GIRL SCOUTS QUIT RECYCLING PAPER

It was a simple economic concept -- supply exceeds demand -- that put an end to upcoming paper and magazine drives sponsored by the Otahki Girl Scout Council.

"The market is sending out a signal -- we've got enough thank you very much," said Andy Leighton, recycling coordinator for Browning-Ferris Industries. BFI helped coordinate the local paper drives.

Because the market is already saturated, all future paper drives sponsored by the Otahki Council were canceled. "It was a council-wide project that we had to cancel," said Laura Hinkebein, marketing director for the Otahki Girl Scout Council. "We had 11 drives already planned for the year."

For the last three years, Girl Scouts in Cape Girardeau have been organizing the drives as a fund-raising and environmental project rolled into one. Now they will have to develop another community service project.

"We intend to have something else, we just haven't come up with that idea," Hinkebein said. "We do have some things in the works, but it's a constant goal -- the more funds we raise, the more girls we help."

BFI enjoyed helping the Girl Scouts with their projects, Leighton said, but low paper prices meant taking a financial loss. "We intend to help again when the time comes."

BFI donated a carrier and transportation of the recycled materials for each of the Girl Scout drives.

"The markets have been sending a clear message through low pricing that the materials collected in these paper drives is not wanted at this time. One year ago paper commodity prices were at record high levels. Between July and December 1995, these markets lost 80 percent of their value."

The combination of new mills, a growing world economy and excellent export markets drove up prices in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Leighton said. But prices aren't expected to rise in the next six to 18 months, he added.

"Now we get paid, it's just not very much," Leighton said. "It will never get back to where it was a year ago."