Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, president of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority, says about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Dovey talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Richard S. Dovey, President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority talks about the county and state responses to the disruptions in recycling market at Egg Harbor Township recycling center Friday Dec 18, 2020. Atlantic and Cumberland, and also on S2515, which regulates the amount of recyclable materials in plastic products, patterned after a California law, and opposed by NJ business groups, as unworkable, as it’s just one state trying to regulate international “”supply chain. Edward Lea / Staff Photographer Press of Atlantic City
Recycling in South Jersey, as in much of the world, is adjusting to a new, costlier normal: China no longer wants our trash.
For almost three decades, that country imported immense quantities of paper and plastic waste, and the quality did not much matter. Then in 2018, an industrialized China, newly concerned about pollution, banned the import of 24 types of solid waste. As of Jan. 1, the ban on solid waste imports will be total.
“It has caused the price paid for recyclables to go down, and limited what can be recycled,” said Richard S. Dovey, president of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority.
For instance, as of Nov. 30, the ACUA stopped accepting “bulky rigid plastics,” such as chairs and toys. “The reason being, there’s no market for those items,” said Dovey. “They would just end up in the trash.”
County residents could previously drop off those items at the Delilah Road collection site in Egg Harbor Township.
The ACUA also is increasing, by 3%, its price to accept trash from municipalities. This “tipping fee” hike, which amounts to $1.90 per ton, was expected to be voted on by the authority’s governing board late this month, said Dovey.
The increase comes in response to a new cost: the $3.5 million per year the ACUA will be paying to have its recyclables hauled away rather than processed at the authority’s own recycling center. The arrangement, a two-year deal, is with Mazza Recycling Services, of Tinton Falls, Monmouth County.
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