Refrigerators that have been brought in to be recycled are pictured at the Tyler Recycling Center Tuesday Nov. 15, 2016. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

There’s a steady stream of cars passing through the Tyler Recycling Center daily as eco-conscious residents carry full boxes and bags of materials inside and sort them into large bins.

Those items are spared from going into the city landfill, but where exactly do they go?

Most often, they are bundled up and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The purchaser is often a broker, who then sells the commodity to manufacturers.   

“We are trying to get the best price,” said Russ Jackson, director of Tyler Solid Waste. “When we have a load of material ready, we contact everyone on our bid list, and whoever gives us the best price, that’s the route we go. Whoever is the highest bidder, we coordinate a pickup date.”

The city’s solid waste department is run like a business and operates through an enterprise fund. It does not receive tax dollars, rather operating through its fees for garbage pickup.

Funds gained from selling recycled items goes back into the budget.

The department brings in roughly $100,000 a year by selling its recyclable materials, Jackson said.

The city only makes money on things brought to its recycling center, 414 N. Bois D. Arc Ave. Tyler contracts out its curbside recycling service. Since it’s not done in house, Tyler reaps no financial benefit.

“The residential recycling – we don’t do anything other than pick it up we take it to Rivers Recycling in Kilgore. We don’t get a dime for it. They used to pay us about $10 a ton, but the market has been bad the last year.”

At the Tyler Recycling Center, which was a fire station in a former life, residents can recycle more than the basics of plastic, paper and aluminum.

The center takes used motor oil, coolant, ink cartridges, industrial batteries, cell phones and anything metal.

“We used to make money on the oil,” Jackson said, adding when prices were high, it garnered about 90 cents a gallon. “Right now with the oil market, we are just taking it. It keeps people from pouring it in ditches. It’s another way to keep that from happening.”

The recycling center takes all electronics – from curling irons to toasters – as well as old TVs.

Glass is sold for $30 a ton to a company that uses it to make fiberglass home insulation.

Anything that is metal will also be accepted, as well as aluminum pie pans, assuming they are clean. They also take old textbooks.

The electronics are broken down. The cord is worth about 60 cents a pound, and the prong that goes into the wall catches a separate value.

The rest of the metal is sold as scrap, which garners another 60 cents a pound.

Computers and cell phones are sold to a separate company, which extracts certain metals and possible radioactive materials from the devices.

“There’s products in here that, if you know how to get it out safely, it’s worth more than the 60 cents a pound,” Jackson said. “Some monitors have gold and radioactive materials that we don’t want in the landfill.”

In the three years since Jackson took over the department, the recycling center has expanded the things it takes. Then, the center was generating about $25,000 annually. That’s now up to $100,000.

“If you look at the big picture, it is paying for (two) guys to work it,” Jackson said.  You can work it with one, but sometimes it gets pretty busy. There are a lot of elderly customers who come in from the county, bringing things in. Our guys are there to help assist.”

The staff also is certified to properly dispose of Freon. Old refrigerators and air conditioners also can be taken to the recycling center. There, however, is a $5 fee for the handling of the Freon.

Some of refrigerators are sold to local repairmen, but the majority are sold as scrap. The center also will take out of use lawnmowers, with the gas drained, for a $5 fee. Furniture also is accepted for a $5 fee.

The recycling center is open weekdays from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

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