Changes in ROI's Recycling Program

For the past 8 years, Richland Opportunities Inc’s board and director have discussed ROI’s continuation of the recycling program. The reason for this discussion is due to the losses that ROI absorbs in recycling Richland County and Sidney’s paper and plastic products, and the amount of man power needed to make recycling occur. Cindy Eleson, director of ROI, stated, “The public continues to be unaware of the toll that recycling takes on ROI. There are people who believe that ROI makes lots of money in recycling or that we are paid for it through another source. The truth is that ROI has funded this program for 22 years and recycling has never paid its own expenses.” Currently, the county and city are assisting financially to offset the expense of recycling. Eleson reported, “ Over the last 7 years, the city and county have given approximately $12,000 per year to aid ROI’s recycling program. Unfortunately, this still does not cover the expenses incurred to recycle the area’s paper and plastic products.”

ROI expends a tremendous amount of time, effort and machinery to obtain even one load or approximately 43,000 pounds of cardboard. To make up this load, ROI staff and two employees collect boxes daily from approximately 63 Sidney businesses for one month. The cardboard is then brought back to ROI’s recycling center, where it is baled with three to four employees baling every day. On average, three bales are made per day. Once 48 cardboard bales are completed, a staff person uses a forklift to load a flatbed truck and they are hauled to the cardboard mill. The closest mill is in St Paul and the freight cost is currently $1125.00. From this month’s worth of work, ROI “earns” between $500 to $1300, depending on the current market for cardboard. And this is only one recycling product, the other materials that ROI recycles take just about the same amount of effort, time, and machinery.

This summer, ROI’s baler broke down and cardboard recycling was unavailable for a month and a half. The city’s garbage crew was overwhelmed with the amount of cardboard and the city used ROI’s truck to keep up with the volume. During this time, Eleson assessed the financial cost of the recycling program. She stated, “ROI earns approximately $9.00 per day from the sale of the recyclables. This figure increases to $14 per day with what the City and County donate to us. However, this figure does not cover expenses which include gas, staff and employee time, payroll taxes, workman’s compensation, utilities, and equipment.” She added, “ROI has all the bills and expenses that normal businesses have.”

Using this information, Eleson approached the City for increased financial assistance to allow for ROI to build recycling infrastructure, or to have the city take over the collection of the cardboard with ROI still processing after it is picked up. Unfortunately, the City’s financial obligations have increased and the city’s budget will only allow for a small increase in funding. The city’s public works director verified that if the City were to begin picking up cardboard, the initial cost would be $380,000. The city’s ongoing cost would be $100,000 per year to add two full time people to the garbage crew, just to pick up cardboard.

Last year, ROI asked businesses to voluntarily pay for the cardboard pick up services, with about half the businesses paying for ongoing cardboard pickup. Given the infrastructure needs that ROI has, free pickup will no longer be available. “Last year, ROI’s recycling program had expenses of $55,614 and we earned $19,011 from the sale of the product.” Eleson stated. “Recycling is the right thing to do, but the cost is born by ROI and relatively few partners. Some businesses realize how vulnerable the recycling program is and are paying for cardboard pickup. ROI’s greatest recycling expense is the cardboard curbside business. It simply does not pay for itself. Therefore when new equipment or infrastructure is needed, ROI has to raise funds in order to complete any project or buy equipment.”

Eleson commented that after 22 years of providing a free recycling program, it will be a major adjustment for businesses to have to pay for cardboard pickup. In the early 90s when the service began, ROI’s recycling crew was in competition with the city garbage crew to pick up boxes. “ROI’s truck and the garbage truck would race to get the boxes. The times have certainly changed. Now, if ROI cannot pick up cardboard, the city crew is swamped with boxes and frustrated with the situation.”

ROI is grateful for the continued support of both the recycling program and for the support of ROI’s mission to serve adults with developmental disabilities. Eleson stated, “Without the community, ROI would have to cease the recycling service. We use this service to employ people with developmental disabilities. People believe that because ROI chose to use recycling as a venue to employ people with disabilities, it is paid for by the state. However, this is far from the truth. Unfortunately, ROI could cease recycling and be better off due to the wages and infrastructure that is needed for recycling. Without the community, ROI would have stopped the recycling business a long time ago. We look forward to partnering with the community for years to come and with financial support from those who use the service, this program will be available for another 30 years.”