In case you haven’t heard, scrap markets have essentially come to a standstill. While that shouldn’t be news to most of us, what may be is the latest forecast for recovery.  Steel mills have and continue to cut their production significantly which in turn reduces their need for scrap. This spiral downward continues to push back the expected date of reaching the bottom in scrap prices. Now, there is talk of no turn around in production levels until at least second quarter of 2009.

While this may seem to be all doom and gloom, there is a bright spot in the picture. Those companies that have prepared themselves for these times, are going to come out of it even stronger with much of the competition disappearing as cash flow comes to a screeching halt.

Are hydrogen-powered cars really returning to the spotlight? What I would really like is some evidence of how well they work and how easy it is to buy H2. Some real-life examples would be great. Anybody find a web site that offers testimonials? And what about the cost? Who can afford a $600 lease payment? And that’s just for the sedan – I wonder how much the sports car will be?

So, what do you do when the price of recyclables such as cardboard and paper falls so low that the recycling company can’t afford to pay you anything for the material and maybe they even charge you to take it? If you’re a business that is hurting from the economic slump, then obviously you need to look at all your expenses and find ways to do things smarter.

When faced with the possibility of even paying to recycle, one very important consideration should be to look at the long-term impact of your decision. Not only is the continuation of recycling important for the environment, it is important for your bottom line. The negative publicity that could accompany such a decision could have a significant effect on people’s decisions to do business with you. You may want to reconsider any plans you might have to dump material in order to save costs and instead keep recycling to maintain your company’s green image.

As you work numbers and try to figure how you are going to cover the new costs or at least get by without the recycling program revenue you previously received, be careful of suggestions like the one in this article to sign long-term recycling contracts any time in the near future. The terms are certainly not going to be in your favor, especially with recyclers not even being able to sell most of their material. If you wait until the prices begin to rebound, you’ll be a lot better off.

I get fairly regular calls asking if Pacific recycles glass. The reality is that the economics just don’t support it, at least not under current normal market-driven systems. Pacific tried once, several years ago. We had glass crushers at almost every recycling facility. The problem was keeping good markets for the material that were located close enough to not eat all the profit in transportation. A few of the other problems include separation by color, dust suppression and the removal of labels.

Eventually, citizens clamor enough to get local government to try to do something about glass – after all, recycling is the right thing to do and not being able to recycle glass just pains us. So, a government entity then implements (or re-implements) a glass program. This frequently ends in either higher taxes to pay for the service or they eventually quit because of the high expense of glass sorting, crushing and shipping. If you just use it for road base, you don’t have to sort it but still incur the crushing and dust suppression costs and then the glass becomes more expensive than gravel.

So, how do you get around this dilema of wanting to recycle glass but can’t do it economically, especially in a more rural area? I wish I knew.