Monthly Archives: September 2012

Success For Mercury Waste Recycling

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A national hazardous waste recycling program to collect automotive switches containing mercury has attained the four and a half million switches collected milestone. This amount equals over five tons of mercury that has been diverted from landfills throughout the country where it would otherwise poison the environment through leeching into the earth, air, and groundwater.

The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program was established to manage what happens to mercury switches once the automobile is no longer on the road. Automotive manufacturers ceased production of mercury switches in 2002, but millions are still present in older vehicles. The switches were used for lighting under the hood or in the trunk, and in anti-lock brakes. The goal of the program is to collect and recycle ninety percent of mercury switches by 2017.

When old vehicles are sent to junkyards and landfills, they are crushed or smelted, which releases the mercury into the environment and causes toxic conditions. The program provides special storage buckets for the collection of the switches to automotive recyclers and establishes routine collection of the materials through regional partners.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Mercury is considered a hazardous waste and needs to be carefully handled. Failure to do so puts you, your employees, and community at risk for mercury poisoning. If your business involves this toxic substance, be sure you’re up-to-date on best practices and regulations. Failure to do so can result in fines and significant health issues!

 

Seattle Team Hits Homerun with Compostable Snack Bags

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Baseball fans in Seattle, Washington will be the first to try ballpark peanuts served in a one hundred percent compostable bag. This is a new sustainability initiative launched by the Seattle Mariners at their Safeco Field home park.

The plan began earlier in the season when it was announced that the first ten thousand fans attending a game would receive a free bag of the popular ballgame snack delivered in a 100% compostable bag designed by the BASF Corporation.

The Mariners and and Safeco Field aren’t newcomers to the sustainability and waste recycling game, though. This season, the team has established goals to divert eight-five percent of its material waste from being disposed of in landfills. This goal is a twelve percent increase from what had been established five years ago.

The Mariners also belong to the Green Sports Alliance, a nonprofit group committed to assisting sports teams, leagues, and game venues reduce their environmental impacts and amount of waste disposal.

WasteCare Want You to Remember: The world of environmentally friendly products is always changing. Something that wasn’t quite up to consumer expectations one year might be vastly improved the next. If you keep your eyes and ears open to new developments, chances are you’ll find something that will save money and the environment!

Waste Recycling of Plastic Increases Profits

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One of the concerns that businesses involved with plastic recycling have is how to consistently draw a profit.  While this is a necessity for any enterprise, with plastics recycling it isn’t always simple.  Gaining access to quality plastic waste materials can be difficult and the end-users, those businesses that manufacture goods from recycled plastic, can be ever-changing.

The most successful organizations involved with recycling plastics are those who keep a constant eye on developments both at the input and output level. Limiting a business to a single channel or stream, for example, food-grade, automotive, or construction, can result in potentially devastating results when market supply and demand changes happen in that sector.

Flexibility is also essential for success and having a production model and that can swiftly respond to the ever-changing needs of the marketplace is essential. With each passing year, the nature and use of plastics recycling changes – new products, new uses are constantly being developed – and the market show no signs of slowing down. As more large corporations adopt sustainability goals, the need for raw materials and finished goods changes. Successfully plastic recyclers are ones who keep their feet grounded in the present market, but always have their eyes and minds trained to the future.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Waste recycling of plastics is an important part of any recycling program and creating a business from the recycled bottle and containers can be environmentally and financially rewarding. Whether you’re starting a new business or have been establish for some time, it makes sense to be aware of the constant changes that are happening in the waste disposal and waste recycling world!

 

Hospitals Find Cost Savings In Waste Recycling

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Nearly one hundred and fifty hospitals around the United States saved over fifty-five million dollars in their budgets last year through efforts in waste recycling, waste diversion, and conservation of water and energy.

The results of this study were recently released by Practice Greenhealth, a not-for-profit group helping hospitals and healthcare practices to achieve sustainability and environmental goals in their 2012 Environmental Excellence Awards report. The report is designed to help participating hospitals and healthcare practices measure performance and define steps to attain greater levels of waste reduction. Member organizations can use the facts, figures and case studies to develop new sustainability goals and identify the strategic step required to attain them.

The total amounts Practice Greenhealth member organizations recycled resulted in 64,800 tons of material waste being diverted from landfills. This waste recycling resulted in  savings of almost $17 million dollars. In addition, almost two thousand sharps containers were recycled through a specialized reusable program designed for medical waste.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: While their are numerous regulations for waste disposal of medial waste, hospitals can look to save money and the environment by focusing their attention on other areas. Food, paper products, energy and electric usage are all areas that can be re-designed to reduce the amount of waste disposal!

Whole Foods Waste Recycles Cooking Oil

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Whole Foods Market, a supermarket chain that focuses on organic and natural products, is saving energy and costs in waste recycling cooking oil. Earlier this month, a test pilot to recycle used cooking oil began in the chain’s Everett, Massachusetts location.

The facility will take the spent canola cooking oil used in the commissary’s industrial fryers and use it to power a generator which will provide almost 100% of the electricity needed for the seventy thousand-square-foot facility. The Everett location is responsible for preparing food to be sold in Whole Foods store throughout the Northeast and Tri-State Region.

The special generator was manufactured by the company Lifecycle Renewables which develops ways for cooking oil to power appliances, lights, and other equipment.

Reusing the canola oil is expected to save Whole Foods’ 20% on its energy bill and waste-disposal fees while keeping more than one thousand gallons of used oil out of landfills. It is believed that this is the first commercial food business in the United States to utilize a wide-scale vegetable oil to energy system. If the pilot is successful, Whole Foods will likely adopt the practice nationwide.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Is cooking oil a part of your business? If so, you might want to consider the options for reusing, recycling, or possibly selling the used oil. It could help to save you disposal fees and reduce your electric bill!

 

New York Transforms Landfill Into City Park

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New York City continues its transformation of a former landfill into a city green space and park. The park is at the site of the former Fresh Kills landfill – once considered the world’s largest garbage dump – and its gas wells collect a level of methane sufficient to heat over twenty thousand homes.

The site is three times larger than Central Park and it is estimated that the conversion project will take close to thirty years and $140 million dollar to complete. The site has been closed as a landfill for over ten years and while the transformation is currently under-weigh, residents are skeptical on the ability to change a former eyesore into a place of recreations.

Despite the skepticism, the former landfill has been sealed and capped according to strict environmental regulations and has been deemed a safe location. However, there is still much work to do.

In March of 2012, the city began work on the solar- and wind-power stations that will occupy the site. That, along with the methane containing gas wells, will provide energy to city residents. In addition, a small section on the northern section of the site will open as a playground and on the southern end, a soccer field will be operational by the end of the year.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If the world’s most infamous landfill can recreate itself as a recreation site and community park, what can you do to improve your town or business’s waste disposal and waste recycling habits?

Mandatory Waste Recycling in Massachusetts Town

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The town of Arlington, Massachusetts has recently enacted an ordinance for limiting the amount for residential trash collection and mandating waste recycling.

The new rule, which went into effect in early September of 2012, states that residents are required to limit waste disposal to no more than three garbage barrels or 100 gallons and that recycled material must be put out on the curb in order to have the trash picked up.

During the initial month of the new procedure, JRM Hauling and Recycling, which handles all waste collection for the town, will issues stickers on uncollected garbage stating that trash was not picked up due to lack of compliance with the new rule. However, after the trial month is complete, those homes failing to follow the volume limits or recycling requirement will be fined.

Arlington has offered weekly recycling services to residents but hopes the mandatory requirement will provide the push to ensure full participation.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: More and more municipalities are moving in the direction of limits in waste disposal and mandatory waste recycling. What are you doing at home and work to prepare for these possible changes? Being prepared will help to save you money – both then and now!

Marriott Increases Waste Recycling

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The popular hotel chain, Marriott, is reporting that it diverted 12,000 tons of material waste from landfills in the last year.

Leading in recycling performance measures is the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, which accomplished a 76% waste recycling rate, with 37% of waste being recycled and 39% being delivered to local composting facility designed for food waste.

Almost 100% of the Bethesda, Maryland-based hotel chain have recycling programs and more than 25% of their global locations divert food waste from landfills through local composting arrangements.

Marriott has improved and streamlined their waste disposal and recycling programs as a result of utilizing third-party waste audits and waste stream analysis to better manage and understand what waste was being generated and how recycling could be used to lower disposal costs.

Since launching wide-scale recycling efforts in 2006, Marriott has recycled more than 60,000 computers and other forms of e-waste from landfills. Their hotels also participate in recycling programs for soaps and shampoos through organizations such as Clean the World which donates personal care products to homeless shelters and impoverished communities around the globe.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you’re uncertain what to do with your current waste management plans, an outside audit is a great way to get ideas and suggestions about how to manage your waste stream, go green with recycling, and maybe save your business money!

Waste Recycling At The University Of Colorado

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The University of Colorado is making a bold move and enhancing the recycling system in place for the school’s residence housing and cafeterias.

As the new school year started in early September, students, faculty, and staff at this Boulder, Colorad campus were greeted with a switch from separate recycling bins located throughout the dorms and eateries to single-stream bins.

The commingled recyclables, which included paper and bottles are being collected and processed by the non-profit group Eco-Cycle.

The switch to single-stream was done with the hope that recycling would become easier for all students and employees and therefore boost participation and the amount of materials that is waste recycled each month.

The University is staying with dual-stream recycling models for its academic and administrative building and over the year with collect data on which of the two methods was most successful for reducing waste disposal.

For this year, the school’s recycling goal is reduce the amount of landfill waste generated from one hundred and seventy pounds per person to one hundred and forty seven pounds per person pounds. The school is aiming for a waste recycling rate of ninety percent. The University began its recycling program in 1976 and its sports stadium is currently working toward a zero-waste goal.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Not sure what kind of recycling program to try in your business? Learn a lesson from the University of Colorado and conduct a trial experiment! The tools and services for waste recycling are always changing and improving so if you are willing to try something new you might just stumble upon a great new way to save your company some money!

 

Recycling Dollars From Military Bases

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A closed military base in Concord, California is being re-purposed into residential housing, commercial storefronts and schools, and funds from recycling and reuse initiatives are going to help fund it.

The steel used to build the long-empty Concord Naval Weapons Station’s supply buildings and barracks along with several miles of train track rails will be waste recycled and sold to help defray the price of this soon to be five thousand acre housing and mixed commercial use development.

The Naval base was constructed during World War II but after years of dwindling use, was decommissioned 1999. Since then it has stood empty and unused.

It is expected that a total of eight million dollars will be received from the selling of the steel.  In addition, the concrete that was used for building throughout the base will be waste recycled and used for the roads in the neighborhood saving the project an expected one million dollars.

When completed, the new development will include twelve thousand homes, six million square feet of business space, almost eight hundred acres of parks, and be home to twenty eight thousand people. It is projected that the new development will add twenty six thousand jobs.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Waste Recycling and re-use is a great way to save money on any construction project. Whether you’re starting from scratch or remodeling a pre-existing building, look for innovative ways to capitalize on your “trash”.