Recycling payback

Posted 10/1/15

Trash isn’t a clean business. Municipal officials were reminded of that Tuesday as they congregated at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation recycling facility. There was the rich smell of …

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Recycling payback

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Trash isn’t a clean business. Municipal officials were reminded of that Tuesday as they congregated at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation recycling facility. There was the rich smell of rotting material accompanied by the hum of machinery separating cans, bottles, paper and plastics.

As former Johnston resident Tim Forsberg, who covered the story for the Beacon, observed, “It was nice that the officials got to really experience the facility.”

His point is well taken. What community would welcome a persistent stream of trash and recycling trucks and like to be known as home of the state’s landfill? Warwick has the airport, Cranston gets the ACI, but Johnston gets a mountain festooned with seagulls.

Of course, the municipal officials were in attendance for reasons other than a tutorial in waste management and recycling. The benefits of recycling – the icing on the throwaways, if you like – had them waiting with hands out. RIRRC was armed with checks totaling $551,700 representing the municipal share of recycling profits for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.

Warwick’s piece of the recycling pie was the largest of all municipalities. The city received $52,994.91 for the 9,862 tons of recyclables. Coming in second was Pawtucket, which received $43,981.32 for the 8,185 tons of recyclables it collected.

While Warwick’s recycling for the year was up, shared profits were down because of the decline in the market prices of recycled paper, glass, metal and plastic. Nonetheless, if the return were to drop even more, the value of recycling can’t be minimized. This is a pocketbook and an environmental issue.

Consider for every ton removed from the waste stream, the city saves $32 in tipping fees. The tab for those 9,862 tons of recyclables would therefore have been a $315,584 liability rather than a $52,994.91 asset.

The environmental issue is more difficult to quantify. Without question, the emphasis on recycling has heightened awareness to the finite resources we have and the cost to the environment of disposing, not to mention manufacturing anew. That, we would argue, is a positive that will generate benefits for future generations. Our kids and our kids’ kids are attuned to recycling. It may not save the planet from the human footprint, but for one it extends the life of the state landfill, which from a selfish perspective we would just as soon stay in Johnston.

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