Capital Public Radio’s Ben Adler donned goggles and a hard hat to visit the Sacramento Recycling and Transfer Station.  He spoke with General Manager Kurt Standen.
 
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Recycling Revenues Down, Too
 
Here’s another revenue source for local governments that’s taking a hit from the down economy: recycling.
 
Kurt Standen runs the Sacramento Recycling and Transfer Station.  That’s the private company that processes trash and recycling for the city and county of Sacramento.  He says when his company’s profits are down, the city and county get a smaller share of the proceeds.
 
Standen: “The past few months have been really rough on recyclers and probably rough on cities and municipalities as well.  But we’re starting to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.  And obviously, anybody who says this business is recession proof is absolutely false.” 
 
Standen says his plant still processes the same amount of material as before – but the prices the goods sell for are down by more than half.  Sales have started to bounce back a bit – and he hopes that trend continues.