Recycling center carries on in spite of shortfalls
The price for recycling varies widely, but for more than 45 years volunteers with the Bella Vista Recycling Center have been making an impact on the environment and on dozens of small nonprofits in the area. One way or another, they make the center work.
Right now, storage buildings are being slowly filled with bailed cardboard. For years, cardboard was the center’s most profitable product, but China stopped accepting American trash to recycle and the price dropped from $235 a ton to only $40. The decision was made to hold back some of the cardboard and hope the price goes back up, board chairman Paul Poulides explained.
Some centers can’t find buyers for their cardboard at all, he added, but the Bella Vista Center has careful sorting procedures that keep Styrofoam and metal out of the cardboard, so it’s pure. The center also separates wet cardboard from dry, because the dry is sold for a higher price.
The cardboard comes from businesses which put it aside for a volunteer in a recycle center truck to pick up. For the business, it means saving money that might be spent on trash pickup, but as the price dropped, the pickup routes were also cut back. Small businesses in Bentonville that don’t have very much cardboard and larger ones that don’t take the time to sort and flatten boxes were dropped from the routes. Although, so far, Bella Vista businesses have been safe from the cuts.
They still accept glass at the center, although they don’t make any money selling glass, at least they keep it out of the landfills, Poulides said.
Coincidentally, as prices go up, the number of volunteers is dropping. Many of them are simply getting old, Poulides said.
The long-standing policy at the center is to divide the proceeds among nonprofits who send volunteers to work. It’s a good source of income for the nonprofits and a good source of volunteers
for the center, but even that incentive isn’t bringing in enough workers.
The center also uses community service workers sent by the court, but there are less of them too and neither Poulides nor coordinator Lou Stirek know why.
Last year, the center dropped its open hours on Sunday because there just weren’t enough people to operate that extra day. A small paid staff keeps the center running, but it’s volunteers who drive the pickup routes. Poulides said he prefers to send out two people in each truck, so even non-drivers can be useful volunteers. He also likes to station a few volunteers to man the dropoff area. They educate the people dropping off about how to sort and help anyone who needs it.
Some years, the center gets a grant from the Benton County Solid Waste District. It applies each year and those funds usually go towards heavy equipment. The plan was to use this year’s grant to pay for a new forklift that swivels — making it easier to empty the bins filled up by area residents, but the grant never materialized. The Solid Waste District decided to use the funds for a county-wide composting program.
“Sometimes we have to work smarter,” he said, explaining that it takes two people to empty each bin by hand, but if the center had gotten the forklift, one person could empty a bin.
When people bring in moving boxes, they are pulled out of the baler and sold. The center boxes are less expensive than buying from a moving company. That small income stream helps.
A new service is just starting at the center that may bring in some income. The center can now shred office paper. It’s usually a free service, but the center is considering whether to charge businesses for paper shredding. The shredder turns the paper into short, narrow strips, so it’s considered high security.
Individuals can bring their paper in and watch it being shredded on Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon. It they don’t want to watch — bags of paper can be left any time.
In 2017, the center donated $110,000 to area nonprofits. But in addition to raising funds, the center has kept 5.8 million pounds of waste out of the landfills last year and they plan to continue their mission.