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‘Recycle! Otsego County’ dumped due to poor economy

Kam Ensing said a drop in the price of paper, plastic and other recycled materials has forced the closure of Recycle! Otsego County. HT - Michael Jones

By Michael Jones, Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 3:00 PM EST

BAGLEY TWP. -- Add Recycle! Otsego County to the list of victims of the poor economy.

Today (Wednesday) is the last day (5-7 p.m.) residents will have to bring in their recyclable materials to the nonprofit organization located on South Otsego Avenue. ROC President Kam Ensing is calling it quits after six years.

After several weeks of soul searching, Ensing, who was instrumental in getting the program off the ground, decided the plummeting market and revenue for recyclable materials no longer made it possible to keep the local recycling bins open to the public.

“The economy has caught up with us,” Ensing said of the decision to shut down the popular program which recycles around 150 tons of waste a year. “We held our own. I’m surprised how long it took the economy to catch up to the market for recyclables but it’s a supply and demand thing.”

Ensing said he was recently notified recyclers of plastics could no longer afford to pay for plastic, citing a lack of market demand. “The price of paper dropped down to nothing. Corrugated cardboard too,” the recycler said of the program which relied heavily on revenues from the materials collected at the center.

 

Of the approximately $1,600 generated each month to support the recycling program, Ensing said about 75 percent came from the sale of plastics, paper, tin and aluminum and other recyclable materials -- the remainder coming from donations.

Faced with transportation and the cost of maintaining the building used for recycling versus the current market for recyclables, Ensing said the revenues just weren’t there to justify keeping the center open.

“There is just no way we could survive on donations alone. It’s going to come down to the need for taxpayer support to keep a program going here,” said Ensing.

He explained most communities that have recycling depend on tax revenues, typically generated from a surcharge added to materials taken to area landfills.

According to Ensing, several Northern Michigan counties, including Emmet and Grand Traverse, still accept recycling materials.

“This is the last thing I wanted to do,” said Ensing, who has been involved in recycling programs since the 1980s, including locations in Grand Haven and Big Rapids. “It was a very tough decision. It’s been a part of my life for a long time. I kept putting it off and tried to think of ways to survive. We never did it to make a profit. As long as we could break even we were OK.”

Asked if he felt Otsego County could support a recycling program in the future he responded, “Up to now things had been running pretty smoothly but I don’t foresee anytime in the near future starting back up but I don’t want to say never. It’s the economy plain and simple. Until the economy picks up I can’t see anything happening here.”

Ensing said he did not anticipate the market for recycled materials would improve anytime in the near future -- not until the country pulls itself out of the current economic downturn.