Decline in global recycling markets could affect Lawrence residents’ utility bills

If the market for recycled materials remains low, the city’s costs for processing recyclables could go up — and so could residents’ utility bills.

The City of Lawrence contracts with the Hamm recycling facility to process recyclable materials, but changes in global markets have led to a significant decline in the value of those materials over the past couple of years.

The city already has been feeling the effect of those changes — it’s received tens of thousands of dollars less in rebates from Hamm’s sale of the materials it processes. But the city will need to negotiate a new contract with Hamm soon, and there could be even more of an impact if Hamm decides it needs to charge more to make up for the sluggish market. The current contract expires next year.