Councils scrap paper recycling banks following slump in value of waste materials | Mail Online

Recycling banks are facing the scrapheap after a global slump in the price of waste materials.

The credit crunch has seen demand for recyclable materials plummet.

The market value of a ton of mixed paper has tumbled from £50 to less than £1.

Some waste disposal firms say this makes running recycling banks uneconomical, since the end product is worthless.

Worldwide, I wonder how programs like this will be affected

Paula Beisheim, the environmental science teacher at Norton High School, and Michael Barth, assistant principal, established a paper recycling fundraising program three years ago. The Central Office suggested that the other four schools in the district join in by starting up their own recycling programs last year. Norton students are learning to turn waste into valuable resources, and to reduce green house emissions.

There are yellow and green Paper Retriever recycling bins at each of the Norton Public Schools. Each bin holds one to two tons of paper. Recyclable paper is collected from offices and classrooms at the schools. Full bins are emptied by Abitibi Retriever trucks, which are equipped with the latest on-board scales and computers allowing the weight of paper to be individually recorded at the time of pick-up. The schools are paid $5 per ton. Organizations which consistently collect four tons of recyclable paper per month are paid $15 per ton.