Jack Reeseman, a laborer at Greco Materials in Butler, breaks down some items Thursday for recycling. Prices for recycling materials have fallen so much that handlers are bundling materials and storing them, below, until they are worth more. The global downturn being blamed for falling prices, haulers say.

Recycling prices haven't just fallen, they've dived from the top of the Empire State Building, hitting the asphalt below.

Waste haulers, who contract with municipalities for waste and recycling removal, and independent recycling companies that buy newspaper, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and other items, are sitting on piles of material, waiting for prices to go back up.

Dennis Kerr, manager of Greco Materials on Kittanning Street in Butler, said recycling prices are "in the toilet."

He said in 35 years in the recycling industry, he has never seen a quicker decline in prices.

For example, Kerr said, in October, the price for aluminum cans as 80 cents per pound.

"Now it's down to 35 cents per pound," he said. "You know this summer, when gas prices were up and recycling prices were up, haulers couldn't afford the gas to bring in the stuff.

"Now that gas prices are down, they can't afford to bring the recycling in 'cause you can't get anything for it," he said.

Doug Vogel, vice president of Vogel Disposal and Tri TC Recycling in Mars, echoed Kerr's findings.

"We're still processing the material because if we didn't it would be all over the place, but we are stockpiling the baled product until prices go back up. We have to," Vogel said.He said the global downturn is what is affecting his business."We sell to Asian markets, but now nothing's moving," he said.Sheryl Kelly, Butler County's recycling and waste management coordinator, said she has heard of haulers hoarding and stockpiling recycled material waiting for prices to rebound."Some haulers are having to rent space to store the product," Kelly said.Vogel said he knows recycling haulers in Chicago who are having to pay to have their materials processed."I was through this before in the late 1980s when no one wanted any cardboard. We had to find room to store it, but ultimately the price came up. It will again," he said.