Cost of processing recyclables on the increase

Recycling isn't free; never has been.

But, people in the industry (like me) have spent the past two decades focused on other aspects of the business-mainly getting people to recycle and getting them to do it correctly.

Recycling costs are often hidden in garbage fees, underwritten by grant funds, and/or included in 'solid waste” or 'environmental” charges.

This has resulted in a set of unintended consequences. Even folks who should know better – mayors and city council members, for instance – are heard telling constituents that recycling makes money. It's half right. Recycled paper, plastics, and metals are sold but the costs of getting these materials to markets are left out of the equation.

In Cedar Rapids, Marion, Mount Vernon and the fourteen other Linn County communities, the cost of separating, baling, and marketing our newspapers, plastic milk cartons, soup cans, and yogurt containers has been covered by the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency.

For two decades, the Solid Waste Agency-formed in 1994 by Cedar Rapids and Linn County to serve our disposal, composting and recycling needs-has used a portion of the landfill fee to pay for processing.

Now, the cost of processing recyclables is going up-way up. There are several reasons for this with flat sales as the major cause. When China stopped buying, the markets fell.

Without increasing other fees, the Solid Waste Agency doesn't have the funds to cover the increase and is asking Linn County cities to pitch in.

Sorry, we in the industry should have broken this news a long time ago-recycling isn't free.

' Marie DeVries, of Mount Vernon, retired from the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency, has worked in the recycling industry for most of the past 20 years. Comments: marie.devries@gmail.com