Monthly Archives: November 2012

Businesses Embracing E-Recycling

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The technology industry is constantly releasing new products that consumers wait in line to buy, and that high demand for brand new equipment is creating an opportunity for those in the business of e-recycling last year’s unwanted model.

Both businesses and individuals want data-safe and environmentally sound methods to dispose of their old computers, and smart e-recyclers can earn money collecting gadgets, dismantling them, and re-selling the parts for the materials they are made of.

As the national economy improves, more and more businesses will replace their older computers and cell phones, and generate a steady volume of materials for those in the recycling industry.

While many think that scrap metal is the most lucrative of the recycling sectors, scrap electronics saw sales grow by thirty percent in 2011 and is expected to have similar returns this year as well. Many businesses in this sector have added employees and expanded facility space in 2012 which points to an increase in work and demand.

However, as with any recycling niche, standards must be upheld and enforced. For electronics, the Responsible Recycling Practices certification established by manufacturers and the EPA is becoming a requirement for ensuing recyclers adopt best-practices for recycling electronics, employee safety and data security. While certification does cost money and time, many recyclers are making the effort as a way to distinguish themselves in the expanding market.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Unlike scrap metal, glass, or plastics, electronics waste often contains data that must be safely and securely removed. While expanding your business into e-waste can bring an added level of training and expense, in the long run it could help take advantage of this opportunity!

Washington State Adopts Rules For Mercury-Containing Lights

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The Washington State Ecology Department has approved rules overseeing the state’s stewardship program for lights and products containing mercury.

The original law which was passed in 2010, created the ability for all consumers to recycle compact fluorescent bulbs free of charge and began a manufacturer-funded stewardship program to oversee the administration of it. The rules also prohibit the disposal of any light bulbs containing mercury in the garbage.The ruling is scheduled to officially start on January 1, of the new year.

Based on the policies in the stewardship plan, manufacturers of lights containing mercury can only sell their products in the state of Washington if they agree to support and participate in the recycling stewardship program. Through the program, all lights containing mercury will be collected and sent to approved facilities for processing.

Washington state officials estimate that over six million light bulbs containing mercury were purchased within the state in 2011.

While the stewardship program is currently financed through annual fees charged to  manufacturers, long-term funding solutions include placing recycling fees on the bulbs at the time of purchase.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Mercury is a hazardous substance and must be disposed of properly in order to prevent contamination and reduce health risks. If your business purchases these bulbs, be sure to follow your state’s disposal regulations to avoid penalties or fine.

More Cities Ban Single Use Bags

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Brookline, Massachusetts is the eighty-fifth municipality in the United States and the forty-seventh in 2012 to enact a ban against single-use plastic bags.

Brookline is part of the metro-Boston area and home to sixty thousand residents. The community now has regulations against the use of polystyrene-based food and beverage containers and plastic bags. Both bans will go into effect on December 1, 2013 providing area merchants and restaurants a year to plan.

The new rulings will apply to grocery stores with sales over one million annually, drug stores with two or more locations in the city, and retail businesses with more than twenty five hundred square feet of space in either one of multiple locations throughout the city.

The ruling excluded compostable or marine degradable plastic bags or bags used in the packaging of produce.

Brookline joins a growing number of cities with plastic bag bans including: San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. More than half of these new regulations have been voted on and approved in the past year indicating a clear trend in community leadership that reduction in the use of plastic bags is necessary.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Even if your community hasn’t enacted a plastic bag ban, if your businesses uses these materials, it’s time to start thinking about alternatives! You may find that adopting greener solutions will help to reduce your overall waste trash disposal fees.

Turning Landfills Into Good Neighbors

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Landfills are often thought of in negative terms by the general public but some forward-thinking managers at landfills are looking to change how their neighbors and community members see them.

Common issues such as control of odor, noise, proper visual screening and storm water are done not only to be a good neighbor but also to avoid financial penalties from local, state, or federal governments. All of these factors are highly regulated and leave landfills little room for deviation from the rules.

However, taking a few extra steps to reach out to the community can reap additional benefits and goodwill. The R-Board Landfill in Stafford County, Virginia, recently opened its facilities to host free composting classes to interested members of the community it serves. Landfill administrators estimate that the eight hundred graduates from the composting program who have diverted over one hundred tons of organic waste material. In addition to the twice yearly composting classes, the landfill also provides tours to anyone interested in learning more about facility operations. The tours have become a popular activity for scouting groups, science classes and school groups, and individuals wanting to understand how waste management and recycling works.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: How well are you communicating to your clients about what happens to their material waste? Making an extra effort to explain and show your process to the public can change perceptions and possible help to bring you additional business!

 

Los Angeles Moving to Zero Waste Status

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A major overhaul in waste collection and recycling practices is happening in Los Angeles, California, the country’s second largest city.

The city council recently voted to divide the city into eleven districts with a private hauler responsible for each area. Currently, the city is responsible for waste and recycling collection for single-family homes only. Private companies handle collection for commercial and multifamily properties. The measure passed easily in favor of the initiative by a vote of 11-3. Those against the measure cited costs and fairness in contract negotiation for smaller businesses as concerns.

City officials, including those from the division of sanitation, supported the measure as a way to reduce the number of trucks needed, help preserve the condition of roads, control for costs, and to collect recycling in a more efficient way. Los Angeles has a zero waste goal which is to be attained by 2025.

The city currently has a recycling rate of sixty-five percent but commercial recycling collects over seventy-five percent.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: More and more municipalities are establishing zero waste goals which means opportunities exists for those in the waste and recycling businesses. What are you doing to fully take advantage of the importance of “going green”?

Mandatory Recycling Goes To Vote

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In a bold and progressive move, Prince George’s County in Maryland is strongly considering increasing the county’s recycling goals and to accomplish such, may decide to legalize mandatory recycling for all residents in order to attain the recycling standards.

Voting will happen soon for the County Council to determine if there is sufficient support for establishing a countywide material waste recycling goal of forty five percent by 2015, with incremental increases to reaching a recycling goal of fifty five percent by 2018 and sixty percent by 2020. These would be some of the most aggressive recycle rates in the country which currently has an average recycling rate close to thirty five percent.

If the new policies pass the vote, property owners of condominiums, apartments, commercial buildings, and industrial properties must make recycling services available to tenants no later than 2014. Under the current rules, the recycling responsibility is placed on residential homeowners with recycling being an optional service that non-residential owner may choose to provide.

Composting is also included in the new plan, which would be piloted in 2014 then expanded throughout the county in 2015.

Prince George’s recycling rate for 2011 was forty percent and is considered above Maryland’s required recycling minimum. However, the neighboring county of Montgomery has a recycling rate of forty seven percent and citizens have requested that more work be done to have their county perform at similar levels.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Recycling is everyone’s responsibility whether you own a commercial building or home or simply choose to rent a retail space or apartment. What is your local government doing to make sure recycling services are available to all?

Single Stream Recycling Works

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Have you ever wondered if the waste materials you put out for curbside pick up are really recycled? Do you think about ways you could recycle more?

The Environmental Industry Associations (EIA), which represents America’s privately owned solid waste and recycling companies, has noted that as more people and communities participate in recycling programs, confusion has grown about how single stream recycling —in which all materials eligible for recycling are co-mingled in one bin—works, and if recycling even happens at all.

In a single stream recycling facility, waste materials such as jars, cans, paper, cardboard, and plastics are sorted by both high-tech machinery and employees who oversee the process. The use of technology makes recycling much easier and faster and with a greater degree of accuracy.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest report shows that the U.S. recycles or composts thirty four percent of the municipal solid waste generated. Single stream recycling, curbside pickup, and technology developments for sorting and classifying have helped to keep that percentage inching up year after year.

However, there is always room for improvement. There are still many communities where curbside recycling isn’t offered. Residents in those locations need to petition their officials to stress the importance of making recycling readily available to all members. In addition, those living in apartment buildings or businesses in commercial spaces may find that recycling services are not available to them. In those cases, tenants should discuss their solid waste services with building owners and make clear that recycling opportunities are a required feature.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Innovations like single stream recycling make it easier and more convenient for everyone to participate. What are things you can do at work or home to maximize the amount you recycle? When you go green you’ll be saving green!

States Report Increase In Material Waste Recycling

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With landfill space being in short supply, more and more municipalities are increasing their efforts to boost the recycling rates in their communities. Here are a few examples of recent success stories:

  • Virginia’s recycling rate is now at close to forty-four percent with four million tons of materials either recycled or reused annually. This amount is up considerable from 2005 when the state’s recycling rate was a little over thirty-two percent. The community of Vinton has the highest recycling rate in the state, with over sixty-six percent being diverted from landfills. The materials recycled include paper, plastic, metals, glass, yard waste, waste tires and electronic waste.
  • The state of Oregon recovered close to two and a half million tons or fifty-two percent of its waste generated in 2011. The per capita annual disposal rate decreased almost four percent to twelve hundred pounds per person. These are the best reported numbers since Oregon began reporting on waste disposal and recycling in 1992. Of all the waste materials recovered, sixty-five percent was recycled, nineteen percent composted and sixteen percent incinerated.
  • Miami-Dade County, one of the largest in the state of Florida, reported an increase in its curbside recycling program, collecting almost sixty-three thousand tons of recyclable materials. This is the fourth straight year that the county has had an increase in recycling amounts. Residents in the county recycle paper, metal food and beverage containers, cardboard, narrow-neck plastic bottles with their caps and lids, milk and juice cartons, and glass bottles.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Community recycling is on the rise because not only does it help to save the environment, but it also helps to save taxpayers money! What is your municipality doing to promote recycling of material waste?

Recycling Cigarettes

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This new product niche for recycling waste materials might be hard to imagine, but it’s true! The Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a New Mexico-based subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., the United State’s second-largest cigarette manufacturer, is forming a partnership with TerraCycle Inc. to recycle used cigarette butts into a material used in the manufacturing of railroad ties, park benches, and shipping pallets.

The Cigarette Waste Brigade, which is publicized through TerraCycle’s website, brings together individuals and trash-battling civic groups to spread the word about the importance of saving and collecting used cigarette butts. Groups can then send them collected materials to the company through a prepaid shipping envelope. According to the non-profit group, Keep America Beautiful, cigarette butts make up close to forty percent of all litter on our nation’s roads and highways.

The incentive for collection is that for every pound of cigarette butts sent to TerraCycle, the sender will receive credits that can be exchanged for a variety of charitable gifts, or can be used to make a donation to a charity of their choice.

TerraCycle will recycle the cigarette filters and used them to create pellets that can be used in creating a wide variety of products. It took close to two years for the company to develop and refine the process to recycle the cigarette filters, which are made of with a mixture of paper, ash, tobacco, and a cellulose acetate filter.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Cigarette smoking is a habit shared by many Americans but it only took one company to come up with a way to turn used cigarette butts into a recycled material that can be sold to manufacturers!

Creating A Zero Waste Business

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Is it possible for a large factory to operate without those big, ugly trash dumpsters outside, overflowing with waste materials destined for the community landfill?

Haworth Inc., one of the largest manufacturing plants in western Michigan, is filled with employees from the boardroom to the factory floor who are believers in the concept of zero waste to landfill.

Inside the facility, strategically placed receptacles are on the factory floor, each with materials printed on the side such as rubber, steel, metal, drywall, plastic, and cardboard.

The plant recycled fifty three million pounds of thirty different types of material last year. In the case of waste recycling of drywall and cardboard, Haworth moved from paying for designated landfill space to earning revenue from their recycled materials. As a result the company saved over one million dollars last year. Officials say the success was a result of shifting focus from lean manufacturing to green manufacturing with an emphasis on creating zero waste.

The company credits senior management support and investment in the zero waste to landfill strategy as a contributing factor for success. Representatives of Haworth are now involved with education and training of other manufacturing firms who are interested in implementing the same strategies for their business.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Why pay thousands of dollars every month in landfill and waste disposal fees when its possible to move in the direction of zero waste through materials waste recycling? If Haworth did it, so can you!