From treasure to trash

Post-consumer prices plummet — plastic, paper, metal pile up

By KIM FUNDINGSLAND, Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com

It used to be true that one man's trash was another man's treasure, but that was before prices for recycled materials made a hasty trip to the dumpster. Previously treasured trash is now just junk. The market has crashed so suddenly that recyclers are still trying to figure out how to cope with the financial changes.

"There's a layoff probably in the future for a lot of our workers. We've got about 15 of them," said Steve Savage, supervisor for Earth Recycling of Minot. "China has stopped taking products. China is overloaded. That's why the markets have dropped so much."

An example of how hard the price plunge has hit the recycling industry can be found in the price of used newsprint, such as this newspaper page. Newsprint that used to sell for as much at $150 a ton is now down to $20 a ton.

"It's not even worth recycling right now. We're just collecting and storing," said Savage. "Everything from paper to metals have taken a dive."

As recently as September the price of cardboard scrap was $135 per ton. Now it is less than $35 per ton. If a recycler wants to get in his 2 cents worth, he can sell off those plastic bottles that are used for everything from soft drinks to orange juice. The price for those plastics has dropped from 25 cents a pound to a mere 2 cents a pound, another indicator that recyclers are facing troubled times.

"None of the prices are up, that's for sure. It's terrible," says Kevin Hanson, general manager of Gerdau Ameristeel of Minot. "We went from all-time highs to we don't want any. Car bodies that used to get $150 a ton have dropped to $10 a ton and that's probably too much."

Plummeting prices have hit the metals market hard. Aluminum, copper and scrap iron is worth just a fraction of its value from a few months ago. Aluminum cans have slipped from 80 cents a pound to 25 cents. The fall-off for other metals has been worse. Copper has dropped from $3.50 a pound to a mere 65 cents. According to Hanson, unprepared scrap metal that used to be valued at $200 a ton is now fetching only $20 to $25.

"It's crazy. Like everything else, it's a commodity and everybody knows what's going on with the economy," said Hanson. "I'm afraid of the direction we're headed. There's hardly anything coming across the scale. It's very slow."