Say this for a weak economy: At least we’re throwing less of our stuff in the trash can.

Landfill waste per person dropped 13 percent in Clark County from 2006 to 2008, the last year figures were available, the county government said this week.

In 2008, total waste came out to about 3.3 pounds per county resident per day.

The statewide drop since 2006 was 9 percent, to about 4.1 pounds.

“Consumers aren’t consuming, and so they aren’t out buying new, so they aren’t throwing away old,” said Scott Campbell, the district manager for Columbia Resource Company, which carries out local garbage and recycling contracts. “They need jobs to be consumers, I guess.”

Recycling was down, too — especially reused materials such as scrap from construction sites.

The virtual end of local construction in 2008 drove down the total diversion rate — which includes commercial and residential recycling and reuse — from 56 percent to just below 50 percent, the lowest level since 2003.

“People are still recycling,” Campbell said. “They just don’t have as much to recycle.”

Less waste is bad news for Campbell’s operation, which is funded mainly by gate fees and tipping fees. Revenue has dropped 12 percent in the last year, with the big drop in late 2008.

The firm has since laid off two workers and cut seven positions by attrition.

“Every area but safety we’ve had to cut back,” Campbell said.

He said the garbage economy at Clark County’s transfer stations bottomed out in mid-2009 and has been edging up very slightly since.

The drop in recycling to 2008 doesn’t reflect the 2009 rollout of big new recycling bins in much of the county.

County solid waste manager Anita Largent said Wednesday that early figures showed the bins drove up residential recycling by 16 percent, even though commercial recycling was down.

Michael Andersen: 360-735-4508 or michael.andersen@columbian.com.

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