By Donna Westfall – March 25, 2021
On March 23rd, we published an article by Samuel Strait about increased rates due to recycling. the article was titled, “DNSWMA raising rates again.”
With that in mind, we’re publishing a Public Service Announcement so that you can be involved in the process addressing Trash and Recycling Rate Changes.
Public Service Announcement
On-Line Town Hall to Address Trash and Recycling Rate Changes –
April 6th at 5 P.M.
The Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority will convene a special meeting to discuss
changes to the service fees charged by Recology Del Norte to collect trash, recyclables, and brush. The
rate changes to be discussed won’t go into effect until July 2021. In October of last year, the Authority
approved an extension of the collection service agreement with Recology, including a requirement that
the collection rates be restructured.
“The costs to process and market recyclable materials has increased significantly since 2013, and
both Recology and our community have made significant efforts to respond to these challenges,”
explained Authority Director Tedd Ward. “One key challenge is to reduce the proportion of nonrecyclable materials placed in recycling bins. Since 2011, customers with a 32 gallon trash cart service could order up to a 96 gallon recycling cart for no additional charge. We feel over time those no-cost recycling services fostered a perception that the value of the materials in the recycling carts somehow paid for collecting, separating, processing and marketing those materials – and that simply is not true. The intent of this public meeting is to explain the reasons for these rate changes, and how customers might
adapt their service subscriptions as needed.”
Ward said that he anticipates that during this meeting Jeremy Herber, General Manager for
Recology Del Norte, will also make a brief presentation about the history of recycling collections in Del
Norte, some of the requirements of the California Air Resources Board that impact the kinds of equipment
Recology Del Norte uses to provide services, and how customers will be notified about these changes
before they become effective.
This Special Meeting of the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority is scheduled for 5 P.M.
on Tuesday April 6th. A weblink to the on-line meeting will be posted to the Authority’s website at
www.recycledelnorte.ca.gov. For more information, call the Del Norte Solid Waste Management
Authority at 465-1100.
They really want us to believe that the recycling they received from the consumer for free, does not pay for itself. I remember reading that they made $30,000,000.00, yes 30 million in 2008 from recycling! I can only imagine that has increased since that date.
I am amused, that you read some where, that some one in 2008 made thirty million dollars from recycling. Setting that aside, I suppose the plastic bin that you put your recyclables in is also free, or the truck that collects the recyclables is free? The driver of the truck does it for free? The fuel for the truck and the guy that maintains the truck are free as well? The transfer station which houses and transfers the recyclables to a truck going to Humboldt also is free? The driver, fuel for the truck and its maintenance are also free? The housing and sorting in Humboldt is free? The further transport to multiple distribution centers where the recyclable are stored and just maybe might find a buyer is free? Otherwise, it continues to be free when no buyer is found and many recyclables find their way back into the refuse stream? And that is just a small sample of what it costs to recycle.
Naturally, no mention of the multiple ways that recycling is subsidized in the first place, CRV’s, recycling fees collected at time of purchase, and fees for services that use devices and products that further subsidize recycling. No, recycling may seem as simple as you have described but it is hardly the case and it most definitely is not free. DNSWMA Director, Tend Ward has acknowledged that recycling by raising rates is not profitable. You only have to look at the fact that Del Norte County and many other counties do not have collection centers. At the height of recycling mania there were 2,000 plus recycling centers in California that depended on China and Southeast Asia to buy recyclables to defray the cost of recycling. By 2008 less than 1,000 remained. As recycling costs have increased since then, the refuse customers are having to bear those increases. It will continue that way for some time to come as markets for recyclables continue to decline. It hasn’t been cost effective for manufacturers here in the US for some time to use recyclables without tax and other incentives by government, an additional hidden cost for recycling. This could go on and on, but the bottom line is, that recycling is significantly more expensive than simple trash removal