Monthly Archives: January 2013

Washington State Reaches Recycling Milestone

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The northwestern state of Washington has announced that it has reached a milestone in its recycling efforts.

During the year 2011,  Washington’s recycling rate exceeded fifty percent for the first time ever. The figures were released to the public from the Department of Ecology for Washington in late 2012.

The comprehensive waste diversion rate, which also factors in recycling, energy recovery, and product re-use, increased from fifty four percent in 2010 to fifty seven percent in 2011.

Residents and businesses recycled over one hundred and eight six thousand tons of material waste more than in the previous year, which resulted in a four percent increase. At the same time, landfill use decreased, as four percent less waste material was disposed of.

The state estimates that recyclables collection is over three and a half pounds per person per day. The individual amount is the highest ever for the state since it began measuring recycling efforts in 1986.

A spokesperson from the  Department of Ecology said that much of the improvement in the recycling rate can be attributed to increased rates for cardboard, metals, newspapers, and e-waste. With metals recycling seeing the largest increases.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you’ve set a recycling and waste reduction plan for your business, how are you keeping track of your financial and environmental successes? Making small changes and monitoring the results can help you achieve the best balance of saving money and saving the environment!

Dean Foods Reduces Waste Disposal

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In the latest corporate and environmental responsibility report from Dean Foods, the Dallas, Texas based food and beverage company has indicated that the business reduced its total amount of solid waste needing to be sent to incinerators and landfills by more than twenty percent between the years of 2009 and 2011.

During the two year monitoring period, the amount of solid waste Dean’s facilities disposed of in regional landfills and incinerators was reduced from almost seventy thousand tons in 2009 to fifty five thousand tons in 2011. Based on the success in reducing its waste output while containing costs, the company has decided to implement a plan to increase its corporate goal of solid waste reduction to fifty percent by the year 2020.

Representatives from Dean also credit the success to enhanced recycling measures. Recycling throughout all facilities increased by over ninety one percent. Whereas close to eight thousand tons of waste was recycled in 2009, by 2011, over fifteen thousand tons of waste was recycled in 2011.5,239 tons during the same period, the company said.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When implementing new waste disposal and waste recycling plans, it’s important to plan well and evaluate your results. Start small, and when you start to see results, you’ll realize you can tackle more ambitious goals.

Arkansas Provides E-waste Grants

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The Department of Environmental Quality for the state of Arkansas has awarded out six grants for the recycling of electronics waste totaling close to one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. The recipients included both municipalities as well as businesses and not for profit groups.

The Solid Waste Management District for East Arkansas received seventy five thousand dollar to assist with the construction of a new facility to store equipment and electronics waste collected for recycling from businesses and residents in the six counties served by the district.

Other grant awards went to the Reams Group for acquisition and improvement to equipment used in the collection and dismantling of electronics waste; Solid Waste Management of Pulaski County for upgrading informational signs and brochures and for the improvement of e-waste collection sites; the city of Fayetteville received funds for assisting in the disposal of electronics waste; the Environmental Office of Benton County received funds to assist and improve the collection and disposal of electronics waste from businesses and residents; and the Solid Waste Management of White River District received an award to be used in creating educational materials for businesses and residents on ways to properly dispose of e-waste.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: While the awards might not always be big, there are ways to secure federal, state, and local grants to assist in the funding of recycling programs. If you have an idea for your town, business, or non-profit group, it’s well worth investigating!

C&D Recycling in Alaska

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Doing business in the construction and demolition waste removal and recycling recovery in the northernmost state of Alaska requires a very different way of thinking and operating than in the lower forty eight states.

While Alaska may be a geographically large area, it’s also a very small business market with many populations and municipalities separated by hundreds of miles. With the winter season lasting considerably longer, and creating almost impassable travel conditions, transportation of waste materials and recyclables needs to be structured differently. Also, processing operations are often hundreds of miles away.

Due to the state’s limited system of major highways, some businesses transport C&D materials by plane to be processed in Anchorage and other businesses choose to utilize  barges when the waters aren’t frozen over. This results in stockpiling waste materials for weeks or months at a time as well as incurring transportation costs that can be as high as one dollar per pound.

However, due to greater awareness, more businesses are now factoring in the cost of recovery and recycling materials instead of choose to simply dump them in on the open tundra – a practice that was commonplace for many decades.

It is expected that consumer demand for Green building certification on new residential and commercial construction, which requires contractors to recycle a particular percentage of their waste materials and debris, to drive the change in recycling and reuse behavior.

 

Developer Pays Fine for Clean Water Act Violations

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Massachusetts real estate developers have recently agreed to pay fines for Clean Water Act violations as a result of the construction of a new residential housing development in the town of Uxbridge.

The charges were brought about by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a result of a routine inspection of the area. It was shown that the developers allowed storm water to be discharged without securing the required permits for several years and that ineffective measures were in place for ensuring that pollutants being released into the water were minimized.

Because the housing construction was occurring on more than one acre of land, the developers were required by law to apply for permits. As a result of this failure to comply, a fine of twenty four thousand dollars was levied against the business.

The necessity of the permits is due to the fact that rainwater coming from construction sites will carry sediments, oils and pollutants which can easily contaminate streams, ponds, and other water sources while clogging drains and causing flooding. A one acre home construction site has the potential to discharge as much as one hundred and fifty tons of sediment per year.

The EPA provides training materials to builders and developers to ensure that compliance is maintained and that all involved understand the importance of storm water regulations.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: The EPA makes training materials readily available to all so that your next construction project is executed in compliance to environmental regulations  Failure to follow these rules can end up costing you more money than if you have simply followed the law!

 

Program Diverts Books From Landfills

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Goodwill Industries of Columbus, Ohio is partnering with Green Marketing to provide extra use to unwanted textbooks, encyclopedias and other books while keeping them out of regional landfills.

The collaboration is designed to take unsellable books from Goodwill’s collection locations and transform them into paper towels, facial tissue, and toilet paper.

Since launching the initiative, donations of unwanted books have increased significantly at the nineteen Goodwill locations in the region. The organization stockpiles the books that have no retail re-selling value and when a large enough quantity is amassed, they contact Green Marketing to arrange a pick-up for hauling away. While the amount paid for the unwanted books is small – an average of fifteen dollars per ton – the cost savings for waste disposal of the books to a landfill is significant. Goodwill can now gladly welcome any unwanted book knowing that if it does not sell on the retail floor, then can still earn a bit for recycling.

Green Marketing recycles unwanted books throughout the United States through an affiliated company, Book-Destruction.com and hopes to roll its program out to other Goodwill locations who are interested in participating.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Green Marketing offers a great solution to organizations and businesses who may have an excess of books or paper products. Why pay waste disposal fees when you can possibly earn money through recycling?

EPA Offers Grants to Communities to Boost Recycling

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency is providing grants to two low income municipalities in Puerto Rico to improve recycling and composting and to help with the reduction of water pollution.

The award of close to fifty thousand dollars will be provided to two non-profit organizations
Scuba Dogs Society and Leaders of the World, to provide education to lower-income municipalities about best practices in waste management and recycling and the dangerous consequences that improper or illegal waste disposal can have on citizen’s health and overall water quality. The money comes from the EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, which helps communities develop solutions to public health and environmental issues.

These grant funds will be used to move the community to increase their participation in waste recycling, reduction, and composting.

The two groups will split the award money evenly in educating both the youth population as well as individuals and business owners who earn their livelihood from fishing or other marine activities.

Launched in 1994, the small grants program has assisted over one thousand three hundred communities throughout the US and its territories as a way to bring environmental awareness to undeserved populations.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your community or organization is looking to improve waste disposal and recycling practices, consider grant programs such as this one from the EPA or your state environmental department. A good idea may attract funding and help to improve the quality of life for your residents!

Clover Technologies Strikes Gold With Recycled Cartridges

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Clover Technologies, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of recycled printer cartridges has reached such a high consumer demand for its products that the supply of recycled cartridges it purchases from OfficeMax and Staples are no longer sufficient. In order to procure the needed waste materials, Clover has created Evolve Recycling, a subsidiarity responsible for procuring cartridges directly from consumers.

Depending on the printer cartridge, Evolve will reimburse customers up to ten dollar per piece. The company also provides shipping boxes and prepaid postage so consumers are relieved of all mailing costs.

Evolve may be a unique idea, but it was created out of necessity as its parent company needs a constant and reliable source of unwanted and used cartridges for its manufacturing process. Clover sells over two million re-furbished cartridges for ink and laser printers every month throughout North America so a decrease in cartridge collection can negatively impact future production and sales.

Re-manufactured printer cartridges are responsible for fifteen percent of the cartridge market, with steady year over year growth as both individual and business consumers desire less expensive printing options made from recycled materials.

Evolve currently collects close to eleven thousand unwanted cartridges per month from individuals and businesses. The company’s goal is to collect one million cartridges per month by the close of 2013.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business is feeling the squeeze from procuring waste materials from other re-sellers, consider trying the Evolve model and source directly from consumers. Recycling becomes attractive when there’s a “green” incentive!

EPA Gets Serious About Illegal Pesticide Use

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting serious about filing legal and criminal actions against businesses found to be importing or selling pesticides that have been deemed illegal to use due to their toxic or hazardous chemical nature.

Legal action is currently being taken against two businesses, Everyday Group based in Brooklyn, New York, and Daifuku Trading located in Englewood, New Jersey for selling illegal and unregistered pesticides. Federal law requires that all pesticides be EPA registered and have labels printed in English with instructions for safe and appropriate use.

A routine inspection of the facilities revealed that products being sold were mis-branded, improperly labeled, and imported from other countries without first notifying the EPA. Research has shown that pesticide use can result health concerns from skin irritation to cancer including causing medical problems with the body’s hormone and endocrine systems.

Over the last year, the EPA division covering New York and New Jersey inspected over two hundred and fifty retail locations and pesticide distributors and confiscated over twenty thousand units of illegal pesticides. It is the responsibility of the retailer and distributor to make sure that all pesticides being sold are in compliance with federal and state regulations.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Using or selling illegal pesticides puts the safety and health of your employees, customers, and community members at risk. Trying to save a few dollars buying unregistered chemicals can end up costing you and your business legal action, fines, and negative publicity!

 

The EPA Electronics Recycling Challenge

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Earlier in 2012, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started the electronics recycling challenge, aimed at increasing the number of computers, cell phones, and other electronics and media devices, being recycled properly and safely.  Many of the nation’s most popular electronics manufacturers and retailers immediately signed up and agreed to participate. Best Buy, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp Electronics, Sprint Nextel, Staples, Dell, Sony, and Nokia are all participants.

However, two of the largest names in the electronics industry did not agree to join – Apple and Hewlett-Packard (HP). The products they make – from the iPad to the iPhone to printers and computers, can be found in nearly every home or business. While both companies have refused to comment on their refusal to join, it is expected that the the companies’ took issue with the challenges requirement to only utilize R2 or e-Stewards certified electronics recyclers and that outcome data be shared with the EPA and the public.

Despite their refusal to participate, both brands do currently offer recycling programs for their products and will continue to work with the EPA to help address the concerns of environmental impacts caused by e-waste.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Recycling your businesses e-waste is an important concern – heavy fines await you if you try to dispose of computers improperly. Making sure the brand you buy has an established and convenient recycling program is something worth considering!