By Mike Brown, BIRP President
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Spring/Summer 2004-PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
By Mike Brown
We
note that recent prices of recyclable materials are higher. And,
this means that the market for recyclables is healthy. For
example, PET plastic resin is selling for 15 cents a pound. It
hasn't been too long ago, that this resin was bringing 7 to 8
cents a pound. And, the demand for Pet is strong.
HDPE is at 22 cents per pound with is up from 14 cents a year
ago. Aluminum cans are selling for 58 cents a pound ... up from
50 cents a year ago ... and steel cans are‑ selling for $185 per
gross ton as compared to $123 a year ago.
These prices are based on trailer load lots paid by end users. The
paper market is also higher. As the economy continues to improve,
and as the demand for recyclable materials holds strong in the
international market, we believe this bodes well for recycling in
America.
Scrap metal recyclers are enjoying record prices now. The Chinese
appetite for U.S. scrap coupled with strong domestic orders, has
created a sellers market with record prices. The price of aluminum
continues to rise. The market for recovered paper saw prices rise
in the first quarter and many think that trend will continue.
Export demand for recovered paper is strong.
BIRP continues its efforts at cleanup with the kick off of the
spring Adopt a Highway program. Hampered by a lack of funds,
nonetheless this program involves hundreds of volunteers who work
to keep our highways picked up. And, BIRP members are in the
forefront of volunteers working to clean up litter. Further, BIRP
made a grant to the Ohio River Cleanup program this spring. The
Ohio River Cleanup takes place every year, and each year,
volunteers are finding that the river is slowly being cleaned up.
We are continuing our efforts to amend the law pertaining to the
coding system used in the plastic industry. Multi layered plastic
bottles now being produced call for a change in the coding system.
This has hampered recycling efforts in recycling PET plastic and
hopefully we can make this change to benefit the industry.
Business and Industry in Kentucky remain committed to the
promotion of curbside recycling efforts. Reduce, Reuse, and
Recycle are the by‑words of our efforts.
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