"The markets are down and basically, we can't get rid of a lot of recyclables, which means that our product is sitting in here in the warehouse not bringing in any money," said Tim Hornick, Chairman of the Randolph County Solid Waste Authority.

Hornick said in a good market, cardboard would sell for about $65 a ton. But he said over the past year, it's only been going for about $30, a ton and he said that's hard to make a profit off of.

Hornick said the Solid Waste Authority is about $15,000 behind on its rent to Tygarts Valley Sanitation and its treasurer's salary. To cut costs, it removed recycling trailers from behind Elkins City Hall and Davis and Elkins College last month.

"Financially we're just not able to do that right now. The fuel costs, the labor costs, that's involved in running it. It's just not feasible for us right now," said Tee Meadows, facilities manager at the Solid Waste Authority.

But there is hope: the Solid Waste Authority recently voted to turn operations over to Tygarts Valley Sanitation. Hornick is the sanitation company's operation manager and said the deal will also help TVS.

"We do recycle, so every ton we save from going to the landfill saves us money so that cost that we're saving at the landfill can offset the cost of recycling," said Hornick.

Hornick said once the deal goes through, the recycling trailers will be placed back in downtown Elkins. He said they could be put back as early as January.