By Randy Tuchtenhagen

The demand for recycled materials is higher than ever. Markets are asking for an increase in recycled materials and in some cases, there is a shortage of recycling material to meet current demands.

The Steel Recycling Institute recently reported that steel remains at a recycled rate exceeding 70 percent. This is an increase of over 7 million tons. The steel industry has become more efficient user of materials, causing an increase in the demand for post-consumer scrap. Over 76 million tons of scrap steel recycled in 2004 was the most scrap recycled in the United States in over 25 years.

The composition of the tons recycled in 2004 was 35 percent more than in 1980. On a local level, tin has jumped from $26 a ton in 2002 to prices exceeding $100 a ton earlier this year.

American paper and paperboard mills produced over 91 million tons of products last year, up 3.5 percent with the largest demand from Asian markets.

This included 1.6 percent increase in recycled paperboard. This market trend is a 100 percent increase from export figures in 1999.

Markets for corrugated, magazines and newspaper have been in the $70 to $80 and white office paper over $100 a ton range for the past two years.

In the past, (spring 2002) market prices were $35 to $45 or lower.

When I talk with the landfill operators in Lake Mills, Iowa, I am told 30 percent of the waste delivered to the landfill is paper.

This huge volume of recyclable paper is not just coming from households, but industry as well. I have to ask myself why are businesses and households paying a garbage man to dispose of that paper instead of recycling it? We could save money by recycling paper, add value to the recycling truck load, create more jobs in Minnesota, and reduce the need for building new landfills.

According to Resource Recycling magazine, plastic tonnage grew 7.3 percent last year and prices were up 10 percent. Our SEMREX marketing is currently receiving between 20 and 31 cents per pound, up from the 5 to 11 cents per pound we were getting in the spring of 2002. The good news is that demand for plastics has remained strong since last year. In the past, highs and lows of the plastic market kept many entrepreneurs at bay, limiting our marketing ability.

Higher market prices and a steady demand for plastic is a good thing for recycling companies who have considered dropping plastic from their collection routes.

Plastic is the highest volume material and the most costly to collect because it weights very little but takes up the most room on the recycling truck. There is also more sorting of plastics because there are so many different kinds. This adds cost.

As we look at the worldwide demand for recycled materials, it is hard to imagine all that garbage buried in the ground. It obviously has value, but somewhere along the line, people are not seeing it as a resource.

Our recycling transfer station just north of Albert Lea sends two semi truck loads a day of recycling to Recycle America in the cities. If we encourage more people to recycle, or find more ways to increase recycling at work and at home, we could be sending three or four semi truck loads a day. The material is out there, we just need to capture those resources.

(Randy Tuchtenhagen is a Freeborn county Solid Waste Officer. )