KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Mitch Borden/KMXT
When it comes to recycling, China is the biggest name in the game. The majority of all of the materials recycled in the United States end up there. So, as China implements stricter restrictions on what it will accept it affects communities across America, including rural Alaska.
Threshold Services, Kodiak’s main recycling center, was recently surprised when it was told it couldn’t offload certain plastics and paper to buyers in the lower 48.
The manager of Threshold Service’s recycling center, Wendel Capili, is showing me around where people come to drop off their recycling.
“This is the aluminum and tin cans.”
It doesn’t take us long in the tour to get to a giant stack of compressed blocks of paper, which towers over both of us.
Borden: “So, is this all mixed paper?”
Capili: “Yeah, that’s all mixed paper, and newspaper, and office pack.”
Mixed paper, which is the type of paper used in magazines, is one of the products Threshold collects, but recently it’s having a hard time getting rid of it. So Capili and his staff are having to store it until Threshold can figure out what to do with the paper.
The cause of Threshold’s current problem is China. You see, recycling centers across the country sell what they collect to other companies, and eventually, a lot of the stuff Americans recycle, like plastic, aluminum cans, and paper, end up across the Pacific in China. And, earlier this year, the Chinese government instituted stricter regulations on the products it’ll accept, which included mixed paper
This has caused problems for recycling centers like Threshold, but Chris Lynch, the president of Threshold’s board of directors, says the nonprofit is still functioning normally and the plant’s running smoothly.
“An average person wouldn’t see anything different. We’re still operating status quo.”
April was the first-month Threshold has had trouble selling some of the material it collects. Without warning their buyer told them it couldn’t pay anything for certain plastics and mixed paper, which is why there’s currently a tower of it at the recycling center.
So, Lynch says Threshold is looking uses for the paper and plastic that can’t be sold right now.
“We now are looking at potential for having to possibly do different things with our product. Do we want to try to use the paper in composting? I’ve been talking to the city, seeing if there’s any alternative methods for our product.”
Even though Lynch hasn’t seen things this bad in the recycling market before, she says Threshold is doing ok for now. But, if things keep up like this She says it may get to the point where Threshold will have to pay to send some of what it collects to landfills and restrict what it accepts from Kodiak residents.
Some employees could see their hours cut in the future if things don’t change, but Lynch says there’s no plan to reduce Threshold’s employees. All in all, she’s pretty optimistic because she says Threshold is a financially healthy nonprofit that has the money to get it through these hard times.
“When these little bumps in the road come, we aren’t in full on panic attack. We’re still able to provide a service to the community while we figure things out.”
But back at the factory, by the large pile of paper. Capili, Threshold’s manager, isn’t as optimistic.
“I’m worried because I working here like 11 years I’m worried this place might get closed or, I don’t know, I hope not because I like this job.”
Even though Threshold has no plans to reduce employees, Capili is still not sure what the recycling center’s future looks like if the recycling market continues on like it has for the past month.
