Tuckahoe Valley Disposal is one of 15 haulers serving the Intermunicipal Relations Committee’s three municipalities, but it isn’t among the few that flout the law by trashing recyclables, according to owner Tobias Nagle.

Recycling isn’t easy or cheap, but in addition to being required in the IRC territory, it’s part of a worthwhile ethic and something that “society has accepted as important,” Nagle said.

Still it would be much better if the markets improved, he said.

Decades ago, when it cost $60 or more a ton to drop off trash, haulers could offload recyclables for free, Nagle said.

Now the cost for dropping off trash or recyclables is virtually the same.

Still, his company does what’s required — relying on trucks that have recycling compartments under their bodies.

Customers are scheduled to set out their recycling bins every two weeks so half are collected each week.

About 10% by weight of what Tuckahoe collects is recyclable.

Many customers don’t prepare their bins correctly, which adds to the challenge, he said. Workers often find materials like styrofoam and items like used toilet seats and old shoes in the bins.

If it’s simple and feasible to toss the contaminants and save the recyclables, the workers do so, he said. “(But) if we can’t, we don’t.”

Sometimes, snow and ice make bins unmanageable, and those remain in place, he said.

He’d like to see recycling become a more lucrative proposition by the creation of regional markets for the materials.

As far as he knows, there are no manufacturers in this area making things from recyclables.

As for forcing recycling compliance through single-hauler contracts with municipalities, he’s opposed.

Single hauler contracts are counterproductive because they hurt smaller businesses like his, which are less able to compete for contracts and which would subsequently be less able to support other local businesses and local organizations, like libraries and schools, he said.

Having a place to sell recyclables is a critical part of a successful system, according to Brandon Wright, spokesman for the National Waste and Recycling Association.

The recycling market was damaged a few years ago, when the Chinese government halted deliveries of recyclables from the U.S., but the industry has adjusted, and “we’re now at the point where the value of those recyclables is back up to where it was,” Wright said.

The market is especially strong for high quality recycled paper.

The value for plastics “is going back up,” he said.

Glass is another matter, at least partly because of its weight, which increases transportation costs.

Nationwide, about a third of households recycle.

But people need to do it “smarter,” he said.

Too many drop materials like rope or strings of Christmas lights or partially full mayonnaise jars or half-filled soda bottles in theirs recycling bins.

That is why 25% of what comes to processing facilities gets tossed into trash bins.

It also accounts for the damage that can occur when workers miss the bad stuff, which can foul the processing machinery or contaminate good material.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.