By Michael Howell
Ravalli County Recycling, Inc. has decided to indefinitely suspend collection of plastics, starting March 1.
RCR Board Chair Pam Small said that it was not an easy decision to make and a lot of thought and research was done before taking this step. She said the decision was based on information obtained from their buyer in Missoula, Pacific Recycling, which serves as an intermediate stop for the plastic before it gets shipped to California.
“We considered both the economic and environmental impact of recycling plastics,” said Small. “Economically it just doesn’t make sense to recycle plastic right now in Montana.”
She said the value of plastic commodities is minimal because oil is so inexpensive; it is more economic to make plastic from petroleum than to use recycled plastic. She said Ravalli County Recycling has to pay Pacific $.03/lb to take #1 PET water bottles and clam shells.
“We make a small profit on #2 plastics, but at most break even on our recycled plastic,” said Small. “The other part of the story is the personnel expenses.”
She said handling plastic consumes the time of two paid employees because of the work spent sorting material and preparing it for transport. Handling plastic also consumes the majority of the volunteers’ time; both because of effort spent helping the public determine where different plastics go when they come to the yard and because of the labor of sorting plastics to be baled.
“When we consider labor expenses along with the marginal sale value of plastic, it does not make economic sense for us to collect plastic,” said Small.
Small said the environmental benefits, according to some of the experts, were also questionable. Although the environmental benefit to recycling aluminum and steel cans and most paper products is well established, the same cannot be said for recycling plastics. Small said that plastic did not represent a real threat in terms of disposal in landfills like some other materials. She said, like glass, it was an inert substance and in the dark, anaerobic environment of the landfill, degradation of plastic proceeds on a scale of hundreds or thousands of years. #1 PET water bottles will probably sit intact indefinitely.
“Plastics in the landfill are not a source of greenhouse gases — their carbon footprint is minimal,” she said.
She said in addition there was no place to recycle it in Montana.
“Our recycled plastics are transported over 1,000 miles to California, and handled multiple times after that,” said Small. She said it takes 250 gallons of fuel to transport a load of plastic to California which alone releases 5,000 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.
“Handling plastic in this way uses fuel and resources,” said Small. “An environmental specialist at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality has advised us, for a long time, to stop taking all plastic.”
Small said Ravalli County Recycling was considering a number of approaches to this problem and welcomes creative ideas from the public.
“We plan to hold public forums on plastic recycling and provide educational materials to encourage people to use less plastic. We would also like to develop and distribute ideas on how plastics might be re-used locally,” she said. “For example, plastic water bottles can be used to construct cold frames and green houses and the formation of advocacy groups to encourage local businesses to use less plastic packaging can be an effective way to reduce the use of plastics.”
Small said RCR’s goal was to conduct a sustainable, environmentally sound recycling operation. Although they have suspended plastic collection indefinitely, she said they have the option of revisiting the decision if outlets for recycled plastic are developed in the state or close by, or if for some other reason recycling plastic makes economic and environmental good sense.
Meanwhile, plastic donations discontinue March 1 at the RCR yard, 759 US Hwy 93 N, Hamilton; at the Stevensville drop-off site in the Burnt Fork Market parking lot; and in RCR curbside pick-ups (call 375-5398 for more information on curbside service). Still collected everywhere are newspapers, magazines, office mix (shredded or whole), cardboard, and aluminum and steel cans.