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WASTE RECYCLING INFORMATION
October 2012 

 Jump to WasteCare's October 2012 Waste Recycling Blog

WASTE RECYCLING TITLES IN THIS MONTHS COLLECTION

Businesses Go Green With Packaging Improvements
Toyota Works To Waste Recycle Cars

San Francisco Posts Record Waste Recycling Rate
Waste Recycling On The Rise for PET
Opportunities for HDPE Waste Recycling
Waste Recycling Increases Energy Generation
Promoting the Business of Waste Recycling
Education About Restaurant Food Waste Recycling
Consumers Rewarded for Waste Recycling
Zero-to-Landfill for Plastics Business
Grocery Chain Switches To Paper Gift Cards
Sports Teams Go Green
Waste Recycling Pizza Boxes
Towns See Profit From Waste Recycling
FedEx Earns Profits For Waste Recycling
Southwest Waste Recycling Is Sky High
Company Expands Waste Recycling of Cardboard Boxes
Airline Waste Recycles Aluminum
GE Waste Recycles Appliance Materials
Curbside Food Waste Recycling
A Beautiful Landfill For Hawaii
The Global Market For Recycled Plastics
More Bans For Polystyrene

 

Businesses Go Green With Packaging Improvements

Major brands such as Pepperidge Farm and Starbucks are implementing packaging reductions and recycling programs and as way to illustrate to consumers that they are taking environmental sustainability seriously and incorporating the importance of “going green” in their corporate missions and employee communications.

Campbell Soup Corporation of Camden, New Jersey is the parent company of Pepperidge Farms and it has set a goals of cutting one hundred million pounds of packaging from its product line by the year 2020.

In working toward this goal, Pepperidge Farm recently redesigned and reduced the amount of plastic used in its packages for Goldfish and Deli Flats by sixty five percent. The new design won the company the DuPont Packaging Award for Excellence in the category of Waste Reduction and Innovation. Success has also been seen in moving to lightweight bottles for the V8 juice drinks brand.

Starbucks Coffee is currently working on addressing its corporate goal of making their beverage cups recyclable by 2015 and ensuring that all locations have access to adequate recycling opportunities and providing the infrastructure to ensure success.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you’re a big, international company or a small, local business, setting environmental sustainability goals and identifying areas that can be improved upon, are a great way to help you “go green” while saving green!

 

Toyota Works To Waste Recycle Cars

Think the only place for an old car is the junkyard? Think again! The Toyota Motor Corporation is starting a waste recycling incentive program to make sure Toyota brand automobiles are recycled.

The company’s Reward for Recycling program will launch in the United Kingdom and involved owners visiting a website where they can provide the vehicle registration number and postal code that will supply a valuation for the car. Locations throughout the country have been established so customers can drop off the old car with relative ease. The agreed upon cash amount will then be transferred to the owners bank account.

All automobiles will be collected from the drop-off locations and dismantled for reuse and recycling. Toyota hope that the incentive program will encourage owners of older vehicles to dispose of their automobiles in an environmentally responsible way while supporting the company’s mission of stewarding environmental leadership in the automotive business sector.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When it comes to waste disposal and waste recycling, it’s important to remember that one person’s junk can be another person’s gold. When you take a look around your business or home you might be surprised to discover that some of what you consider waste has value in the marketplace!

 

San Francisco Posts Record Waste Recycling Rate

The city of San Francisco, California recently announced that it has met an eighty percent waste recycling rate for diverting materials from landfills. This rate is the highest for all similar-sized municipalities in the United States.

The new percentage rate is up two percent from the prior year and eight percent from 2009. The high rate of waste recycling can be attributed to the wide variety of waste materials that are collected. In addition to metals, plastics, and paper, food and yard waste is also collected for composting. In analyzing the 444,000 tons of waste material that the city disposed of in landfills last year, it was determined that half could have been waste recycled or composted.

City officials firmly believe that not only is recycling great for the environment but that it’s also beneficial for the local economy due to the number of jobs that the boost in recycling has created. The city’s goal for 2020 is to become the first zero-waste municipality in the country.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: The City of San Francisco is a great example of what a town, business, or individual can achieve when a goal is defined and steps made to attain it. Waste recycling can help you to help the environment and your local economy!

 

Waste Recycling On The Rise for PET

Waste recycled PET plastics are in high demand throughout the world and despite high numbers of recycling facilities and record collection rates, there is currently a shortage of PET material for businesses and manufacturers who use the plastic to generate new products. Unless this issue is addressed, it could result in escalating prices for those industries needing the material. Recycled PET is used in food and beverage containers, fibrous materials, and many household and office products.

There are now 23 PET recycling facilities in the U.S. and their capacity for handling daily waste plastics materials greatly exceeds the amount of material arriving. More work could be done, and more people could be employed, if more recycled bottles arrived. The demand for the material is there, the issue is collecting it after it becomes post-consumer waste.

The current PET recycling rate is close to 30% a rate that has been stable for the last few years. Many PET bottle and jars are now made with less plastic, creating a thinning, lighter product so more needs to be collected to meet and exceed the needs of manufacturers.

Some of the issues in supply stem from single-stream waste recycling, a popular choice in many municipalities for its ease of use and low maintenance, but results in higher contamination rates of materials. However, if collection rates can improve nationally, that can be offset by increased volume.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: The demand for recycled PET is high but collection rates are low. Whether you’re a manufacturer needing PET, a waste collection business, or a municipality, there’s an opportunity to increase revenue by increasing collection rates!

 

Opportunities for HDPE Waste Recycling

For the second year in a row, the level of waste recycling of high density polyethylene has remained the same. Causing concern for recyclers and manufacturers, and possibly presenting new opportunities.

The recycling rate for high density polyethylene has stayed steady at close to thirty percent for all of North America with a total amount of close to 974 million pounds.

Plastics recyclers are concerned that the rate will stay stagnant until municipalities or industry creates a new need or system for increasing the rate. Many believe that the HDPE waste recycling rate should be close to fifty percent and that the industry has the capacity for processes much more plastics waste than it currently is.

One suggestion on how to boost the level of HDPE materials recycled would be for municipalities to increase and improve their efforts to recycling plastic material. Many local governments don’t see a financial incentive for recycling, so opportunities exist for those industry sectors who need the recycled materials and are willing to pay for them.

While the export market for recycled HDPE is currently down, the market in the United States has doubled in the past year and shows signs of continuing to grow and develop.

 

Waste Recycling Increases Energy Generation

Did you know that the heat created by municipal solid waste can be harnessed for creating electricity? The rate of cities and towns developing such energy sources is increasing and becoming a popular way to reduce energy costs.

The heat level of municipal solid waste varies, with rubber and plastic waste recycling generating more heat than paper and food waste recycling. To illustrate, rubber materials have a heat level of twenty seven million BTU per ton while paper containers have a heat level of sixteen and a half million BTU per ton.

Based on information from the end of 2011, only .3% of total energy generation can be attributed to municipal solid waste. This information provides encouragement for those businesses exploring and preparing to enter the waste-to-energy market. The field is wide open for opportunities and illustrates how energy can be created from non-traditional sources that are frequently found in municipal transfer stations. For materials that could be waste recycled, but are not, converting to energy provides a solution to overflowing landfills. While emissions concerns would need to be addressed, if the electricity generated has greater value than the worth of the waste materials being sold for recycling and reuse, negotiating a solution for reaching an environmental balance is worth exploring.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you’re a town official, resident taxpayer, or local business, investigating the opportunities for waste-to-energy generation could help to reduce energy costs while reduce landfill waste. Take that trash and find ways to turn it into green!

 

Promoting the Business of Waste Recycling

Representatives from businesses throughout the world may have individual interests, but at the Sustainable Packaging Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last month, they all agreed on one thing: recycling needs to be less politically driven and more focused on market demands and innovation.

Michael Washburn of Nestlé Waters, believes that extended producer responsibility is the best way to solve the social, environmental and economic challenges associated with waste recycling materials.

Nestlé, one of the largest beverage companies in the United States, used twenty billion PET bottles in 2011 – and the company wants them back to recycle and manufacture into new bottles. However, getting the material back isn’t solely up to them – waste disposal and recycling is part of the larger social and governmental function. Washburn believes that market-driven waste recycling would produce better results and increase the volume of returned material as more power is put directly into the hands (and wallets) of the consumer.

Nestlé, and other industry representatives aren’t advocating removing local and state governments from trash and recycling efforts, but believe industry is better equipped to develop and implement innovative recycling ideas as it directly impacts their bottom-line.

Attendees at the conference agreed that the situation isn’t all bad. Recent waste management statistics show that landfill use is down and the use of recycled packaging is increasing. However, more work must be done to maximize recovery and gain access to recycled materials to further reduce packaging waste.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you own a small, mid-sized, or large business, it’s your responsibility to make sure that you are properly managing your waste disposal and waste recycling. When you do what’s right, you’ll be saving the environment, saving money, and reducing the risk of government legislation!

 

Education About Restaurant Food Waste Recycling

The National Restaurant Association is working with the United States Composting Council to help increase awareness and educate restaurant owners about composting and food waste recycling and diversion.

The initial goal is to enhance and expand the Restaurant Association’s online training program, Conserve Sustainability. The focus of this educational resource is to show owners and managers how environmentally friendly actions can help to save their businesses and employers money.

Both groups believe that expanding educational offerings will increase the total number of restaurants participating in food recovery and waste materials recycling programs, while encouraging the development and growth of local and regional composting businesses.

The two associations realized that by sharing resources they could better promote their complementary missions. Members of both groups can now expect quality training on how to save both their financial and environmental bottom lines while helping to develop local composting opportunities.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Restaurants are a gold mine of waste recycling material that all too often ends up as waste disposal in your garbage dumpster. When you consider composting, recycling, and reuse opportunities, you’ll reduce your disposal fees and save green every week!

 

Consumers Rewarded for Waste Recycling

Who wouldn’t want an instant reward for waste recycling? Recycling kiosks are becoming more frequent sights in shopping malls and airports and providing consumers and travelers with an easy way to recycle items that are no longer wanted – and in return, possibly receiving cash or store credit.

Remag is the company behind the latest brand of recycling kiosks to become available to the public. Unlike other kiosk vendors that accept cell phones and other e-waste such as computer games, mobile devices, and computers, Remag is focusing on a new recycling sector: magazines and catalogs.

When consumers deposit their recyclables, the kiosk scans the item’s barcode. After accepting the paper, four coupons per item are dispensed to use for products at local grocery stores. Recyclers also have the choice to donate their rewards to charities.

The company is currently test piloting the kiosks through a popular grocery store chain in California. If all goes well, expansion to other chains throughout the country is expected.

Research has established that only one in four magazines are being waste recycled – but with the incentive of receiving store coupons for recycling, Remag hopes to boost that level.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business is looking to expand its waste recycling footprint, thinking outside the box is essential! What services are missing in your community or business sector? Is there a way your organization can fill that gap?

 

Zero-to-Landfill for Plastics Business

A manufacturer of HDPE milk bottles in the United Kingdom, Nampak Plastics, has recently reported that it has achieved its goal of becoming a zero-materials-to-landfill business. In 2009, the year that the goal was but into place, the organization was waste recycling 90% of its total waste product. Through an organization-wide communication and awareness plan, the percentage of waste disposal to recycling or reuse was tracked monthly so that all employees and stakeholders could see the progress that was being made.

Much of the success can be attributed to Nampak’s ‘Carbon Champions’ – employees that had been selected at each of the company’s nine locations and held the day-to-day responsibilities for making sure all possible waste recycling and recovery practices were being used.

The company is already known for its environmentally-friendly use of lightweight, innovative packaging and utilizing manufacturing processes that reduce the impact on the community. Achieving the ’Zero-to-Landfill’ compliance certificate is another step in Nampak’s business plan of being the most environmentally sustainable business that it can be.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Achieving Zero-to-Landfill goals like Nampak’s aren’t impossible when you enlist the support and engagement of your community, employees, or family members. Regularly tracking and monitoring your waste recycling progress is key to success!

 

Grocery Chain Switches To Paper Gift Cards

The popular grocery store chain, Whole Foods, has recently made the decision to switch from plastic to paper and wood-made gift cards.

The supermarket chain, which specializes in organic produce, is eliminating its 100% recycled plastic gift certificates and replacing them with cards made of paper and responsibly harvested wood.

The new gift cards are manufactured using 50% post-consumer waste paper material and the Forest Stewardship Council has certified the wood and paper sources. Whole Foods has decided that the paper-made cards contain a lower carbon footprint because they are recyclable, compostable, reusable, and use less energy than the plastic cards to manufacture.

The gift cards are a popular item for sale in Whole Foods stores throughout the country, and the change reflects the Austin, Texas-based organization’s commitment to offer the most environmentally-friendly products available.

The change is expected to result in keeping close to 300,000 plastic gift cards out of landfills. Individual stores will continue to accept and waste recycle the plastic cards as customers use them as the transition takes place.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Take a moment to look around your office or place of work. What products might you be able to replace with more cost-effective and environmentally friendly options? With a little research you might find some ways to save green while going green!

Sports Teams Go Green

The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Green Sports Alliance group recently signed an agreement to work together on addressing environmental stewardship issued faced by sports teams, organizations, and venues.

Green Sports Alliance is a not-for-profit organization committed to helping athletic teams, leagues, and venues cut-back on their impact in the environment. The two groups will collaborate on concerns surrounding waste disposal and waste recycling management, better conservation of water and energy, and improved sustainability practices. The Environmental Protection Agency will provide athletic groups working with Green Sports Alliance access to their Energy Star Portfolio Manager, an tool that allows building and building managers and owners to track, assess, and manage their energy and water usage.

The Green Sports Alliance currently works with one hundred sports teams and venues from thirteen difference athletic leagues. The group hopes that this partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency will provide their members with additional tools and resources needed to create baselines and support continuous improvement of performance and efficiency.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When it comes to reducing your waste disposal and increasing your waste recycling, you don’t have to do it all alone! Finding a partner or establishing a collaboration can help to improve your access to resources and services.

 

Waste Recycling Pizza Boxes

For as long as there’s been cardboard box recycling, we’ve been repeatedly warned that cardboard pizza boxes cannot be waste recycled. But all of that is about to change for pizza eaters in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where they can now drop off used pizza boxes at special recycling points throughout the community.

The common knowledge, until recently, was that it was impossible to recycle pizza boxes as they are covered in grease and leftover cheese and can contaminate the recycling process. There was nothing to be done except to put them in the garbage and send them off to the landfill.

Fortunately for recycling efforts, some industry experts disagree with this belief and are working to include those pizza boxes with all other cardboard. The belief is that food contamination can be removed during the preparation and cleaning process – and while some grease and leftover cheese is ok, pieces of actual pizza are not. More community like Old Orchand Beach are moving to include pizza boxes in the recycling pool – if not for cardboard recycling, then for composting.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, close to thirty million tons of cardboard was discarded in 2010, with 85% being recycled.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What popular assumptions are keeping your business, home, or community from increasing your waste recycling efforts? The recycling marketplace is constantly changing, so what was once called impossible might be reasonable and attainable today!

 

Towns See Profit From Waste Recycling

The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation is distributing close to two million dollars worth of recycling profits to the state’s towns and cities.

Administrators from the recycling facility at state’s central landfill distributed the funds from recycling profits last month as part of a publicity event and celebration to encourage more communities to participate in the waste recycling initiatives.

The funds distributed to the communities is a percentage of the total profits earned by the Resource Recovery Corporation through the sale of recyclable materials processed at the recycling facility.

A total of thirty-nine cities and towns received funds that ranged from twenty-two thousand dollars to more than two hundred thousand dollars. The profits are determined after subtracting the recycling facilities’ operating and capital expenses from the profits earned through the sale of the recycled materials. This year, the profit came close to four million dollars.

Rhode Island’s recycling rate is close to twenty two percent, and the distribution of profits is used as an incentive to encourage greater recycling as a way to lower taxes and increase community funds.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When establishing or improving a recycling program, it always helps to incentivize participants. When those who are responsible for the recycling of materials know they’ll receive rewards for their behavior, there’s a greater chance they’ll embrace recycling!

 

FedEx Earns Profits For Waste Recycling

The package transportation company Federal Express didn’t create its waste recycling program overnight, but the business has shown how profits can result from reducing the amount of materials sent to landfills. The company currently estimates that it earns ten dollars for every one spent on recycling or recyclable products.

The company has indicated that they have recycled over ninety three million pounds of waste material since recycling operations began in 2006. Last year alone, close to fifty million pounds of materials were recycled.

In 2004, the company realized that waste recycling and environmental sustainability were concepts that weren’t going to fade away and that they need to start planning how to address them and incorporate them into the business model. The now successful plan started with very humble beginnings: two balers that were part of a vendor’s “lease-to-buy” offer. Getting the waste materials to a central recycling location was simple, given FedEx’s hauling networks throughout the nation.

Despite the success, the company continues to look for way to be more sustainable. One recent change involves swapping out packing material such as peanuts and plastic air “pillows” for reused shredded cardboard shred that originates from the FedEx recycling center. That change satisfied customers demand and continues to save the company money.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: From humble beginnings grow great change! If your business is new to recycling, take a page from FedEx’s play book and start small. Control your costs, monitor growth, and take advantage of new recycling and reuse opportunities when they arise. You’ll be surprised what can be accomplished over time!

 

Southwest Waste Recycling Is Sky High

Southwest Airlines is using a commingled recycling program with sky high results. The popular airline has waste recycled close to seven thousand tons of materials since starting their recycling program in 2008.

While Southwest appears to have a successful recycling program in place now, that wasn’t always the case. Developing a comprehensive plan and implementing it across the country was a daunting challenge as each airport location has different policies, procedures, contracts, and levels of access to recycling services.

However, it was because of all the differences that prompted Southwest to think creatively about the kind of recycling program it could have and the types of waste materials it could successfully recover.

Realizing that employee buy-in was essential to the success of the recycling program, Southwest went with a commingled recycling program so employees wouldn’t need to sort the recyclables and then selected a national recycling partner who had experience with airlines and was eligible to collect from their twenty-six national locations. Any nay-sayers to the airline’s ability to be successful in this endeavor have certainly been dis-proven. In 2011, the company reported that two thousand six hundred tons of waste materials were sent to recycling facilities around the country – that total amount is equal to the weight of sixty-one Boeing 737 airplanes.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Success in transitioning from waste disposal to waste recycling requires creative thinking as well as employee input and buy-in. The best of plans will mean nothing if people don’t act upon them!

 

Company Expands Waste Recycling of Cardboard Boxes

A small, independent business focusing on cardboard reuse company was recently awarded grant money for expansion through Chase Bank and the popular website, Living Social.

UsedCardboardBoxes.com reclaims used cardboard boxes, re-purposes them, and then makes them available for resale. Their grant award was $250,000 to help with expansion and outreach. The business purchases substantial quantities of no longer wanted boxes from manufacturers. UsedCardboardBoxes.com then re-sells the boxes to individuals and other businesses for less than the price of new materials. Manufacturers have been eager to sell their unwanted boxes as it reduces waste disposal fees and relives them of the responsibility of recycling the cardboard.

In addition to UsedCardboardBoxes.com receiving cash, twelve other small businesses were also winners. These included EcoScraps, a food waste recycling business focusing on compost and lawn and outdoor products; and PlanetReuse, an online marketplace for reclaimed building and construction materials.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Making money from waste recycling requires “out of the box” thinking like UsedCardboardBoxes.com! Whether you’re starting a new business or firmly established take a look for new ways to turn what’s in your waste disposal container into cash! You might be surprised what new ideas you can come up with.


Airline Waste Recycles Aluminum

The Alaska Air Airline Group is reporting that they diverted over two hundred and thirty tons of aluminum last year. That was enough recovered waste material to construct three new airplanes. This information comes from the carrier’s first corporate sustainability report.

In addition to the aluminum, the organization’s recycling programs are responsible for waste recycling more than eight hundred tons of material waste from landfills, including almost two hundred tons of paper.

The 2012 sustainability report documents the airline’s social responsibility efforts and outlines strategies and goals for improving their environmental stewardship. For the coming year, Alaska Air’s recycling goals are to increase its recycling collection to seventy percent and ensure that recycling is available in all flight kitchens and utilizing Forest Stewardship Council-certified material for juice containers.

Alaska Airlines services over ninety cities in Alaska and Hawaii, the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Does your business issue a yearly environmental stewardship and waste recycling goals report? If Alaska Airlines recycled enough aluminum to build three airplanes in one year, what might your business be able to do? You might be surprised how much you money and waste material you can save when you have a yearly report to hold yourself accountable to!

 

GE Waste Recycles Appliance Materials

General Electric Appliances, in a partnership with Appliance Recycling Centers of America, has reached a milestone of diverting 5.5 million pounds, equal to roughly 100,000 units, of refrigerators and freezers from landfills. It is estimated that over nine million refrigerators end up as disposed waste in landfills every year.

The two companies recently released a report stating that close to ninety percent of the materials in the appliance has been waste recycled and will be reused in new products. The remaining materials that cannot be reused is being utilized in cement manufacturing. Almost 100% of the foam used to insulate the appliances is being recovered and reused.

The GE appliances are broken apart at a recycling center in Philadelphia using a 40-foot-tall device that dismantles and reduces each unit into smaller pieces. The recycling program is currently available to new GE appliance consumers in a twelve-state region along the eastern coast of the US. When purchasing a new refrigerator or freezer the participating retailer will remove the old appliance for recycling.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When your business waste recycles and reuses materials, you cut back on the amount you need to spend on new, raw materials. This allows you to potentially increase profit or reduce prices for consumers. Is your business throwing money away with your trash?

 

Curbside Food Waste Recycling

The town of Brattleboro, Vermont is set to begin a compost curbside collection test pilot that will accept everything from left-over food scraps to kitty litter. Approximately one hundred and fifty volunteer residents have agreed to participate in the test run that will last between three and four months.

The test run began in early August and with the goal of identifying strengths and weaknesses in residential pickup of organic waste. The collected organic waste material is being transported to a new Solid Waste Management composting facility in Windham.

The new program is in direct response to the new billed signed into law in June, by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin banning organic materials from state landfills. By 2014, all Vermont businesses, non-profit organizations, schools, hospitals, and major food producers will be required to recycle and compost. A date of July 1, 2020, has been set for all residents to recycle and compost.

The test program may be extended into the winter months to determine how the colder temperatures and snow impacts the organic waste.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you’re a business-owner or a resident, a large population of your waste material is food waste. When you invest time to improve your waste recycling of organic material, you reduce your costs for waste disposal.

 

A Beautiful Landfill For Hawaii

Wondering how to get residents and businesses to recycle more in your community? Take a lesson from government officials on the big island of Hawaii and spruce up your transfer station! Hawaiians says their newly re-designed transfer station is one of the most beautiful place on the island and as a result, there has been an increase in recycling efforts.

The landfill re-design was part of an effort to instill a sense of pride and community well-being as curb-side pick-up is not offered on the main island. Residents must bring trash and recyclables to one of 21 facilities where the materials are self-sorted – if the resident does not sort, then all materials are sent to the landfill.

The facilities were originally build in the 1970s and have suffered much wear and tear. Five years ago, officials decided to begin the re-modeling process so that residents would enjoy bringing their waste in and staying to properly sort the recyclables.The facilities are now drive-up in design and provide large bins for various types of waste, making it easy for residents to know what is accepted and where to put it. Some of the facilities also have taken advantage of renewable energy such as solar electricity and rainwater harvesting – thus cutting down on expenses. As a result, an increase of 15% has been seen in the waste recycling rate.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What does your community transfer station look like? When a space is clean and well cared for, people are more likely to respect it and work to keep it that way. Can a little housekeeping increase the waste recycling rate in your town? It certainly did in Hawaii!

 

The Global Market For Recycled Plastics

China’s Environmental Protection ministry is investigating policies that could change the market for recycled plastics and has recyclers in China and abroad concerned.

The biggest concern regards a potential regulation that would make the import of unwashed post-consumer plastics illegal. In best practice, plastics should be sorted, wash and ground at the same stage to preserve the highest quality. The concern with recyclers is that plastics washed before importing may have increased water-weight thus inflating the cost per ton. There are also concerns about the stage in which granulation of materials should take place and which materials should be subjected to it.

In addition, the draft policy creates enhanced criteria for import licenses and facility inspections and businesses that manufacturer ultra-thin bags, food-contact products, medical products and construction supplies may find themselves looking for export relationships elsewhere.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: China is a global player in the waste recycling marketplace and it pays to stay up-to-date on regulations and policies that might impact your business. Be sure you’re doing all you can to minimize your risk by diversifying your exports – and don’t forget to look for opportunities in your home state or community – you might be surprised by what you’ll find!

 

More Bans For Polystyrene

San Rafael, California is ready to become the fifty-seventh community in that state to pass a city-wide polystyrene ban for food take-out containers. The city is home to approximately two hundred and fifty businesses and a population of fifty-five thousand that will be impacted by the ban.

The new rule, which begins October 1 of next year, requires a final vote that will take place this month. The initial vote passed 3-0, with two members not voting, and is expected to clear the final vote. Currently, there are fifty-two California cities having polystyrene restaurant packaging rules, and the number increases every year. Most of the affected businesses and consumers live in the proximity of five urban areas: Oakland, San Francisco, Fremont, Salinas, and Hayward. Over ninety percent of California residents still have access to and can use this form of food packaging.

The San Rafael ruling will apply to one-time use polystyrene containers such as plates, bowls, trays, cups, lids, and hinged containers. Meat packaging, coolers and ice chests, and food prepackaged outside of city limits, and certain utensils are exempt from the ruling.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you’re in the food or restaurant business, it pays to look at alternatives to polystyrene packaging. With more cities adopting rules against this product, it’s in your best interest to identify cost-effective alternatives, ways to increase your waste recycling efforts, and how to decrease your waste disposal charges!

 

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