What is ahead for the reycling industry?

As we approach the year end, I reflect back on 2008 and try to understand what things may look like for 2009.

The skyrocketing markets over that last few years sure came to a screeching halt the end of October and the beginning of November. Everyone is singing the blues, but too many of us seem to forget in such a short time the unrealistically high prices for all scrap paper, plastics, etc. came crashing down. Why? Supply and demand, the driving forces, both ways. When off shore sales were going through the roof at premiums to the generators, far too many of us became greedy. Now their demands have cooled for the foreseeable future, thus an over supply forcing a rapid decline.

Let’s look at something else. Get green. Carbon footprint. Sustainable. All these great buzzwords that surfaced over the last few years had an admirable effect on developing tonnage that had been going to land fills. Ok, that’s great, but where does it go when their isn’t a demand?

We need a balance of supply and demand. We need to try and work with our domestic partners and not becoming greedy when China and other countries pay the premiums simply because they have such an economic imbalance to us with labor, overhead, etc.

2009 will be interesting with a lot of adjustments well into the second quarter. We have many lean months ahead of us where we need to re-focus our efforts away from just keeping waste that can be recycled out of land fills, but developing new outlets for these materials. Grossman Environmental Recycling saw this trend well in advance of October and have been re-focused. Feel free to bring your waste items that may be building up without markets to us for our thoughts. We certainly don’t win all of the time, but we will not sit back and cry, we will do whatever it takes to work on your behalf.

Welcome to the Recycling Blog!

Welcome to the first comments in our new blog. Grossman Environmental Recycling, Inc. (GER) is our newest company dedicated to all aspects of recycling, minimization of solid waste, consulting for the development of both small and large commercial, industrial and community recycling efforts.

The Grossman family of companies stretches back to 1965, the year we moved forward with the concept of recycling paper and plastic, almost forty years before most of us heard about carbon footprints, sustainability, becoming green or environmentally friendly. Over the years a lot has changed with recycling besides the adoption of the newest buzzwords, especially when we look at the costs of operations, markets for each of these recyclables, and the awareness the public now has. In the next few weeks we will touch on some of these changes and certainly welcome your input and questions.

Let me leave you with something to ponder until we meet again. Over the last few years most of us have heard nothing but recycle for a better world, reduce what goes into our landfills because we only have so much land, save a tree, etc. and so on.

Our markets are in unprecedented times. Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc. about recycling now and idfeas for keeping it viable for the stretch? Is “green” for real, or just a catchy market buzzword?