Upheaval in recycling industry leaves program in the red

Last day to drop off recycling Feb. 12

Woody Casteel sorts recycling materials at the Endless Options facility Monday afternoon. He stands to lose his job of 10 years when the facility closes. Behind him, supervisor Francois Mathews loads cardboard into a bailing machine.

Endless Options in Fayette will end its recycling program at the end of February. EO’s Chief Executive Officer Deb Miller made the announcement to the Fayette city council on January 21. 

“We’re going to have to shut it down,” she said.

The last day recycling materials may be dropped off will be February 12.

Miller said she plans to be in contact with Boonslick Industries in Boonville, which has served as the buyer of EO’s recycled materials, with the hopes of keeping some sort of recycling program in Howard County.

The reason for the shutdown is a major shortfall in funds that has befallen the recycling industry as a whole. Projected income for the recycling program for the fiscal year 2020 is $23,524, Miller told the council. But the projected expense is $119,399. Payroll makes up for about 80 percent of expenditures. One full-time employee and nine part-timers will lose their jobs at the end of February.

One of those employees is Woody Casteel, who has worked at the recycling center for 10 years. He said he was shocked when he heard the news. “It’s just sad. I thought we were doing just fine.

“I love my job. I love what I do,” Casteel said.

The bottom fell out of the recycling industry in 2019 when China, the largest purchaser of U.S. scrap materials, stopped accepting most of the recyclable material that had been going there for the past decade. Thirty-one percent of of U.S. scrap commodity exports were sent to China in 2018, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. 

“That’s a big piece of the puzzle,” Miller said. “The income has just bottomed out and we don’t have any financial support.”

In 2017, EO recycled 59.2 tons of material. In 2018, the facility recycled 133.5 tons. “It’s more than doubled, but it only brought in $6,000 last year,” Miller said.

She said that last year the board of Endless Options agreed to put $23,000 toward the recycling program to keep it running. “But we don’t have $119,000 to shore it up again.” For around the first eight of the 10 years the program has been in existence, EO partnered with the Sheltered Services Board, which contributed approximately $50,000 a year.

Currently EO Recycling partners with Advanced Disposal, the trash collection service hired by the city. Advanced Disposal picks up curb-side recyclables from Fayette and New Franklin on Thursdays to deliver to EO’s facility on Furr Street. Miller said she will talk with officials from Advanced Disposal to see if anything could be done to save the service.

Miller told the council she is willing to try just about anything to keep the program running. Grants are often awarded to help pay for equipment, but rarely, if ever, to help with payroll expenses. “We need this big of a crew to keep it going,” she said. She had planned to speak with the Howard County Commission on Tuesday morning.

It is unknown what will become of the 3,500 square-foot building, which was erected three years ago for around $200,000. Half of that cost was paid for by the Sheltered Services Board.

She thanked the city for its help over the years.

Endless Options, Inc. is a not-for-profit company was founded in 1982 to provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities in Howard County. It has operated The Attic, a resale on Fayette’s downtown square since 1997. EO Recycles opened in January 2009.