deflated. For example, calculations of the worth of natural resources are skewed, Turner says, because natural resource users and managers don't use 'full cost accounting'. Full cost accounting takes into account the costs of degradation of the environment through air and water pollution, destruction of forests, etc.
As a result, even though recycled products can be produced with 50-90% less energy and resource costs than natural resources-based goods, purveyors of recycled goods struggle to compete. 2,000 pounds of newsprint is worth $10 at the Anchorage Recycling Center, but produces an amount of paper equivalent to 34 trees.
"People may scream and holler, but it all comes down to resources," says Turner. "If our end product is paper, for example, we have to compete with the price of tree pulp on the open market. And there's no Federal Division of Recycling. But here we've got the forest service, a multi-billion dollar organization, subsidizing the logging of trees. "
Furthermore, the diversion of recycled goods from local landfills represents both environmental and financial benefits to the community. "The landfill got 295,000 tons last year (half of which was paper). At $45/ton, that's about $13 million. We took in about 24,000 tons of waste, saving Anchorage $1 million in landfill costs," says Turner, "We don't get any of that money. We survive on what the stuff's worth. If we closed our doors today, it would cost every resident an extra $8 per year for garbage."
Universal curbside recycling would divert a significant amount more waste from the landfill, but most agree it's going to cost money. "For curbside recycling to work, people are going to have to pay on an incentive system - the more trash you produce, the more you pay," says Turner. Recycling pickup would be free under his system.
"But people would have to pay a lot more," he adds, "In Seattle, which has a good recycling system, you pay $35 for three 19-gallon containers. In Anchorage, you're paying $15 for three 32-gal containers. We have the 99th cheapest garbage costs in the country. Anchorage has cheap garbage, and the landfill will last for another 50 years, with no rate increases on the way. Furthermore, we'd need an elaborate public education system which is usually covered by government funds. Seattle pays $7.5 million to educate the public about recycling."
Some Anchorage residents are already paying for curbside recycling on their own. "Who's recycling in Anchorage? All of us," says Turner, who cites the efforts of 300 nonprofit corporations, scores of businesses and countless households committed to recycling their reusable waste.
At least two curbside recycling businesses currently operate in Anchorage for a per-pickup fee, and ARC will pick up high-quality office paper at no charge from local businesses. And, according to Recycling Express owner Debbie Hulen, Assembly member Pat Abney is working towards a citywide system.
Recycling Express, who says their rates are going up in June, charges $14.40/mo for weekly pickup at a residence, and $42/mo for business users. Their smaller competitor, Anchorage Curbside Recycling, charges $16/mo for weekly pickup at a home or business.
"We don't mind picking up materials with low return rates, because our clients are paying us for pickup," says Hulen, "Lots of people keep their cans, and give us the stuff ARC doesn't pay much for."
But Turner says the lack of adequate compensation for some materials could pose obstacles to this plan. "You need lots of volume to make recycling worthwhile. Those guys doing curbside in a pickup truck won't do very well picking up glass, but they could do well with office pickup," he says.
If curbside recyclers bring too much worthless stuff for the recycling center, that could be bad for ARC, which can't handle a large volume of such material profitably. For better or worse, voluntary curbside recycling service will help, but not dramatically alter the percentages - and will still be biased towards more marketable materials.
When Hulen looks towards the future of Anchorage recycling, she says, "I foresee us needing to create an environment where there's a market for recycled products in Anchorage."
Local market or not, the costs of not recycling are extreme, though sometimes hidden, and most people in the industry agree that some form of subsidy will be necessary before curbside recycling becomes ubiquitous - whether from government, private citizens, or some combination of the two. Will Anchorage voters assess themselves higher garbage fees for recycling, ensuring our ability to recycle everything we can? That remains to be seen.
"People have to realize recycling is necessary and they'll have to pay for it," says Hulen, "They don't think twice about taking out their trash and paying for it."
Reminder -now that it's yard-raking time, consider giving your yard waste to the Composting Center. They charge $5 for acceptance of organic materials. Recycling Express will pick up 32-gal. containers of organic material and deliver them to the composting center for $2.50/bag. Or, if you're working on your garden, consider using the Center's compost as fertilizer.