Currents
June 2018
3
China Pain
T
he cost is not the issue -
the issue is contamination;
there are quite simply too many
pizza boxes, plastic bags, burger
wrappers and other items not fit
for recycling.
That is the bottom line for
recycling around the globe. The
issue is one of communication.
To quote from the 1967 movie
“Cool Hand Luke” – “What we
have here is failure to communi-
cate.”
“Recycling is dead as we
know it” is another quote from
recycling business leaders, as
China makes changes to its
acceptance contracts. China is
the world leader in accepting
waste for recycling, but as its
middle class grows, along with
the smog, the country is flexing
its muscles to demand more from
its suppliers. At the start of the
year, China placed restrictions on
imports of 24 kinds of solid waste
from other countries. China has
been the world's largest importer
and recycler of plastic, paper and
scrap metal, so the restrictions,
set to take full effect March 1, will
have wide-reaching impacts.
Just as Broward County has
issues with its recycling program,
the world follows suit. It seems
not many people take the time to
learn about permitted and
banned recycling items. If it isn’t
organic, it goes into the recycle
bin, seems to be the thinking.
This however, could not be fur-
ther from the truth.
But the average recycler
seems not to learn this. As more
and more of the recycled product
is contaminated by organic mat-
ter. The trade off that is not men-
tioned is the coming issue with
the amount of water needed to
clean the household items for
recycling.
There is no easy answer at
the moment, other than to
declare that some issues in life
cannot be remedied by for-profit
efforts.
Profit Decline
A Waste Management sorter is
facing rock-bottom fiber prices,
Waste Management’s recycling
revenues experienced a 16 per-
cent decrease during the first
quarter of 2018.
The Houston-headquartered
company’s recycling business
brought in $312 million in rev-
enue during the first quarter,
according to financial results
released April 20.
In April Waste Management
CEO noted that OCC prices have
declined to nine-year lows, and
mixed paper has dropped to $0
or negative values in some mar-
continued on page 5 >
S TOP Y OUR
W INDOW L EAK P ROBLEMS
Be
Hu Prepa
re
rr
Fi x
you icane d for t
r W Sea he
NO indow son
W! Lea
ks
Dried out gaskets and window stripping will cause window leaks.
I have the proper window stripping to repair all types of windows.
I also do Screening, Wrol-up Repair and Sliding Glass Doors.
E
FRE ATES
M
I
EST
C ALL
P ATRICK
Cell No. 954-829-4348
[email protected]
FPL
Independent
Participating
Contractor
3621 Washington Street • Hollywood, FL 33021