Our office occasionally receives calls from people who claim recycling is being hauled to a landfill and buried instead of recycled.

I think it is time again to look at the facts so you can easily identify fact or gossip.

Waste is a resource, it has value, and disposal doesn’t make sense when you know the facts.

The recycling markets are up and down, at a faster pace, higher highs and lower lows than the stock market.

The lows are so bad that there are few small operators left in our area.

Our SEMREX director tells me that many of her markets for steel, paper and plastic require semi truck loads minimum of baled materials.

Corrugated cardboard and metals are again at record highs and have been for more months in a row than ever before.

The international markets for plastics are higher than ever and are remaining steady.

The word is out that there is a shortage of plastic and paper world wide.

Our recycling company Waste Management, takes all of the recycled material to their facility in the cities, just a few blocks north of the University of Minnesota. The

semi loads of recyclable materials collected throughout the state are waiting to be unloaded 24-7 at Recycle America.

I have visited this recycling facility a couple of times and continue to be impressed.

It is one of the largest recycling facilities in the Midwest.

After unloading garbage at the landfill in Lake Mills, Iowa, the semi trucks stop at our recycling center and load recyclables for the return trip, to Recycle America.

This saves time and expense of an empty truck on the return. This system located in our community has reduced operational costs. The collection trucks often dump directly into the semi trailers in the recycling building, so it is important for us to not contaminate the loads. There is no sorting or removal of garbage/contamination when they &uot;direct load&uot; into the trailer.

Vehicles used to collect garbage and recycling are often the same.

Garbage trucks used to collect garbage are unloaded and sent back on the streets to dump containers full of recycling like corrugated cardboard and paper.

When they return to the transfer station, the trucks unload in the recycling building, next to the garbage transfer building.

The recyclables are loaded into semi trucks in this building for the return trip to the cities.

A truck used for both garbage and recycling is called a &uot;one-pass&uot; or a &uot;single-pass&uot; truck.

This truck has a divider in the hopper and inside the packer box.

Garbage is loaded in one half of the hopper and recycling in the other half.

As the truck moves from home to home, both recycling and garbage are loaded on the same vehicle, saving time, labor and wear and tear on streets and alleys.

We have received calls from people reporting a truck loading both and recyclables and garbage in the same truck. Use of this truck may be the reason.

Use of a garbage truck to haul recyclables may also explain those concerns.

I have often given demonstrations, lectures and speeches about the costs associated with recycling.

Yes, the material recovered has a value and companies sell that material and sometimes even make a profit.

Profit is good.

Minnesota’s recycling collection infrastructure generated an estimated $35 million in state tax revenue on direct jobs and employs an estimated 6,100 people.

If this material were hauled to a landfill or industrial burner, the cost for disposal would have been $50 to $80 per ton.

By marketing recyclables, the cost of disposal is eliminated and only the cost of collection and transportation was incurred.

It makes good economic sense to recycle.

Besides, State Statutes 115A.553 and 115A.95 require material collected for recycling not be landfilled or otherwise disposed of unless approved by local or state officials.

Our office tracks recycling efforts not only by our contracted curbside collection, but local industry as well.

We do a great job here in Freeborn county.

Keep up the good work!

(Randy Tuchtenhagen is Freeborn County’s director of environmental services.)