Recycling not as profitable as it used to be

Consumers are getting careless in what can and can’t be reused.

The recycling business isn’t going as well as it did a few years ago.

There’s not as much money in it. Changes in technology and consumer habits have made recycling of paper or glass less profitable than in the past.

Then again, some stuff gets put aside for recycling that could be thrown away.  

Brian Tippetts from the 7 Rivers Recycling in Onalaska, Wis., used to manage solid waste for local governments. He says many people don’t pay attention to the differences that make one type of material recyclable, while something similar is not.

“When we say recycle glass, that’s not window pane glass,” Tippetts said. “And when we say you can recycle plastics, when you have that floor mat underneath your weight lifting set or under the playground, it’s not that type of rubber.”

Tippetts has also seen customers get careless, in mixing trash with the recyclable items:

“Some people will fill up their waste container, and then there’s still space in the recycling container, so they’ll even put diapers in with recycling,” he said.

Families need to read the recycling rules carefully to see what items can be reused without contaminating them.

A new study of recycling from North Carolina says the value of a ton of recycled items has gone down about 50 percent in the last five years, while cost has gone up.