With all the bad economic news adding to our woes almost daily, we find ourselves grasping at any sign that things could be on the mend. When I first read this along with some other comments, my feet wanted to get up and do a little jig. I actually had to sit down and do some analysis in my head.

“Now wait just a minute,” I told myself. “This is just a small indicator and it’s in a country far away. Even if it is the beginning of price stabilization, it is in Great Britain and will take some time before being felt over here. And, the commodities that concern out company the most are metals and those are still floating near the bottom – except some precious metals which have gained recently.”

So, yes, the news about some items realizing significant price gains is good, however, it is just a small piece of the pie and it is in a market far away from us. Sit back down, take a few deep breaths and get back to work.

So, in our current situation, is it better to be optimistic with economic forecasts or to be realistic (what some people would call pessimistic in today’s economic climate)? Does either one have the potential to lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy? Meaning, if people continue to be pessimistic in their forecasts, will that cause additional cutbacks and restraint, thus deepening the recession? Or, if more forecasters are optimistic, will that lead more people to breathe a sigh of relief and begin thinking about expanding their purchases again, thus lifting the economy? What are your thoughts? I can tell you I am choosing to be optimistic and believe that articles like this one are for real.

We get asked quite regularly why we aren’t more active in recycling plastics. It all boils down to economics. And if the economics don’t match up, you end up with dismal failure. Many people have pushed for mandated percentages of plastics recycling in many areas around the world and some in some places, percentages have been set with deadlines for compliance. What none of the people involved in legislating such mandates have considered is what happens when the price bottoms out? You get lots of collected material sitting around that nobody can ship. Businesses go belly up because they can’t sell their overpriced inventory. There is a lot more consideration to be made than simply our desire to recycle all the materials we can.

November saw scrap iron prices continuing to skid with prices dropping $60-$100 per ton since October. Not that anyone is shipping very much scrap – at least not in our neighborhood. The fact that it hasn’t hit bottom seems to support the theory that it will take a long time to climb back out of the hole. So, what are your predictions on the time line? How long will it take before scrap begins to move at normal rates again?

You can tell those companies that have spent the last few bull years building themselves up with a long-term strategy – they are the ones that are now continuing to move forward with business, albeit with caution. They are looking for opportunities to grow their market share and to continue with other growth strategies. They have taken the stance that simply hunkering down is what leads to losing market share in the long term and are proactive in their efforts instead.

These types of companies accomplish two things – one is, they help keep the economy from slipping further down and second, they set themselves up to be big winners once the economy gets clicking again. The point is, when the economy gives you lemons, make lemonade.