Changes made in Flagstaff recycling program.
Why the glitch?
It’s just one ripple effect of significant changes in recycling worldwide in the last six years, especially China’s 2018 National Sword policy. Chinese recycling processors stopped handling nearly half the world’s recyclable waste, and so many U.S. communities stopped taking plastics #3 through #7.
Economies of scale also play a big role in recycling – a challenge for smaller communities like the City of Flagstaff, which has full control over single-family household residential recycling within city limits. There is an open market for commercial recyclers for waste from apartment complexes and businesses, with private companies like Waste Management, which has a waste transfer station on Flagstaff Ranch Road and a regional materials recovery facility in Surprise.
When Evan Tyrrell took up his role as the Solid Waste Public Works Section director for the City of Flagstaff seven months ago, he inherited a 20-year-old recycling contract that he says no longer made economic and operational sense. The city’s contract with the Norton Environmental sorting facility on Butler Avenue stipulated that the city would deliver an annual minimum of 20,800 tons of mixed recyclables to Norton Environmental with a processing fee of $34.25 per ton. But because the city was delivering no more than 7,500 tons a year, it was incurring a “put-or-pay” fee of about $400,000 annually, to pay for the shortfall.
“But it wasn’t just a volume issue,” explained Tyrrell, “the plant’s equipment was getting to the end of its useful lifetime, so wasn’t so efficient anymore.” Also, the saleable price of recyclables has experienced huge swings over the last few years with increasing labor costs.
The Norton contract included a processing fee of $34.25 per ton, but the industry norm is $80 to $100 per ton. Possible rebates based on recyclable commodity sale prices can bring that down to around $60 to $80 per ton, but combined with Norton not getting the put-or-pay fee until the end of each year, the company didn’t have “day-to-day operating funds to keep everything running properly,” Tyrrell continued.
In early May, the recycling contract between the city and Norton Environmental, due to expire on Sept. 30, 2023, was terminated early by mutual agreement. The Butler Avenue facility is now being operated by the city as a recycling drop-off and transfer station. And on June 20, Flagstaff City Council approved a new six-month agreement (with two three-month extensions possible) with Friedman Recycling Company, which will recover, process and transport recyclables to the Phoenix area.
The material will first be compacted and the weight of loads will be maximized, to minimize the number of shipments and associated carbon footprint.
Where do Flagstaff’s recyclables go? Metals typically stay within the region, mostly going to mills that process aluminium and steel in Phoenix. Glass goes to Strategic Materials Incorporated, a glass recycling processor in Phoenix. For cardboard, the closest recycling plants are in New Mexico, while for plastics, it’s more complicated, as there are no plastics recycling mills in Arizona.
“Currently we can only accept plastic containers #1 and #2 and they go farther afield,” said Tyrrell. “The China Sword policy shift has had some positive impacts though. It’s made the U.S. become more self-sufficient, bringing new mills online to recover and recycle the plastic domestically.
“Because our revised operation will transport material to state-of-the-art materials recovery facilities, the recovery rate of the city’s recyclables will be much better compared to the aging Norton plant,” said Tyrrell, who is trying to keep the town’s recyclables in domestic markets as much as possible.
There are two key challenges to growing the city’s recycling programs for both residents and businesses. The first is contamination. The watch words are:
EMPTY, CLEAN and DRY – IF IN DOUBT THROW IT OUT.
“Putting food waste or one full bottle of water in a recycling cart or dumpster causes problems and increases costs down the recycling chain. Also, please don’t put your recycling inside plastic bags,” added Tyrrell, as “they cause big problems at the recycling plant.”
The second challenge is convincing everyone that recycling is both economically and environmentally worthwhile. “It saves space in landfills and conserves energy and natural resources. Recycled material typically uses just 10% of the energy it takes to make products from raw materials.” FBN
By Diane Hope, FBN
Public recycling drop off has reopened, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday through Friday at 1800 E. Butler Ave.
Courtesy Photo: The Butler Ave. facility is now open for recyclable drop offs.
