As is common knowledge, our national, state, and many of our local economies are suffering in many ways. Recycling programs are not “immune” to this economic “tsunami” – as this article refers to it. Currently, some residents in Atlanta, Georgia are storing their recyclables in their garages because city collectors are not picking them up at predictable and consistent intervals like they have in the past. Because demand for commodities like cardboard, paper, and glass have lessened, city recycling programs are struggling. As Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, a public information officer for the city of Berkeley notes, “The price of the recyclable materials is not offsetting the cost the way it used to.” She adds, “It’s costing the city a lot more than it used to to provide [our] recycling services.” To help save money, in Atlanta, specifically, garbage trucks and crews, not “specialized curbside collectors,” are taking part in collecting recycled materials. It has saved the city $3 million a year. Additionally, the curbside pickups are now less often – every other week, as opposed to once a week, as they had been. This is upsetting some residents, including Atlanta’s Lynn Heinisch, who feels that recycling pickups have become sporadic and inconsistent. “There were several weeks that went by where there was no recycling pickup, and the information we got from the city was not accurate,” Heinisch said. Cameron Lawrence, another resident from Atlanta, is more optimistic about the situation, believing that it is only “temporary.” Unfortunately, for those in the industry, “There have been several [recycling] plants that have either gone out of business or that have simply not wanted to take the short-term losses on recycling materials,” Fred Johnson, director of operations for SP Recycling Corporation noted. Though the current economic recession is “squeezing” recycling programs, apparently its alternative, dumping in landfills, is not a cost-effective option. This is because dumping can be expensive, especially in places like California. Conclusively, despite the problem presented in this article, an “unexpected benefit” of the recession is that the environment is not as adversely affected as it was because people are producing and consuming less. Furthermore, as Martin Bourque, executive director of the Ecology Center, Berkeley’s contracted pickup service, summed up, “Hopefully, one of the positive outcomes of the recession will be a rethinking of how people deliver products and services that is as environmentally conservative as it is fiscally conservative.”
It is certainly an “interesting” time to be an Economics major. Many of our country’s major financial institutions are crumbling, U.S. cars are selling at a much lower rate than what they have in the past, and greedy individuals on both “wall street” and “main streets” throughout the nation are making poor decisions and taking inappropriate risks that are, in part, contributing to national, state, and local budget deficits. While on the one hand it does not surprise me that the recession is “squeezing” recycling programs (it is “squeezing” our entire economy), on the other I am surprised that as a collective unit, the people of America are not actively uniting to help remedy the situation. When faced with adversity, over the years, United States citizens have time-and-time-again come together to improve our great country and help us “rebound.” Most “recently” (though it was almost eight years ago), directly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, people (some of whom were not active in their communities prior) volunteered their time, energy, and resources toward helping their fellow neighbors “re-build” New York’s destructed areas, console those that had lost loved ones from the attacks, and restore our entire country’s faith in our thinking that we live in a safe and secure nation.
Though recycling programs are very different than restoring tranquility within our borders, I would have thought the same principle would have applied – people coming together for our common good. While this article portrayed recycling initiatives as becoming less “active” because of the recession, I believe that this “in-action” is only temporary. Despite the fact that the recession is “squeezing” some of the recycling programs throughout the country at this point in time, the citizens of our nation have shown concern about our environment – especially over the last few years. As a growing trend in our “collective mindsets,” more and more Americans are trying to “live green” – and recycling is a part of that. Currently, there is great demand for more energy-efficient cars, organic foods, and initiatives by some who believe we need to “guard against” global warming, to name a few examples. Some states are thinking about banning plastic bags in grocery stores, too – to be more “environmentally friendly.” Therefore, I am confident that the “squeeze” on recycling programs will soon pass and people will again look to recycle materials that they can – even if it is costly in these turbulent economic times.
--Brian Salsbury
[I neglected to post this after Brian presented in class. Sorry it's late!--James]
