Costly recycling changes put burden on Dayton, local cities

DAYTON

Take a walk through Rumpke's recycling plant on Monument Avenue in Dayton and you'll see a lot of things that don't belong there.

"Plastic bags, you're seeing a water pipe, you're seeing a garden hose, strapping, cords."

Rumpke's Director of Recycling, Steve Sargent, refers to it as contamination. He said it hurts our ability to send recyclables overseas. Until this year, China was a major destination for recyclables from the U.S. As of January 1st, China has tightened purity standards on what it imports--making it tougher for American recyclers to find a market for their products.

The cost of recycling

In response, Sargent said Rumpke and other recyclers "are trying to shoot for about a one to two percent contamination rate on that material."

With more recycling companies looking for domestic markets to sell the product, prices have fallen to a nine-year low--about $40 a ton. Sargent said it costs Rumpke at least twice that--$80 to $100 a ton--to process what people recycle.

The bottom line: Rumpke has lost millions this year. To try to make up some of the difference, it's raised tipping fees on cities that bring their recyclables to Rumpke, from $15 to $25 a ton. Sargent said those costs could get passed on to customers. "The cost has gone up for recycling, residential recycling, really across the country."

Sargent bent down to pick up a kitty litter box among a pile of things people recycled that should not be thrown in curbside bins. "It's not part of our program." He acknowledged customers feel bad throwing plastics in the trash--especially when they see the familiar triangle with chasing arrows on the bottom. Sargent said many items can be recycled, but need to be taken elsewhere.

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Rumpke employs sorters, whose job it is to look for contamination among recyclables on the conveyor belt. The sorters take out plastic bags, bedsheets, and anything else that can get caught in the machinery and batteries that can cause a fire. Those items can cause the plant to shut down which also drives up the cost of recycling.

Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge sits on the Solid Waste Policy Committee, which works with local jurisdictions to make sure the landfill doesn't reach capacity. "The old days of just dumping are over," said Dodge. She says the county wants residents to pay attention and learn what can and cannot be recycled.

John Woodman is a Community Program Specialist with the Montgomery County Solid Waste District. He said things people can recycle in their curbside bins include plastic bottles and jugs, metal and aluminum cans, paper boxes, glass bottles and jars, cardboard boxes and tubes, and newspapers.

Among items people should not recycle are plastic yogurt cups, butter tubs, plastic trays, Styrofoam, and plastic bags. The latter should be recycled at the grocery store.

Batteries and light bulbs are forbidden too. Montgomery County has a special drop-off for those, as well as TV's, electronics, even used anti-freeze and oil. These can be taken to the Recycling Drop-Off located at 1001 Encrete Lane in Moraine. It's open Monday through Saturday. Also, household hazardous waste can be dropped off there on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Back at Rumpke, Sargent urges people to break down cardboard boxes--such as those from Amazon--and recycle them. He said they can easily be re-used at least a half dozen times.

Another bright spot for the industry is glass recycling. Sargent said Rumpke's Dayton glass plant brings in about five thousand tons of glass a month.

He said there's a big demand for glass here in Ohio. "Two thirds of our glass plant here in Dayton sells to the fiberglass industry to make insulation. About one third goes to the bottle industry."

The current challenges in recycling have some cities and companies going so far as to suspend their programs.

Sargent said Rumpke's commitment remains strong.

"We think there's a two to three year window where this market's going to slowly begin to turn around and in the meantime, we've just got a lot to do. We've got to clean this material up and that's where we need help from our customers."