"China, formerly the largest buyer of bales of recycled plastic, is no longer buying them," said Recology's spokesperson Robert Reed.
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Changes in China have lowered the company's earnings.
According to the info provided by Recology-- in 2017 a bale of mixed paper would sell for $110 a ton now, $20 ton. In 2017 Cardboard use to sell for $180 a ton now $75 a ton.
Close to 4,000 tons of recyclables are processed in their facility every week. Previously, China would buy material with contamination rates of eight-percent-- that's no longer the case.
"It's a buyers' market now. The companies that receive the bales of plastic have dictated that the bales have one-percent or less impurities," said Reed.
RELATED: Closing of recycling centers putting pressure on Bay Area centers, hundreds wait in Union City
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To see how Recology is limiting those impurities we climbed up to the heart of their facility.
In the last three years, they've invested $20 million on specific sorting machines.
Luz Pena: Would you say that those robots are saving you at this point?
Robert Reed: "The robots are helping to keep us in the game. Helping us produce cleaner to meet the demands of the market place."
Now that everything is sorted, a group of senators are proposing a long term goal to cut plastic waste by 75-percent by the year 2030 with bills, AB1080 and SB54.
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RELATED: Behind the Scenes: How recycling in San Francisco works
"We are asking you to take sustainability into account, reusability, recyclability, composability when it comes to packaging products," said Principal Co-author Senator Ben Allen.
Meanwhile, Recology and other recycling centers are having to sell to more than one country like Malaysia and Indonesia.
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