This doesn't surprise me, I follow metals recycling, high grade steel. It's like 30 bucks a ton right now. That's far from worth collecting.

I used to live in a little dinky town where a guy ran a recycling business. He collected almost every single cardboard box in that town, and he said he made more money recycling cardboard than he did at his regular job (as a cop.) He recycled other things too, but cardboard was the moneymaker.

Now he's stopped recycling because it costs more in gas to collect the cardboard than he's getting for it. This is too bad, but mostly I think about the mountains of cardboard that are now going to the landfill.

We as a society should be moving beyond wasting stuff like this. It took us about 50 years to get into this frame of mind--use it, throw it away, get another one--and I think this way of looking at resources could be reversed.

But like everything else in the world, it all depends on whether somebody's making money off of it.

cryinoutloud: Now he's stopped recycling because it costs more in gas to collect the cardboard than he's getting for it.

Sounds like he's working for his car. Simplify, man!

I thought the whole point of recycling was saving the earth, not making money. I guess being green is just not a profitable venture anymore. Only good for PR.

LOL. I collect all the steel and aluminum scrap from the jobs we do. Last time I called to ask the prices (which were way up just this summer) they said I could come unload it but they wouldn't pay anything. I think I'll start stamping my own coins out of it.

/Limited edition loser steel dollars, Valspar 40 year finish, available in barn red, snow white, etc.

The way in which most recycling is done is inefficient. If people were smart they would build near indestructible containers and just clean and reuse them. Instead we have to go about this pesky business of breaking and melting down materials.

/Boobies... ever

...and I seem to have been owned by the filter. Touche, filter.

Solty Dog: I thought the whole point of recycling was saving the earth, not making money.

And I suppose the ones doing the recycling live of sunshine and unicorn farts.

Went to recycle some scrap copper the other day. Prices was at 2.70 a pound a few months ago but dropped to 70 cents. I said screw that. I'll just keep it till it goes back up.
Some poor sucker pulled up behind me with two 50 gal. barrels full of copper tubing. I kinda feel bad for him

I go to the recycling center every couple of weeks to just hand over the basic plastic bottles and soda cans. I also bring the paper products, but don't get any money for them.

The money I do get is always just a couple of bucks, and I let my daughter keep it all and then spend it at the local swap meet. It helps her understand how money works, and how to save for "bigger" toys, and I hope it also makes her really enjoy the concept of recycling.

Maybe this will just push recycling agencies to find more efficient ways of recycling items? I hope it doesn't drive them away.

Oh my GOD. What are all the meth-heads gonna do? For the love of Christ, the price of copper has to go back up! Think of the tweekers!

In good times, we earn 40, 60, 70 dollars a ton for paper,

but last month it received $1.50 per ton for paper and cardboard, not enough to pay the program's expenses.

And since it is not supposed to be a revenue stream for the government and instead a recycling program I am sure all that extra money above the cost of running the program is sitting in a fund someplace to be used to offset those times when the money collected is less than the cost to run the program.

Wait a minute. We are talking about government idiots who I am sure have gotten their education on how to run something just like the left set up the Social Security program to be ran. By using the extra money collected to run the program to fund anything and everything that is not the program like bridges, roads, statues to themselves in local parks, etc.

/slaps self for being stupid to think that anything ran by government...oh screw it

Are there any gay bars named The Junkyard? If not, there should be.

Vanetia:
Maybe this will just push recycling agencies to find more efficient ways of recycling items? I hope it doesn't drive them away.

Seeing as America currently ships almost all of the recycling products overseas, how exactly could that get any more efficient?

Pay the Asian workers disassembling our trash less money?

Recycling isn't the only thing not making money. That's why it's called a recession. Unless you are the best at what you do right now and in the years to come, you to will not be making money.

If something has value, it gets sold- not "recycled" with government subsidies.

This can't be true! Are we not all brainwashed in grammar school that recycling is the best thing ever? Wait? what? must of that recycled stuff is worthless unless its aluminum or a valuable metal and we waste capital resources collecting all this garbage? oh...

SVenus: Vanetia:
Maybe this will just push recycling agencies to find more efficient ways of recycling items? I hope it doesn't drive them away.

Seeing as America currently ships almost all of the recycling products overseas, how exactly could that get any more efficient?

Pay the Asian workers disassembling our trash less money?

So you're saying if they (being anyone taking the products--asian or otherwise) managed to find a cheaper method of recycling items, it wouldn't be cheaper to recycle them?