KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Mitch Borden/KMXT
Threshold Services Incorporated will not accept plastic film for the foreseeable future. That means the recycling center won’t collect things like plastic shopping bags, bubble wrap, and anything made from thin stretchy plastics. The reason these products aren’t being accepted at Kodiak’s main recycling center is they’re currently worthless on the recycling market, due to regulations instituted by China.
A lot of the things recycled in the U.S. are sold by recycling centers to other recycling company’s and a lot of it eventually ends up in China, which is why these sanctions have had a dramatic effect on the price of plastic film and other materials. Threshold will have to pay to dispose of these plastics if it continues to collect them, instead of profiting from them, like it has in the past. Plastic film isn’t the only material’s price that’s bottomed out on the market because of Chinese regulations. Some paper has as well.
Specifically, the kind of paper that’s shiny and hard to write on, that’s used in a lot of magazines. This type of paper is known as “Mixed Paper.” Threshold is currently accepting products made from mixed paper, but Chris Lynch, the president of Threshold’s board of directors, said that could change in the coming days. Threshold is still collecting products made of denser plastic such as water bottles and milk jugs.
