Green Daily

When my curbside recycler sent out an email saying that they were no longer accepting cardboard, I thought it was because they had become lazy. Then when they informed me that they weren't going to take my glass anymore either, I knew something was amiss. Sure enough, large recycling centers across the country are having a hard time finding a market for goods that once gained them large profits.

The prices of recyclable goods have dropped dramatically. A ton of corrugated cardboard that went for $150 over the summer now commands $10 to $45. Newsprint, plastic milk jugs, and even tin cans have lost a lot of their worth as well. The slow down can be attributed to China having large inventories of recycled materials which takes them out of the market for U.S. goods. Paperboard is so devalued that it costs recycling centers $15 a ton just to unload it.

Some recycling centers are stockpiling goods in hopes that the market swings back in their favor. Others are simply taking the loss and paying for some of the product to be hauled off site.