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State budget's recycling cuts short-sighted (IndyStar Editorial 1/11/09)
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http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901110326
JOHN KETZENBERGER
State budget's recycling cuts short-sighted
Posted: January 11, 2009
Gov. Mitch Daniels last week singled out Indiana's recycling-assistance program as one of the items to cut from the state's 2010-11 budget.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management already has slashed the existing funds as part of Daniels' attempt to close a $750 million deficit in the current budget.
The $5 million or so that circulates through the recycling and other IDEM programs -- less than 1 percent of the state's deficit -- comes from a landfill tipping fee of 50 cents per ton. "In the grand scheme of things, that is a drop in the bucket," said Mark Mehall, executive director of the Solid Waste Management District of St. Joseph County.
These relatively small dollars, though, can have a huge impact.
The $1.3 million in grants and loans approved by the Recycling Market Development Board in fiscal 2008 brought $54.3 million of investment to Indiana, according to an IDEM official. That means every dollar the state spent on recycling grants brought $41.76 more to the state.
Talk about a stupendous return on investment.
IDEM notified the nine recycling board members last month that it was suspending the program, at least temporarily, due to the budget crunch. That means another $1.4 million in approved grants and loans won't be paid.
So Ceraplast Inc., a bio-plastic resin maker that will employ 50 people in Seymour when its plant opens this quarter, has to find $500,000 to buy equipment -- money it thought was coming from the state in a no-interest loan the recycling board approved in November.
Luminous Electronics Recycling, a Colorado company, was "in the 11th hour, 59th minute" of deciding to put a plant in Richmond, the owner said. But it was planning to apply for aid from the recycling fund. Now that it's off the table, Luminous will reopen its location search.
"We're still looking at Richmond, but Dayton (Ohio) is a good option for what we want to do," said Steve Fuelberth, the company's founder. That's not a threat, he emphasized, just a business reality.
Rick Bossingham, IDEM's assistant commissioner, said recycling programs will be temporarily suspended in favor of Daniels' priorities, such as public education, safety and health care. But he predicted the state's recycling industry won't collapse before the economy recovers.
It may not collapse, but the state's hurting from the cutbacks.
"These decisions have dire current consequences and unintended future consequences," said Jeffrey R. Miller, a recycling board member and president of the Indiana Recycling Coalition. "Hopefully the governor can intervene."
If not, then Indiana is being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Add your thoughts: Post a comment
IndyStar readers have left 2 comments - Join the discussion!
Most recent comments:
Newest first Oldest first
computerrecycler wrote:
President Obama must be shaking his head saying, AREN�T YOU LISTENING; we are about to Invest in Green Jobs & Technologies
Tipping fees were set aside as 1 of the only ways we could get funding for the Market and Development fund for Grants & Loans
Not first time politicians & businesses want to take this fund to use for Non-Recycling uses!
Invest $1 & Generate $40 return = JOBS + REVENUE + Resource Recovery + ReUse
2/17/09 we may see the end of Analog TV Broadcasting in US. Ultimately Hundreds of Millions of TV�s and CRT Devices will need to be recycled over the next few years
My family business has been recycling electronic for over 40 years. I have spoken to Steve at Luminous & I am excited for Indiana to have a State of the Art CRT Recycling plant here. Indiana will not have this chance again!
If I had the money I would loan it to Luminous a no brainer!
eWaste is a huge source of good used computers, raw materials & TOXINS
www.escrapindiana.org & www.defendrecycling.org
1/11/2009 12:23:42 PM President Obama must be shaking his head saying, AREN�T YOU LISTENING; we are about to Invest in Green Jobs & Technologies
Tipping fees were set aside as 1 of the only ways we could get funding for the Market and Development fund for Grants & Loans
Not first time politicians & businesses want to take this fund to use for Non-Recycling uses!
Invest $1 & Generate $40 return = JOBS + REVENUE + Resource Recovery + ReUse
2/17/09 we may see the end of Analog TV Broadcasting in US. Ultimately Hundreds of Millions of TV�s and CRT Devices will need to be recycled over the next few years
My family business has been recycling electronic for over 40 years. I have spoken to Steve at Luminous & I am excited for Indiana to have a State of the Art CRT Recycling plant here. Indiana will not have this chance again!
If I had the money I would loan it to Luminous a no brainer!
eWaste is a huge source of good used computers, raw materials & TOXINS
www.escrapindiana.org & www.defendrecycling.org computerrecycler Recommend New PostReply to this PostReport AbusePresident Obama must be shaking his head saying, AREN�T YOU LISTENING; we are about to Invest in Green Jobs & Technologies
Tipping fees were set aside as 1 of the only ways we could get funding for the Market and Development fund for Grants & Loans
Not first time politicians & businesses want to take this fund to use for Non-Recycling uses!
Invest $1 & Generate $40 return = JOBS + REVENUE + Resource Recovery + ReUse
2/17/09 we may see the end of Analog TV Broadcasting in US. Ultimately Hundreds of Millions of TV�s and CRT Devices will need to be recycled over the next few years
My family business has been recycling electronic for over 40 years. I have spoken to Steve at Luminous & I am excited for Indiana to have a State of the Art CRT Recycling plant here. Indiana will not have this chance again!
If I had the money I would loan it to Luminous a no brainer!
eWaste is a huge source of good used computers, raw materials & TOXINS
www.escrapindiana.org & www.defendrecycling.orgcomputerrecycler
GreenFire wrote:
There must be something in the water at IDEM's government center office and the statehouse. The proposals to reorganize the IDEM office of enforcement and to minimize enforcement against violating state agencies such as INDOT are also symptomatic. IDEM's public case for these actions also lack substance.
1/11/2009 8:55:12 AM
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901110326
JOHN KETZENBERGER
State budget's recycling cuts short-sighted
Posted: January 11, 2009
Gov. Mitch Daniels last week singled out Indiana's recycling-assistance program as one of the items to cut from the state's 2010-11 budget.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management already has slashed the existing funds as part of Daniels' attempt to close a $750 million deficit in the current budget.
The $5 million or so that circulates through the recycling and other IDEM programs -- less than 1 percent of the state's deficit -- comes from a landfill tipping fee of 50 cents per ton. "In the grand scheme of things, that is a drop in the bucket," said Mark Mehall, executive director of the Solid Waste Management District of St. Joseph County.
These relatively small dollars, though, can have a huge impact.
The $1.3 million in grants and loans approved by the Recycling Market Development Board in fiscal 2008 brought $54.3 million of investment to Indiana, according to an IDEM official. That means every dollar the state spent on recycling grants brought $41.76 more to the state.
Talk about a stupendous return on investment.
IDEM notified the nine recycling board members last month that it was suspending the program, at least temporarily, due to the budget crunch. That means another $1.4 million in approved grants and loans won't be paid.
So Ceraplast Inc., a bio-plastic resin maker that will employ 50 people in Seymour when its plant opens this quarter, has to find $500,000 to buy equipment -- money it thought was coming from the state in a no-interest loan the recycling board approved in November.
Luminous Electronics Recycling, a Colorado company, was "in the 11th hour, 59th minute" of deciding to put a plant in Richmond, the owner said. But it was planning to apply for aid from the recycling fund. Now that it's off the table, Luminous will reopen its location search.
"We're still looking at Richmond, but Dayton (Ohio) is a good option for what we want to do," said Steve Fuelberth, the company's founder. That's not a threat, he emphasized, just a business reality.
Rick Bossingham, IDEM's assistant commissioner, said recycling programs will be temporarily suspended in favor of Daniels' priorities, such as public education, safety and health care. But he predicted the state's recycling industry won't collapse before the economy recovers.
It may not collapse, but the state's hurting from the cutbacks.
"These decisions have dire current consequences and unintended future consequences," said Jeffrey R. Miller, a recycling board member and president of the Indiana Recycling Coalition. "Hopefully the governor can intervene."
If not, then Indiana is being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Add your thoughts: Post a comment
IndyStar readers have left 2 comments - Join the discussion!
Most recent comments:
Newest first Oldest first
computerrecycler wrote:
President Obama must be shaking his head saying, AREN�T YOU LISTENING; we are about to Invest in Green Jobs & Technologies
Tipping fees were set aside as 1 of the only ways we could get funding for the Market and Development fund for Grants & Loans
Not first time politicians & businesses want to take this fund to use for Non-Recycling uses!
Invest $1 & Generate $40 return = JOBS + REVENUE + Resource Recovery + ReUse
2/17/09 we may see the end of Analog TV Broadcasting in US. Ultimately Hundreds of Millions of TV�s and CRT Devices will need to be recycled over the next few years
My family business has been recycling electronic for over 40 years. I have spoken to Steve at Luminous & I am excited for Indiana to have a State of the Art CRT Recycling plant here. Indiana will not have this chance again!
If I had the money I would loan it to Luminous a no brainer!
eWaste is a huge source of good used computers, raw materials & TOXINS
www.escrapindiana.org & www.defendrecycling.org
1/11/2009 12:23:42 PM President Obama must be shaking his head saying, AREN�T YOU LISTENING; we are about to Invest in Green Jobs & Technologies
Tipping fees were set aside as 1 of the only ways we could get funding for the Market and Development fund for Grants & Loans
Not first time politicians & businesses want to take this fund to use for Non-Recycling uses!
Invest $1 & Generate $40 return = JOBS + REVENUE + Resource Recovery + ReUse
2/17/09 we may see the end of Analog TV Broadcasting in US. Ultimately Hundreds of Millions of TV�s and CRT Devices will need to be recycled over the next few years
My family business has been recycling electronic for over 40 years. I have spoken to Steve at Luminous & I am excited for Indiana to have a State of the Art CRT Recycling plant here. Indiana will not have this chance again!
If I had the money I would loan it to Luminous a no brainer!
eWaste is a huge source of good used computers, raw materials & TOXINS
www.escrapindiana.org & www.defendrecycling.org computerrecycler Recommend New PostReply to this PostReport AbusePresident Obama must be shaking his head saying, AREN�T YOU LISTENING; we are about to Invest in Green Jobs & Technologies
Tipping fees were set aside as 1 of the only ways we could get funding for the Market and Development fund for Grants & Loans
Not first time politicians & businesses want to take this fund to use for Non-Recycling uses!
Invest $1 & Generate $40 return = JOBS + REVENUE + Resource Recovery + ReUse
2/17/09 we may see the end of Analog TV Broadcasting in US. Ultimately Hundreds of Millions of TV�s and CRT Devices will need to be recycled over the next few years
My family business has been recycling electronic for over 40 years. I have spoken to Steve at Luminous & I am excited for Indiana to have a State of the Art CRT Recycling plant here. Indiana will not have this chance again!
If I had the money I would loan it to Luminous a no brainer!
eWaste is a huge source of good used computers, raw materials & TOXINS
www.escrapindiana.org & www.defendrecycling.orgcomputerrecycler
GreenFire wrote:
There must be something in the water at IDEM's government center office and the statehouse. The proposals to reorganize the IDEM office of enforcement and to minimize enforcement against violating state agencies such as INDOT are also symptomatic. IDEM's public case for these actions also lack substance.
1/11/2009 8:55:12 AM
Add a Comment
-
Comment by Duke Brown on January 13, 2009 at 12:30am -
Well we are ranked 49th nationally on our environmental status why not drop to 50 maybe we can get the first round draft pick. It's unfortunate that we have to yeild to the same old constituants over and over again. We have some of the highest per student cost in national public education and yet we rank near the bottom there. Why don't we drop out of the federal programs and be the leader we could be in this area.
Drop half the education admin. costs especailly all the over paid superindents for buses, middle schools and other silly non educating costs and give it to the teachers and leave taxes collected for specific programs alone.
If govt. had to live by the discresionary and non-dicresionary budgets that schools, corporations and non-for-profits they would have their chaters pulled. I guess with govt. it's do as I say not as I do.
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2. Please do not use logos or commercial images for your profile photo
3. Events should be posted in the events calendar
4. You can post pretty much anything you want on your own personal page (self promotion, etc), and you can change the style of your personal profile page to reflect your corporate identification if you so choose.
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If you witness or experience any issues, please contact admin@smallerindiana.com and we will look into the matter.
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