Oklahoma's Landfills Show Signs of Tough Economy

By Colleen Chen, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- There are some interesting numbers coming from landfills across the country that are revealing signs of the economy.

Kish Hawkins drives a truck for Waste Management in Oklahoma City. Hawkins said every day he sees 3,000 to 4,000 trash cans a day as his truck cleans the cans of neighborhood streets in Oklahoma.

"Like they say, you can tell a lot about a person from their trash," Hawkins said.

That includes spending habits. His trash route has told him a lot this year about what is, or more importantly, is not going to the landfill.

"They're not spending as much so I guess they got nothing to throw away," Hawkins said.

Before trash trucks can dump into landfills, they have to be weighed. In years past, Hawkins truck would weigh in at about 14 tons a day. This year, he is only picking up about 9 to 10 tons.

His observations on the road are right in line with national numbers from Waste Management.

"The national average is down 22 percent. The trash levels are dropping across the country. Here in Oklahoma the trash levels are down 15 percent," said Greta Calvary, Waste Management.

She said both numbers are significant but credits Oklahoma's slightly lower drop to construction rates.

"New construction is still going on in Oklahoma City where as in other parts of the country new construction is down quite a bit. Construction carries a lot of waste with each project," Calvary said.

Without realizing it, people are a big factor on the lowering trash levels. It's easy to see in a landfill that is missing big items.

"We're not seeing washers, dryers, freezers, refrigerators because people are using what they have instead of going out and getting the latest model," Calvery said.

People aren't just reusing what they can, but recycling what they can't. Waste Management numbers indicate the number of Oklahomans who joined recycling efforts this year jumped by an encouraging 10 percent. Before the residential jump, the recycling section of Waste Management's business was seeing the change in businesses.

"Manufacturers are learning with the economy the way it's been over the last few months to a year that anything that can save money by recycling is something they're going to go full force with," said Mark Jordan, who manages the Waste Management recycling plant in Oklahoma City.