BLAINE COUNTY RECYCLING CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2008
Materials Recycled In fiscal year 2007-08, 2,453 tons of recyclable commodities were processed through the Blaine County Recycling Center. When compared with the same 12 month period in fiscal year 2006, an increase of 384 tons was achieved. The 384 additional tons processed can be expressed as a 19% increase, which is the largest single year increase since Southern Idaho Solid Waste (SISW) began operating the recycling center in 1995. The comparison of years 2006 and 2008 allows for twelve full consecutive months of data, since the recycling center was closed for 7 months in FY 2007 due to extensive reconstruction activities. The following table identifies the amount of cardboard, newsprint, aluminum, glass, tin cans, mixed paper, magazines, and plastic bottles processed through the recycling center. TABLE 1 COMMODITIES PROCESSED Tons per Month Month Oct. 07 Nov. Dec. Jan. 08 Feb. March April May June July August Sept. Total
Card Board 101.0 63.6 84.2 101.8 79.3 76.8 66.7 68.7 89.0 96.6 99.3 84.4 1,011.4 tons
News Print 31.1 18.1 25.9 22.9 19.9 20.4 24.0 22.3 20.4 24.8 23.2 24.8 277.8 tons
Aluminum Cans 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.7 0.9 1.3 1.8 2.6 0.9 15.7 tons
Glass
Tin
34.7 46.9 46.5 56.7 56.1 51.8 42.4 56.1 65.1 59.8 81.4 58.8 656.3 tons
4.0 2.5 1.7 2.4 3.3 1.7 3.2 2.7 2.6 1.6 1.7 27.4 tons
Mixed Paper 8.4 4.1 11.0 10.7 12.5 7.7 11.6 10.6 9.8 8.8 7.1 13.1 115.4 tons
Magazines
Plastic
36.6 27.6 28.9 27.8 22.8 24.7 28.6 21.9 21.9 19.5 14.6 21.3 296.2 tons
4.7 2.7 3.5 4.4 3.7 3.1 4.8 3.0 4.5 6.3 6.9 4.9 52.5 tons
While it is important to monitor the increases or decreases of each commodity, it is doubly important to track those commodities that bring revenues back to the Blaine County Recycling Center to offset the costs of operation. Of the commodities that represent consistent market value, cardboard increased by 279 tons (+38%), newsprint increased by 5 tons (+4%), and aluminum decreased by 5 tons (-25%). Magazine commodities decreased by 29 tons. Plastic increased by 34 tons (189%). Of the commodities that have little or no market value at this time, glass increased 92 tons and tin increased by 6 tons. A comparison of the different types of commodities processed at the Blaine County Recycling Center over the past five years can be found in Table 2.
TABLE 2 COMMODITY VOLUMES BY YEAR Commodity Cardboard Newsprint Aluminum Cans Glass Tin Cans Mixed Paper Magazines Plastic Bottles Annual Total
2003 850 tons 264 21 530 25 146 254 5 2,094 tons
2004 948 tons 261 19 533 24 163 233 10 2,192 tons
2005 895 tons 284 15 547 24 143 300 18.5 2,227 tons
2006 732 tons 273 20 564 22 114 325 18.5 2,069 tons
2008 1,011 278 16 656 25 115 296 52 2,453 tons
Over a five year period, trends can be observed. Glass and plastic commodities have consistently increased each year. While cardboard increased dramatically this past year, a five year trend shows moderate increase. Aluminum, tin, and newsprint commodity tonnages have remained relatively flat.
Transporting Materials to the Recycling Center Recyclable commodities are transported to the Recycling Center by two primary methods. Clear Creek transports materials from the curbside residential and commercial collection programs. Local residents, or self hauls, transport materials directly to the Recycling Center, as well. In this past year the collection system operated by Clear Creek hauled in 1,959 tons of cardboard, newsprint, mixed paper, aluminum/tin cans, glass and plastic, which is 80% of the total commodities processed. Over the past three years, the proportional share of tons hauled to the recycling center by Clear Creek, the curbside and commercial contractor, has steadily increased while the self haul volumes have decreased. In 2006, the Clear Creek collection system accounted for 77% of the total hauled to the recycling center.
Comparing Operation Costs and Revenues The increased tons of tons of cardboard, newsprint, and plastic containers marketed from the recycling center, coupled with near record high commodity values, yielded a significant increase in program revenues. Increases in utility and fuel expenses (from a full year of operation), the purchase of added metal storage containers, and doubling the buy-back all led to increased expenses however. A net loss of $23,468 in the operations of the recycling center occurred, which is consistent with the operating history over the past decade. Table 3 provides a perspective of annual revenues and expenses over the past four years of the Recycling Center operations.
TABLE 3 ANNUAL REVENUES vs EXPENSES 2004-05 Revenues $122,359.92 Expenses $142,507.74 Net ($20,147.82) * = partial year of operation
2005-06 $102,638.89 $129,204.41 ($26,565.52)
2007-07* $101,008.36 $128,003.97 ($27,025.52)
2007-08 $137,897.07 $161,364.77 ($23,467.70)
Near the end of September, recycling commodity values plummeted nationwide. The free-fall in commodity values is expected to last through late 2009 to mid-year 2010. The revenue generated by the recycling center is expected to drop by $100,000 this next year, which equates to a projected net operating loss of $125,000 - $140,000. We can expect a second shoe to drop during the 2008-09 fiscal year, in addition to a significant decrease in program revenue. Our recycling brokers are reporting an oversupplied market and are warning of an impending inability to accept shipments of recycling commodities. In a nutshell, we can anticipate a huge drop in the price per ton for commodities we can bring to the market and we can further expect the market to not accept, at times, the recycling commodities that we produce. SISW is committed to continue the operation of the Blaine County Recycling Center through this expected downturn in the recycling markets and will recycle materials as the resource recovery markets allow. It may be necessary, over the short term, to dispose of recyclable materials that cannot be shipped out due to a market oversupply or a degradation of quality from storage conditions.
Other Recycling Activities SISW operates a household hazardous waste (HHW) program across the region. The scope of the HHW program is designed to remove used hazardous and toxic wastes, in the form of motor oil, paints, solvents, lead acid and alkaline/rechargeable batteries, antifreeze, and flammable liquids from the solid waste stream. The materials collected in this HHW program are managed separately to minimize air, surface water and ground water pollution. Since the HHW program in Blaine County is operated out of the recycling center, this and subsequent recycling center annual reports will contain program data. During this past year freon and CFC gases were extracted from 456 refrigeration units. Further, 1,575 gallons of used motor oil, 336 gallons of flammable liquids, 151 lead-acid batteries, and 316 gallons of paint were collected in the Blaine County HHW program. Southern Idaho Solid Waste initiated a recycling program for computer and computer peripherals across all seven counties comprising the solid waste district. This program has recycled 61 tons of computers and peripherals since November, 2007. Blaine County computer recycling quantities are estimated to be 20% of the total or 12.2 tons.