CARC to close Rainbow Recycling

Company attributes facility closure to difficult market conditions.

Mark Schinnerer, CEO of CARC Inc., Carlsbad, New Mexico, the parent organization to Rainbow Recycling, has announced that in light of difficult market conditions, CARC Inc. and the city of Carlsbad have decided to close Rainbow Recycling. According to CARC, the decision to close the plant follows more than one year of looking into alternatives to remaining open.

In a news release, Schinnerer states, “The revenue generated from the sale of recycled material has not kept up with the increasing costs of operations, maintenance and repairs, including one recent major equipment breakdown.

“All of these factors have contributed to the mutual decision by the city and CARC that recycling will no longer be available through Rainbow Recycling,” he adds.

In the immediate future, Carlsbad will pick up items left at recycling stations and in the residential and commercial blue recycling roll-outs, but these materials will be taken to the Sandpoint Landfill. Weekly pickup of the blue residential roll-outs will remain for several weeks to give customers time to adjust and allow the city to develop and implement a transition plan.

“This is absolutely unfortunate,” says Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway. “But the reality is that recycling services are being reduced or removed in communities across the country and state right now due to the severe cost discrepancy. The city of Carlsbad and Rainbow Recycling have worked diligently to make recycling a feasible option, but all evaluations have determined that the costs of recycling were significantly greater than the return.”

Carlsbad’s recycling program began in 1993, when CARC approached Carlsbad and proposed the idea of a small-scale partnership. In 2012, Rainbow Recycling expanded its operation to a larger facility and installed sorting equipment and a large baler to handle a bigger volume of material.

However, economic changes at the regional and international level, as well as equipment expenses at the local level, have resulted in the recycling program operating at a significant financial loss for the past few years.

“The Board of Solid Waste Commissioners is obviously very disappointed that recycling in Carlsbad will be suspended indefinitely,” says Jerry Stanley, board chairman. “In the future, if the market greatly improves, we would look forward to reestablishing recycling in Carlsbad.”

CARC Inc. will continue to offer document shredding services out of its CARC Document Destruction Services facility as well as collect electronic scrap.

The organization also notes that glass recycling will continue at Carlsbad’s convenience station.