Noting its importance to the community, Sedona City Council doubled the yearly funding for Sedona Recycles. Council approved an amendment to the service contract on Tuesday, June 25, in the amount of $203,100. The item was approved as part of the its consent agenda and there was no discussion. 

After the meeting, City Manager Justin Clifton explained the increase. 

“The city has a long-standing relationship with Sedona Recycles based on the shared vision of promoting sustain-ability by diverting recyclable materials from landfills,” he said. “Their financial struggles relate to national and inter¬national changes in the recycling industry that have led to dramatic declines in the value of those materials. 

“In the long term, we’re optimistic that new domestic processing will lead to a recovery in prices. In the meantime, greater public support is needed to ensure we don’t lose this valuable organization and the services they provide. I’m grateful that we’re in the position to help this important community partner.” 

According to a city report, the supplemental funding was considered in light of significant changes in the recycling industry. Prices for recyclable materials have historically been volatile. Despite that volatility, selling recyclable materials for processing has always been an important revenue stream for recycling operations. 

Historically, significant volumes of those recyclable materials were sold over¬seas to processors in China. However, in January 2018, China banned importing foreign recyclable materials from the United States and other nations, sending a ripple effect through the recyclables commodities market. 

“The instantaneous reduction in the availability of processing suppliers caused the value of recyclable materials to tank causing a corresponding reduction in revenue to Sedona Recycles,” the report states. 

As a mission-driven nonprofit, Sedona Recycles’ goal has been diverting as many recyclable materials from the landfill as possible. It has historically relied on at least some level of public support, including a service contract with the city. 

City staff has worked with Sedona Recycles over the last couple of years to strategize solutions to the reduction in revenues. 

However, those strategies are insufficient to address the precipitous drop in revenues, which has seen pricing for some materials drop to small fractions of what they were just a year ago. 

“The bottom line is that recycling all across the country has become more reliant on public funding during a transition between shrinking foreign markets and new domestic markets that are slowly expanding to take their place,” the report states. “The good news is that there is some evidence that the domestic market is expanding and will continue to do so. In the meantime, supplemental funding is necessary to ensure Sedona Recycles isn’t forced to close its doors.”

Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 122 or by email at reland@larsonnewspapers.com