
It's one of the the most frustrating and unfortunate aspects of the U.S. and global recessions: a noble sector, a win-win-win all around, is facing dire times.
The recycling sector is being decimated by the economic slowdown. Many industry players may not survive, the whole process of creating new from the old seems to be stalled, and all over the globe piles of plastic, cardboard, newspaper/paper, and metal, among other re-useables, are piling up,
The New York Times reported.
And the reason is obvious enough: demand for consumer goods and other finished products is declining, globally, and that means the chief manufacturing centers of the world - - China being the largest - - don't need the recyclable materials that a year ago were so much in demand,
The Times reported. Prices have plunged: paper, down to $20 a ton from $105 a ton; plastic bottles to 2 cents a pound, down from 13 cents a pound; aluminum to 30 cents a pound, from $1 a pound.
Economist Peter Dawson told BloggingStocks expanded storage capabilities during this recession means recyclers will be able to hold more than 10 times the recycled material than during the last U.S. recession in 2001-2002, but there are financial and storage limits.