The article in the url below demonstrates the potential danger to the CSR debate in the face of an economic recession:
“Trash has crashed. The economic downturn has decimated the market for recycled materials like cardboard, plastic, newspaper and metals.”
The corresponding wild fluctuation in the market price for specific recycled materials mean that it is sometimes cheaper for firms to dispose of them (to avoid storage costs), than sell them on the market:
“On the West Coast, for example, mixed paper is selling for $20 to $25 a ton, down from $105 in October, according to Official Board Markets, a newsletter that tracks paper prices. And recyclers say tin is worth about $5 a ton, down from $327 earlier this year.”
The article makes the case that, while the market for recycled materials has always been sensitive to changing economic conditions, the sharp drop in demand from China in the current crisis has increased the extent of the price swings:
“China's influence is so great that in recent years recyclables have been worth much less in areas of the United States that lack easy access to ports that can ship there.”
The only thing saving city recycling programs in the US at present is that even though they are now paying to have recycled materials picked up (before they received money), it is still cheaper than having to pay to take them to the landfill.
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
Back at Junk Value, Recyclables Are Piling Up
By MATT RICHTEL and KATE GALBRAITH
1395 words
8 December 2008
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
1
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/business/08recycle.html
