Rollercoaster Ride

What a roller coaster market we seem to be in. Less than a month after most grades of paper and plastic continued climbing, some have cooled off, while the unexpected ones continue to rise. It is almost impossible to forecast, except to possibly say we continue in a tough economy, there has been some improvements but we have a long way to go.

Markets appear to be in balance between supply and demand, which is a treat if we think back to a year ago and the free fall.

Local efforts to re-build on recycling projects that has taken years to put together and were hurt with last year’s market downturn, are once again in jeopardy, but this time because of a small item called flow control.

In Columbus we have a board of trustees that controls the agency SWACO, our solid waste authority whose revenues come from tipping fees, in other words, dump charges on every ton of garbage, recyclables, etc. that gets into the landfill. Years ago they permitted, through waivers, haulers and recyclers to haul trash out of county for processing, recycling and some land filling. With the economic downturn they claim their revenue has dropped and they may be bankrupt by the end of next year. What do they do, send notices out that the waivers will end by 12/31/09. They want more trash!!

There isn’t one member of the board or in an executive position at SWACO with a solid background in hauling, recycling or operating a private business. They only know how to play the political game saying “we are SWACO, we can do what we want”. Don’t we all wish life was that easy?