Tuesday, March 17, 2009
News / Clout City Trash and Cash
Posted by Mick Dumke on Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Environmentalists have long pushed recycling as a key element of sustainability, but it’s really only viable on a large scale because it became so profitable as a business over the last 25 years. Collection and sorting systems became mostly automated, reducing labor costs while ensuring that recovered materials were in usable condition. And the demand for recyclables surged—manufacturers found more ways to use them while the price of producing virgin materials soared.
Then the economy fell apart. By last October, people around the world essentially stopped making and buying stuff, and the price of commodities—including recycled paper, plastic, glass, and metal—plummeted from historic highs to lows not seen in decades.
Compounding the problem was a nosedive in demand from China brought on by the end of the summer Olympics. For months Chinese manufacturers had ramped up production and gobbled up recycled commodities because they knew they’d have to scale back operations during the games, when the government ordered cuts in air pollution. By fall many of them had excess inventory and weren’t buying anything else.
“From September to November, the markets dropped 75 percent—in a few weeks,” says Cal Tigchelaar, the president of Resource Management, a recycling firm based in south suburban Chicago Ridge.
Paper and cardboard typically account for 70 to 80 percent of what Resource Management handles. Last summer recycled waste paper was selling for as much as $150 a ton. Now it’s more in the $40-$50 range, and Tigchelaar says that’s after it’s rebounded the last few weeks.
“Business isn’t quite as much fun as it was,” he says.
The dramatic falloff means it’s costing many municipalities more to offer recycling services. Some are mulling cutbacks; others are looking for help from above, as in the Obama administration.
But Chicago officials say we’re doing just fine—in fact, the city is continuing to roll out its blue cart program, even if it’s at a painfully slow pace. All of Chicago’s houses and apartment buildings with four or fewer units are scheduled to have the service by 2011; in the meantime, the city has created more neighborhood drop-off sites.
“The value of recyclables did experience a significant drop recently but is making a slow comeback,” Department of Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith told me in an e-mail. “This drop in value of the material that we collect does mean that we make less on those materials. But everything that we collect is still recycled and we still benefit financially when people recycle because of the safeguards that we put into place.”
By “safeguards” Smith means its recycling contracts with Resource Management, Waste Management, and Allied Waste. The amount the city is paid for each ton of recyclables depends on what these companies can get on the open market, but the floor is zero—meaning the city won’t have to spend money to get rid of the materials no matter how weak the demand for them gets.
That’s a huge improvement over the deals the city struck with contractors to carry out its failed blue bag program. As Smith notes, not only did the city get no money for its blue bagged commodities—it actually paid more than $20 a ton to have them processed and sold off at a profit.
Still, it’s not exactly true that Chicago has made it through this downturn unscathed. As recently as last summer the city was getting $81 a ton for its recyclables. Now it’s getting nothing. In January alone, according to the city’s own data, 3,038.79 tons of recyclables were collected from blue bins. Though the city received zilch for them, a few months earlier it might have gotten $246,000.
On the other hand, that's still a better deal than sending the stuff to a dump, which in addition to taking a toll on the environment would cost taxpayers $40 to $50 a ton in landfilling fees.
This means the economy isn’t so bad that the city’s waste can’t be recycled. Tigchelaar has been forced to lower his prices, but he isn’t having any trouble selling the material he brings in. “The reason that this stuff is being used is still fundamentally there," he says. "It’s cheaper to use recycled commodities.”
Of course, from a purely environmental standard, it would be even cheaper not to generate so much waste in the first place. But that’s another issue.
Showing 1-11 of 11
Even so, Ken Dunn posted a sign at the Resource Center's drop-off site at Lincoln and Wrightwood that solicited financial support in the face of plummeting commodity prices, stating that it takes $1,000/week to maintain that location.
The city of Chicago likes to say it is a 'green' city. Numerous puff pieces and LEED certified projects are listed in the national magazines. But as you point out there is no rational trash policy only starts, fits and gasps and occasional victories. Perhaps it is time to revisit pay to throw, a styrofoam ban or anything other than this MESS where some wards get curb /alley bluecarts,others a dropoff site with mixed paper and bottles and cans and everyone else can throw it on the streets!
We need the Olympics!!!!!
This city is not green by any means-it's a joke to say it is green. It is all publicity. The city is filthy no matter which way you slice it.
Friday, March 20 12-1pm Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Residents' Dining Hall 800 S. Halsted Chicago, IL Reservations are recommended. Please call 312.413.5353. Is gentrification necessarily negative or inevitable? Who benefits and who loses in gentrification? What are some strategies being used in Chicago and around the globe to stop gentrification? How will the deepening economic crisis and the proposed 2016 Olympic Games affect patterns of gentrification in Chicago? In his 1968 work of the same title, French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre coined the phrase "the right to the city," which social theorist and Lefebvre expert David Harvey describes as "the right to command the whole urban process." Current scholarship on immigration by UIC sociologist Amalia Pallares explores who has this right, asserting that although undocumented immigrants are not recognized as citizens of the state, they are denizens of the city and thus have rights and responsibilities to shape the social, political, and economic spaces in which they live and work. Join us for a lively discussion of gentrification and the philosophical and socio-economic issues that surround it. How can gentrification be analyzed in terms of race, class, gender, and citizenship status? What is the relationship of historic preservation efforts to developing and maintaining sustainable communities? Who, ultimately, has the right to the city? Suggested Reading The Right to the City by David Harvey "Contested Chicago: Pilsen and Gentrification" by Paul Lloyd Sargent "Chicago's Olympic Bid Stokes Gentrification Fears" by Wendell Hutson Series Description The Sophonisba Breckinridge Brown Bag Discussion Series seeks to provide a new kind of space for the UIC community to come together for open dialogue about contemporary social and scholarly issues. Distinct from the classroom or public forum, the discussion series will create an alternative space for engaged scholarship on campus. We invite you to bring your lunch and join us for a series of spirited conversations in the historic Residents' Dining Hall, where Jane Addams and other Hull-House residents discussed and debated the critical issues of their day and conspired for a more just and peaceful world. Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (1866-1948) was a social reformer, social work educator, and resident of the Hull-House Settlement. Breckinridge received a Ph.D. in political science and a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago, and was the first woman admitted to the Kentucky bar. With her friend and fellow Hull-House resident Edith Abbott, Breckinridge cofounded the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration, where she taught for many years. Believing that academic and field work were mutually informative, Breckinridge both published theoretical studies on social welfare and was active in the campaigns for peace, women's suffrage, racial equality, immigrants' rights, fair housing, and fair labor laws. Call 312.413.5353 to RSVP. Coffee and cookies will be provided.
March 18, 2009 BY MICHAEL SNEED Sun-Times Columnist Dugout dirt ... A politically charged baseball -- once signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald -- has been bought by a whistleblower, who calls it his "Holy Grail." » Click to enlarge image Michael Sneed • • Translation: The baseball was sold for an undisclosed sum to the "Hired Truck" whistleblower Patrick McDonough, who sued the city after claiming he was fired for speaking out. • • The upshot: McDonough, who now works in the city's Water Management Department, tells Sneed: "Peter Fitzgerald, when he was a U.S. senator, brought in U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald -- both men I greatly admire for their crime fighting." • • The kicker: McDonough's 12-year-old son is named Peter. • • The backshot: The ball was sold by Keith McDonough, owner of Bleacher Sports in Winnetka.
Damn, Patty, don't you ever get tired of touting yourself?
Paddy is just having some fun.... Sneed, thats big time!
i'm big on recycling. ever heard of the Big Belly? It's the world's only solar-powered cordless compaction system for trash and recycling http://jumpintotomorrow.com/template/index.php?tech=287&category=11
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. Sarah http://www.lyricsdigs.com
Our Spheres of Influence Salon on Climate Change was founded by Dr. Sarah Warren to help people use their individual "spheres of influence" to help combat global warming. Go to www.ourspheresofinfluence.com for information on the next event and what you can do to help.
Latest in The Blog
-
11/9 — Free "So You Think You Have Nerves of Steel" Kickoff at the Whistler
The first in what will be a regular monthly Monday series at the Whistler, one featured writer a month riffs on the question "so you think you have nerves of steel?" in whatever manner he or she deems appropriate.
- Nov 7, 2009
-
Locust Music Hosts an Eclectic Saturday Showcase
Chicago's eclectic Locust Music label hosts a typically diverse showcase—with Starless & Bible Black, Stephen Titra's O.W.L., Paul Metzger, and more—at the Empty Bottle on Saturday night.
- Nov 6, 2009
-
Lynda Barry, Matt Groening, Chris Ware, and Jules Feiffer in a discussion Saturday at Parker
Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Chris Ware, and Jules Feiffer join the Reader's Michael Miner for a discussion on the declining business of weekly comics.
- Nov 6, 2009
- More»
Author Archives
-
Sweet!
Around Washington Park, Ben Joravsky gets the distinct impression Chicago losing its bid for the games is OK with people.
- Oct 2, 2009
-
City inspector David Hoffman quits
He's throwing his hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate.
- Aug 26, 2009
-
More reasons to legalize it
- Aug 21, 2009
- More»
Comments (11) RSS