Bails would once bring in money for the Solid Waste and recycling department of Duplin. Now they are being stockpiled for a better market.
One reason is because the failing economy has taken its toll in overseas markets and values for recycled material are not expected rise in the 2009 year. The result will adversely affect Duplin County, ultimately requiring the county to make up for the lost profits that the Solid Waste and Recycling department usually acquires through sales.
In turn, land fill user rates may increase from the current $90 yearly price, or the department will be forced to seek more money from the county commissioners for 2009-10 budget.
Money acquired from previous recycled sales overseas has enabled the county to pay for two positions at the recycling center. But now, with a projected loss of $100,000 to $150,000 in revenue for the next fiscal year, Bee Barnette, director of solid waste and recycling for Duplin County, is preparing for the storm by letting someone go.
Of the two employees at the recycling center, one is full-time and the other part-time. The part-time employee is being let go; not because there is a lack of work but because there is a lack of funding. Both positions are paid for by the sales of used product. And Barnette says that he can’t afford to keep them both with the low market prices for material.
In a recent interview Barnette spoke on the market. Once, a bail of old used cardboard would fetch $90 for Duplin County. “Not bad,” said Barnette. The product is free. It cost $32 to bail it and is picked up by the customer at no charge to Duplin.
The resulting sale is a profit of $58 per bail.
But the problem, says Barnette, is that the market has dropped to the point where it is cheaper to dispose of material in the Sampson County landfill.
It costs approximately $40 to send a bail of trash to Sampson, said Barnette. Or he wants to recycle it, the bail will only sell for $10. The work to send it to Sampson County is more or less free because would just be added to the normal trash. But to have it bailed, separated and processed takes a separate employee doing a different task — increasing the cost to recycle. The resulting negative cash flow for the department has already lead to the loss of a position for Barnette.
“Right now we are just cutting back, if it gets worse we might have to cut more after that,” said the director.
Speaking on the recycling program itself, Barnette commented, “Don’t want to get out of it. Not planing on getting out of it, cause I am a recycling person.”
The recycling material is still leaving Duplin as recycled material, not trash to Sampson.
Barnette also commented that he would not give up recycling on his watch, even if it meant losing more money. “The way I see it,” he said, "is that material that is not going in our backyard.”
Michael Connolly can be reached at (910) 592-8137 ext. 120 or can be emailed at sicity@intrstar.net
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