Potential Recycling Markets and Material Flows

Whether you are a recycling coordinator looking for a place to send your materials, an entrepreneur looking to open a recycling business where there is need, or just curious where your recyclables go, explore the following tools to learn more about regional recycling markets and how recyclable material flows across New York State.

NYS Recycling Markets

This map shows potential intermediate and end markets for the sale, trade, or brokerage of glass, metal, paper, and plastic materials based on an analysis of the 2020 New York State Recyclables Handling and Recovery Facility (RHRF) forms and the EPA’s Recycling Infrastructure and Market Opportunities Map.

Click on the top left window icon to view the color key or view a larger version of the map by clicking the icon on the top right.

Material Flows

Ever wonder where materials are going in New York State?

The below maps allow you to visualize the flow of materials from facilities (such as a recycling center or transfer station) to their destinations using data obtained from the New York State Recyclables Handling and Recovery Facility (RHRF) forms submitted to NYSDEC in 2020 and the application FlowmapBlue. RHRF forms provide information on the tonnage of materials received and sent out of a facility. Materials are grouped into 4 broad categories: Paper, Metal, Plastic, and Glass. The size of each point and the lines flowing between locations is proportional to the tonnage of material either exiting or entering the location.

These maps provide a general determination of the flow of these various materials throughout the state, including common recycling markets or destinations for these materials. These recycling markets are also expressed on the accompanying Google Map above with further information on acceptance criteria for some of the harder-to-recycle materials, such as glass.

Hover over, click, or search for any location in the map below to display both the flow of materials leaving and entering a location and the associated tonnages.

Note that some locations, such as those marked as "direct haul", are non-exact and any flows that did not have an accompanying mappable location are not displayed. (Direct haul refers to materials that are transported from residences or businesses directly to a recycling facility.)

Glass

Plastic

Paper

Metal

Limitations

Though these flow maps can help to provide a general idea of the location, destination, and flow of materials throughout NYS, there are some limitations in the data provided by the 2020 RHRF forms:

  • Due to reporting inconsistencies, data gaps, and possible entry errors within the forms, the flow maps provided are not exhaustive and may include errors introduced from interpretation of the forms.

  • The location of each point should not be considered exact, especially when considering the origin of materials from direct haul which varied in specificity from county-level to state-level.

  • These forms are reflective of material flows during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be atypical.

Additional Resources

If you know of any other recycling markets not listed here, wish to provide any additional information on any listed markets, or have any errors to report in the above maps, please contact ISE Program Associate, Lindsay Eberhart, at leeberha@syr.edu.

This work was funded through the Center for Sustainable Materials Management at SUNY-ESF.