The dealer for Sacramento city and county recyclables wants the curbside materials delivered for free until the global scrap market rebounds from a free-fall, and the company's record-high stockpiles of unsold paper, plastic and tin begin to shrink.
If municipal waste officials agree, monthly garbage collection fees would have to subsidize the recycling at a higher level. The higher recycling subsidy could be sustained only so long before residents and businesses would face higher collection rates, officials said.
Such fiscal patches would buy time for the Sacramento Recycling & Transfer Station to continue storing the recyclables in the hope that the salvage market revives.
Unsold throwaways, however, can be warehoused only so long before the aging bundles become a fire threat or the costs for ever-greater storage become prohibitive.
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