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LA Times: LASAN Director Enrique Zaldivar Describes Pandemic Recycling Challenges

Posted on 12/09/2020
Man walking up stairs at recycling facility

A struggling recycling industry faces new crisis with Coronavirus

Story by Megan Calfas, December 5, 2020

Even before coronavirus arrived on U.S. shores, California waste recyclers were reeling from the collapse of global markets for used plastics and other scrap materials — a predicament that diverted the contents of many blue recycling bins to local landfills. But now, as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on all aspects of the economy, the situation has becomeeven more dire for the struggling California waste recycling industry.

Even as hospitals and health officials struggle to cope with a new surge in infections, the pandemic has already significantly altered the waste stream, reducing the profits of many recyclers. Outbreaks and financial concerns have forced the closure of many redemption centers, while those that remain open have been flooded with customers. And, in a development that recycling advocates find particularly distressing, manufacturers are increasingly turning to cheaper, non-recycled plastics.

“This is the horror story that’s coming at us,” said Kreigh Hampel, recycling coordinator at Burbank Recycling Center. “Plastic is going to increase and with COVID. It was the perfect storm.”

In the face of this new crisis, recyclers are having to adjust to the paradox of pandemic life. While the increased use of packaging for disposable personal protective equipment, takeout food and medical gear would lead many to believe more recyclables have entered the waste stream, business closures and at-home living have led to Californians producing less waste overall.

L.A. Sanitation, which oversees the city’s recycling program, has seen residential waste increase between 15% and 20% and commercial waste decrease approximately 15%, according to director Enrique Zaldivar. Along with that shift come some significant economic impacts.

Commercial waste pickup is typically more profitable for recyclers, since businesses usually pay by volume of material.

“For any business, one less customer is always a negative impact,” Zaldivar said. In Los Angeles, “there’s somewhere in the order of 5,000 businesses that no longer have trash service or have discontinued temporarily, hopefully not permanently.”

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