By Michael Johnson
OSWEGO COUNTY – Initiated in February of 1992 in an effort to reduce the amount of waste entering the Bristol Hill Landfill, recycling in Oswego County and nationwide has seen a number of changes and challenges over the years.
Last year, China restricted imports of certain items recycled in the U.S., including mixed paper and most plastics. For decades the bulk of recyclables produced by the waste stream in the U.S. were purchased by China to be made into items such as shoes, bags and new plastics.
Now that China will no longer accept these items, municipalities must pay more to recycle them or just throw them into the landfill.
In Oswego County the situation is not as dire, but changes in the value of recycled materials have caused some concern.
“China’s refusal to accept recycled materials does affect the bottom line,” said D. Mark Powell, Oswego County’s Director of Solid Waste Programs, “But I see no change to our program in the near future. The revenue generated on the waste side covers the cost of the recycling program. We have been fortunate.”
The volume of garbage and recyclables collected in Oswego County has been consistent over the last few years which is of benefit to the system. All recycled items gathered in Oswego County are hauled directly from the Transfer Stations to the Oneida-Herkimer Waste Authority Recycling Center, which collects a fee from Oswego County to accept and process these items.
“We pay Oneida-Herkimer a processing fee to handle the recyclables, but this payment is covered by fees homeowners and businesses pay to have the garbage collected,” Powell said. “The cost of recycling is not taxpayer supported.”
Oswego County also collects items such as waste oil, electronics and batteries in an effort to keep these hazardous items out of the landfill at a cost, but the county profits by selling steam generated by the Energy Recovery Facility just north of Fulton, and by selling scrap metals.
When asked about the effect of recycling on the environment, Powell said, “This is not just an issue facing Oswego County; this is a worldwide issue. Anytime we can reuse a resource it is of benefit to the community and the planet.”
The effect of China’s new policy has been felt all over the U.S. One example of this change can be seen here in Upstate New York, in the Washington County town of Fort Edward. The municipality ceased recycling in 2019, and now all plastics are incinerated.
“We’ve had an ostrich-in-the-sand approach to the entire system,” Jeremy O’Brien, Director of Applied Research at the Solid Waste Association of North America, said in an article for The Atlantic. “We are producing a lot of waste, and we should take care of it ourselves.”
According to the State Department of Environmental Conservation, the average citizen in New York produces approximately four and a half pounds of trash a day. Across the state, 30 landfills accept six million tons of waste per year, with 2.5 million tons being sent to waste to energy facilities, and 6.1 million tons being sent to neighboring states in 2018.
When introduced, the recycling program was not universally accepted in the U.S., but over time participation has grown and now the blue bin is a part of everyday life. Although in some cases the cost to process recyclable items is higher than the value of these items, keeping them out of the landfill is important to the preservation of a healthy environment.
missing or outdated ad config
No wonder why I have so much trouble with stuff made in China, it’s literally made out of garbage.
Until 2008 Oswego County had the best recycling [program in the State.
There is no such thing as “away”, as in the phrase ‘throw it away”. Trash may be out of sight, but it is still “here”, since “away” is also “here”.