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SUNDAY FOCUS: RECYCLING Plastics roundup cancellation symptom of fickle recycling markets Cancellation of plastics roundup symptom of fickle recycling markets Comment By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm MailTribune.com By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm Posted Feb. 28, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm Posted Feb. 28, 2016 at 12:01 AM Master recycler classes offered soon --> The Jackson County Recycling Partnership will hold a Master Recycler training program that will delve into a variety of topics, including how to minimize the amount of waste you generate as well as... » Read more X Master recycler classes offered soon The Jackson County Recycling Partnership will hold a Master Recycler training program that will delve into a variety of topics, including how to minimize the amount of waste you generate as well as the amount of materials that go into the recycling bin. Classes will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, from March 8 to May 17, at the Rogue Disposal and Recycling Headquarters inside the One West Main building, at the corner of Main and Fir streets in Medford. To enroll, go online to jcmasterrecyclers.org or call Jackson County Recycling Partnership at 541-494-5488. Participants will learn about waste prevention strategies, local solid waste infrastructure, hazardous waste avoidance, composting, plastics, “e-waste” and more. Participants will receive a training manual and go on field trips to the regional landfill, waste-to-energy plant and composting facilities. Master Recyclers will need to complete 30 service hours in their neighborhoods, workplace and schools over the course of a year. Since 2008, more than 200 volunteers have helped get the word out about waste prevention in Jackson County.   » Social News Recycling has hit a crossroads. More Jackson County residents are recycling than ever before, but fickle markets for recycled materials may force local garbage collection companies to raise their rates or require more sorting of commingles. “People are talking around the country about the tipping point when customers will have to pay more for recycling,” said Denise Barnes, recycling and community outreach coordinator for Rogue Disposal, the largest garbage collector in Jackson County. A glut of recycled materials, a decreased demand for recycled plastics because of lower oil prices and China's increasing reluctance to accept contaminated materials mean recycling has become a lot more costly, local companies say. Rogue Disposal must pay firms to process recycled materials, which are required by law to be recycled, Barnes said. Her company is conducting a study to see whether rates must be raised to help offset increases in costs. Jackson County Recycling Partnership recently canceled its annual spring roundup of plastic materials that can’t otherwise be placed in the recycle bin because cheap oil means it’s less expensive for manufacturers to make virgin plastic. “Nobody wants the material,” Barnes said. A company in Oregon used to extract oil from plastic, but cheap oil prices has hurt its bottom line, she said. The plastic roundup annually collected more than 50,000 pounds of hard and soft nursery plastic, shrink wrap, bubble wrap, fertilizer and feed bags, dry cleaner bags, freezer bags, plastic bags, clamshell and to-go containers, CD cases, old lawn furniture, plastic toys and Legos. Barnes said she’s seen things recycled during the roundup as large as a pet igloo and as small as a straw. Plastic nursery items are some of the most difficult to recycle, requiring about six months of training to learn how to separate them properly, Barnes said. Rogue Disposal paid $10 to $25 a ton to have these plastic materials recycled and sometimes had to ship them to Benicia, Calif., or Seattle companies. Sometimes Rogue Disposal found its only choice was to ship recyclables to the East Coast and pay $70 a ton, plus freight costs, Barnes said. A Portland company, Agilyx Corp., has developed technology that converts many plastics back into oil, but with the price of crude dropping to such low levels, it has put the technology on hold. CEO Ross Patten said low oil prices tabled a project in Philadelphia that would have converted 50 tons of plastic into 280 barrels of oil per day. The contract would have provided the oil to Delta Airlines, which would have blended Agilyx oil with crude oil to make jet fuel. “The project is all ready to go, but unfortunately the price of oil today is at $30 a barrel,” Patten said. “The economics don’t work to deploy the capital for a project of that size.” Patten said oil would have to return to $75 or more a barrel to make it worthwhile. The technology would convert many of the plastic items that are not typically commingled in the recycle bin, including plastic bags, coat hangers and children’s toys. Agilyx's Portland plant has turned to converting polystyrene, used in Styrofoam cups and clamshell to-go containers, into a form that can be recycled to make other polystyrene products. That operation should be opened by July, Patten said. American markets for recyclables have been impacted by a strong U.S. dollar, which has prompted other countries to look elsewhere for cheaper recycled products. China, which used to accept all sorts of materials for recycling, has gotten fussier, erecting what many in the industry refer to as the “Green Fence.” It won't accept recyclables contaminated by plastic bags, for example, because they cause problems for sorters by jamming up the machines. Even as markets shrink, more Americans — particularly Rogue Valley residents — are recycling. In 2010, before Rogue Disposal offered commingling of recyclables, 25 percent of its customers recycled. Today that number is 79 percent. Barnes said the only bright spot in the recycling industry is American corrugated cardboard, which is still sought after in China because of its high fiber content. Barnes said American manufacturers set high standards for cardboard materials, refusing to allow blemishes that detract from the image of their products. In China, much of the cardboard material is a cheaper, dull gray material, she said. In past years, there were a number of paper and cardboard recyclers in the U.S., but many have closed their doors. Glass bottles are not as popular in the recycling industry because they are expensive to sort, heavy to transport and can contaminate the rest of the recyclables if a bottle gets broken. Barnes said that if Rogue Disposal had to do it over again, it probably would not allow glass to be commingled with other recycled materials. The commingling started in 2012. What can and can't be recycled can be confusing for workers at Rogue Disposal and especially for consumers. For instance, shredded paper that comes out in long strips is fine, but paper that is shredded like confetti must be put in the regular trash. Rogue Disposal is launching efforts to better educate the public and find other cost-cutting measures. It plans more photos on its website and fliers, clearer terminology and simpler explanations to help customers recycle properly. Rogue Disposal isn't the only local company that has been warily watching the changes in the recycling industry. Risa Buck, waste zero specialist at Recology Ashland, said, “Recycling used to help pay for itself, and it doesn’t do that anymore. But we continue to do it because it is the right thing to do.” In the long run, consumers may be asked to pay more for recycling, but Buck said she wasn’t sure whether they would have to separate more, though she said Recology Ashland continues its push to keep any form of contamination out of the recycling stream. Her company requires customers to separate glass from other recyclables. “As the recycle markets get tighter and tighter, the need for the cleanest possible materials gets even greater,” she said. Apart from plastic bags, the most common recycling mistakes Buck sees are sheets of aluminum foil and plastic lids. Thin lids and thin sheets of aluminum are not easily separated by machines that sort different recyclable materials, Buck said. She suggests saving the lids for a future plastic roundup, and to save sheets of aluminum foil and to wrap them into a ball for easier separation. Anything with food attached to it is also not allowed in the recycling bin, including pizza boxes and clam-shell containers used for food items. Just because something has the recycle symbol on it doesn’t mean it can be chucked in the recycling container either. “That symbol just means that somewhere in the world this material may be recycled,” Buck said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @reporterdm. By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm MailTribune.com By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Follow @@reporterdm Posted Feb. 28, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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