Cities in Arizona are cutting back or even eliminating long standing recycling programs. However, contamination isn’t the only factor at play. China, which for decades has bought the bulk of U.S. recycling, including most plastics and paper products, threw the industry into disarray early last year when it severely cut back on imports of recycled materials because too much of it was contaminated with food and other non-recyclable materials.
“The problem is that people are sending too much waste in their (China’s) direction,” Charles Rolsky, a postdoctoral environmental student at Arizona State University, said. “Out of all plastics created, truly only about 9% has been recycled, and most of it ends up in the landfills.”
China’s move has forced cities to rethink what they can afford to recycle. Mesa is the latest to cut back on what it recycles because of the rising costs, and Surprise, in the northwest Valley, suspended its program in August because of contamination. “It has to do with the way that our commodities are being processed now,” Shane Wilhite-Valdez, maintenance manager at Waste Management’s Northwest Regional Material Recovery Facility, told Cronkite News. “So before we essentially had an open door where China was accepting everything; now they’re very, very limited on the products that they’re taking.”
Surprise is the latest Arizona city to suspend its recycling program due to the rising costs. Globe, Sierra Vista, Casa Grande have also suspended their programs within the last year. Mike Gent, public works director for Surprise, said residents aren’t making it easy for the city to recycle. “Reducing contamination or eliminating contamination would be a big lift for every community, and every community has been working on it for years,” Gent said. “Unfortunately, the combination of education and enforcement hasn’t been enough to really tackle that challenge.”