Sunday, December 07, 2008

Bottom Drops out of Recycling Market

Every market is being hit.

Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. Aluminum cans dropped nearly half to about 40 cents a pound, and scrap metal tumbled from $525 a gross ton to about $100.

If you are a city that does its own recycling, take heed of this:

In Washington state, what was once a multimillion-dollar revenue source for the city of Seattle may become a liability next year as the city may have to start paying companies to take their materials.

 

(5) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2255 hrs
Economy

  1. This really bites for my grandson who picks up money by turning in cans every few months for some extra cash.  When it dropped, it went down as fast as gas goes up.

    Posted by yoSAMite on December 08, 2008 at 0008 hrs


  2. After working for one of the larger recovered fiber companies in the US for 4 years now, this is the truth.  People I work with who have been in the industry for 30 years say this is the worst that they have ever seen it.  Even the export of paper grades to Europe and China are turning out to be losers in the long run.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 08, 2008 at 0612 hrs


  3. Tell that to all the people who are faced with having copper stolen from their homes.

    Posted by Nick on December 08, 2008 at 0948 hrs


  4. Where can I get $0.40/lb for aluminum???  The place by me is only give $0.25 a pound

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 08, 2008 at 1012 hrs


  5. I couldn’t give away some scrap steel last month.  The transportation and handling costs were more than the steel was worth.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 08, 2008 at 1117 hrs


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