Recyclable materials from Lyon County are currently taken to the Dem-Con materials recovery facility in Shakopee, where they are sorted. Below: A piece of equipment called a paper screen separates different types of paper products at the Dem-Con facility.

MARSHALL — The questions of how to provide recycling services in Lyon County, and how to pay for them, are complex. But county officials aren’t the only ones dealing with those problems.

The factors that affect the cost of recycling programs reach as far as regional recycling facilities and overseas markets, say area waste haulers, recyclers and county solid waste administrators.

“We’re in a challenging place,” said Ray Sweetman, of West Central Sanitation.

West Central Sanitation, along with Southwest Sanitation, was one of the two companies that bid for a Lyon County recycling contract earlier this summer.

Recycling became a hot topic earlier this month, after Lyon County commissioners took actions that would end curbside recycling pickup in the county. When the county’s current recycling hauler, Southwest Sanitation, gave notice it would terminate its contract, the county took bids for new recycling contracts. However, when bids came back in August, they ranged from around $400,000 to $700,000 a year, compared to the county’s current contract of $306,780 a year.

Commissioners rejected the bids, and opted to collect recyclables at drop sites around the county instead.

A global reach

Factors like the cost of collecting and transporting recyclable materials, and market demand for the materials, all affect what consumers pay for recycling services, area waste haulers said. Single-sort recyclables picked up in southwest Minnesota get transported to materials recovery facilities, where they are sorted by material. Recyclables in Lyon County currently get sent to Dem-Con Materials Recovery in Shakopee, said Lyon County Public Works Administrator Roger Schroeder. Other counties in southwest Minnesota may send recyclable materials to facilities in the Twin Cities or Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Murray County has its own recycling center, and Redwood and Renville County have a joint regional materials recovery facility in Redwood Falls.

From recovery facilities, recyclables go to final buyers of the materials, like paper mills and plastics plants, in both domestic and overseas markets. China used to be a major importer of scrap materials from the U.S., said Dan Ritter, of Southwest Sanitation. But, he said, over the past two years, China has started enforcing new policies that limit the types of recyclable materials accepted, and set stricter quality standards for the materials. Sweetman said China is now buying much less American scrap.

“Since that time, markets have continued to tumble down,” said Jon Mitchell, executive director of the Redwood/Renville Regional Solid Waste Authority (RRRSWA).

“What’s happening is, globally there’s excess supply,” which causes prices to fall dramatically, said Bill Keegan, president of Dem-Con Companies. For example, Keegan said, in 2017 mixed paper was selling for $90 a ton, with contamination levels of 2% allowed. Now, he said, mixed paper prices were -$2.50 a ton, with contamination levels of only half a percent allowed.

“Contamination” refers to the amount of unwanted or non-recyclable materials mixed in with recyclables. For example, it could be pieces of plastic film or aluminum inside a load of mixed paper, Keegan said. But Keegan and Sweetman said a lot of recycling contamination comes from “wish-cycling,” where consumers put items that aren’t really recyclable into the single-sort bin.

Increased costs to recyclers eventually get passed on to consumers, Keegan said. But other factors, ranging from population density to the kind of recycling and waste management facilities in a county, can also affect the cost of curbside recycling.

Different costs

Roger Schroeder, public works administrator for Lyon County, said the county recycling program has more than one source of revenue. The county has a solid waste assessment, of $30 a year for properties in a city and $20 a year for rural residents. Lyon County also receives state grant funding from the Governor’s Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment (SCORE), and rebates from Greater Minnesota Landfill Clean-up fees.

Schroeder said the county receives about $288,000 a year from solid waste assessments. The SCORE grant revenue is partly based on county population, he said. In 2017, Lyon County received $74,594 in SCORE revenue, according to data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

In the past few years, Schroeder said, Lyon County had been able to use solid waste assessment income for its recycling contract, while the rebate and SCORE grant income went to pay for things like educational programs and staff pay. Going forward, however, he said the county may need to use some landfill reserves for its recycling program.

Other area counties also have solid waste assessments, but the rates vary. Mitchell said RRRSWA has a solid waste assessment of $68 a year. Cottonwood County is unusual in that it has a business assessment of $100 a year, in addition to residential assessments of $50 a year and rural assessments of $30 a year, said Cottonwood County Solid Waste Administrator Kyle Pillatzki.

Other area counties are also facing challenges with recycling costs, too. Last November, RRRSWA stopped collecting glass and plastic bags, partly because of market factors and increased costs, Mitchell said.

While changes in international markets continue to have a big impact on U.S. recycling, Keegan said, “This is not the end of recycling.” Instead, he said, there’s an opportunity to develop a domestic market for recyclable materials. About $3.3 billion was invested in the U.S. for domestic recycling this year, he said.

The end of curbside recycling pickup in Lyon County has drawn public outcry over the past couple of weeks. However, the discussion is not over. An update on the recycling program, as well as action items like purchasing a roll-off truck to collect recyclables, are on the Lyon County Board agenda for Tuesday.

Even if Lyon County ends its curbside recycling service, area waste haulers said area communities could still try to contract for municipal curbside pickup. However, Sweetman said, it wouldn’t have the same synergy as a county-wide service. “It helps lessen the burden of cost,” he said.

BY THE NUMBERS

On average, Lyon County collects about 2,000 tons of recyclables a year, said Lyon County Public Works Administrator Roger Schroeder. According to data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, in 2017, Lyon County recycled:

• 2,728 tons of paper

• 142 tons of metal

382 tons of glass

• 197 tons of plastic

• 1,829 tons of organic waste

• 110 tons of hazardous waste

• 3,409 tons of other waste (pallets, tires, mattresses, appliances)