Watching cardboard prices

GAINESVILLE - There's a positive indicator in Hall County that could mean better times are ahead economically in the near future. It is at what you might consider an unlikely place -- the county's recycling center on Chestnut Street in Gainesville.

Natural Resources Coordinator Rick Foote says the big pile of corrugated cardboard at the center is gaining in value.

"The bulk of consumer goods that we use and depend on every day come shipped in a cardboard box," Foote said.

Foote says that means demand for goods is increasing since those goods are shipped in the recycled cardboard.

"I've seen it at $29 a ton before but this is $20 a ton and now it's more than tripled that at $65 a ton," Foote said.

Foote says $20 a ton was the lowest he's ever seen and it's gone as high as $200 a ton; prices for recycled aluminum, glass and plastic, used to manufacture carpet, are also improving.

According to Foote recycling mirrors economic health, a bit of knowledge he picked up from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who monitored the price of recycled materials as an economic indicator.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/8/222183