Recycling programs weather downturn

When Tim Hunter talks about the cost-benefit ratio of recycling, he uses his hands to demonstrate scales.

"At first you have a high cost for infrastructure. A crusher like this can cost $1 million," he explained, shouting to be heard over a massive plastic-bottle bailing machine. "But as you keep selling recycled materials and saving money on landfill fees, you begin to cover those expenses and operating costs. In time it becomes an income source."

Hunter is the recycling program manager for Sheppard Air Force Base, currently the area's most comprehensive and successful operation. Less than a decade ago, the Air Force tasked its bases to reduce their solid waste by at least 40 percent; Sheppard now keeps between 50 and 55 percent out of landfills.

"We're making a dent, slowly but surely," he said.

The recent addition of a separate building for the operation has given Sheppard an integrated system; active duty, guard, reserve personnel, retired military and dependents and active duty or retired civil service and contractors employed by the base now have 24-hour access to recycle plastic bottles and containers (1 and 2), metals, aluminum, glass, cardboard, office paper and mixed paper.

Offices have recycling bins at each desk; collected materials end up in curb side containers that are emptied into trucks. The result is bails and bails of paper waiting to be shipped to jobbers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"This building makes it possible for us to hold materials and wait for the price to improve. Like any other commodity, it follows the market," Hunter said. "We've watched the price of paper go from $40 to $60 a ton a year ago to $20 now. Plastics have been about the same."

Mary Velez, vocational service administrator for North Texas State Hospital's office paper and cardboard recycling operation, has also been hit by price fluctuations. The program, which provides jobs for 25 workshop clients, handles pickup contracts for 60 to 70 area clients as well as all the copier and printer paper generated at the hospital.

Midwestern State University and Howmet are two of their biggest customers. Crushed, bailed or shredded, the paper is also sold to a broker in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"The price we get varies according to how much paper is in the system, and right now they're getting bombarded by sources trying to make money on their waste in a tough economy. The price has really gone down; cardboard is $15 a ton where a year ago it was $100," Velez said.

This, combined with the cost of transportation to markets for recyclable materials, makes those scales tip more slowly.

"Some bases do better than we do because of their proximity to brokers. Shipping costs like we have — trucking things to Dallas — digs into the profits," said Hunter, who likens the base to a community of 20,000 citizens. "But we still have one of the best programs in the command. It's an example for other bases around the country."