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Recycling isn’t a strong revenue generator, so for the Powell Valley Recycling Center, operating in the black is good news. They’ve managed to keep in the black for a while now, after …
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Recycling isn’t a strong revenue generator, so for the Powell Valley Recycling Center, operating in the black is good news. They’ve managed to keep in the black for a while now, after some rocky times during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the center’s mission of recycling is running smoothly.
“We’re keeping our head above water, and we’re getting a lot of material,” said Powell Valley Recycling Board President Marynell Oechsner.
Oechsner said commodity prices are holding steady, and people are bringing in a lot of cardboard, which is one of the center’s biggest money makers. Over a single Saturday, the cardboard received filled two full cages and spilled out onto the floor.
One of the biggest challenges the center has faced in the past few months is the lack of transport availability. Fuel prices and labor shortages are impeding all shipping, but Oechsner said that situation has recently started to get better.
“Things are rolling along now,” she said.
The center has also started taking plastics 1 through 7. The type of plastic is usually stamped on the bottom of the container.
The materials don’t make the center money, but if the center ships it with revenue-generating commodities like cardboard, PVR doesn’t lose money.
Oechsner said the plastic collection went slow at first, but as word got out that PVR was taking the material, the stream started to flow a lot better.
The center also continues to pay for aluminum cans. However, it will only pay for uncrushed cans because it’s hard to get the crushed cans to stick together when they’re baled. The thin discs stick out the side and slip out of the cube. The recycling center doesn’t pay much money for the cans, but all people have to do is drop them off.
“We’re doing it as a service … but it takes a lot of cans to make a buck,” Oechsner said.
Myron Heny, vice president of the recycling board, helped bring the annual convention of the Wyoming Solid Waste and Recycling to Powell. The event starts on Aug. 22, and on Aug. 24, attendees will take a tour of the PVR. Heny said the event will bring over a hundred people to Powell.
