Original Story: Reycling Funds Will Promote Job Growth

Action by the 2013 Indiana General Assembly will boost Indiana’s recycling collection infrastructure — not in a big way, but it is a significant boost, nonetheless.

The boost was in response to lobbying by the Indiana Recycling Coalition. The original biennial state budget bill called for a $500,000 annual appropriation; the IRC lobbied for the reinstatement of Indiana’s frozen recycling grant funds — a $3.4 million annual appropriation. The General Assembly approved a $1 million annual appropriation.

The $1 million (raised through landfill fees over the years) will be distributed through a grant application process.

“We have strong demand for recycled materials, particularly from Indiana manufacturers of glass and aluminum,” Carey Hamilton, executive director of the IRC, said Friday. “There is also a new major plastics processor (in the Richmond area) that processes soda bottles. They are having to bring recycled commodities from out of state because we are doing a poor job of collecting in Indiana.”

Hamilton said industry prefers recycled vs. raw materials because recycled products reduce energy costs. For example, the glass industry saves more than 20 percent on its process, she said; recycled aluminum enables a 95 percent energy saving.

Alcoa, a global aluminum manufacturer with more than 3,200 employees in Indiana, was an early advocate of reinstating the recycling fund.

New investments in recycling programs and infrastructure will result in higher aluminum recycling rates which in turn will save energy, save resources and create jobs, according to Beth Schmitt, director of recycling for Alcoa.

“It’s a major bottom line issue,” Hamilton said. “But sadly we’ve not done a good job of building collection systems across the state. Fort Wayne is doing a really good job but smaller communities and even Indianapolis are doing a very lackluster job of collecting from residences and businesses.”

Recycling can be described as a “jobs engine:” Workers are needed to transport and process the material and Hoosier manufacturers become more competitive in the global marketplace.

Steve Christman, executive director of the Northeast Indiana Solid Waste Management District, agrees that recycling promotes job growth. He adds that while he is pleased to see the boost to Indiana’s recycling infrastructure, Indiana also needs to work on improving its composting efforts.

“The IRC is a good organization, but we don’t have an advocacy organization like that for composting in Indiana,” Christman said. “Indiana is woefully behind when it comes to composting the organics in the waste stream.”

We are unsure why the General Assembly did not restore the full $3.4 million for recycling infrastructure grants. The unused money collected from landfill fees will just be sitting there.

But $1 million is better than $500,000. The (recycled) glass is not half empty. It is half full.