Monthly Archives: March 2013

New Recycling Laws For Landlords

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The state of Maryland has a series of new laws and regulations going into effect that will impact anyone owning multi-family houses, condominiums  or apartment buildings in the state. Starting on the first of October in 2014, owners of multi-family residential building with ten or more units must provide recycling services to all of their tenants.

The Department of the Environment for the State of Maryland was instrumental in enacting this policy change and will be notifying all on-site and absentee landlords by letter of the new regulations. This change should not catch any owners by surprise as the policies are part of a Bill that was passed in 2012 which stated that renters in the state must be given the opportunity to recycle glass, paper, plastic, and metals.

The state is letting each county decide on how the law will be enforced within its jurisdiction. Other states with similar laws typical enact a series of warnings and then monetary fines and penalties.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you own or are responsible for managing the upkeep and finances of multi-family properties then recycling waste is a great way to lower your costs for trash disposal. Whether it’s required by law in your state or not, it’s something you should consider offering to help save money and the environment!

NYC Tackles Food Waste and Polystyrene

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Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s Mayor is calling for  a ban on all polystyrene foam containers used for restaurants and food storage, calling them “impossible to recycle” and a hindrance to the environment. He is challenging all New Yorkers to learn to live without them. Such a plan would first need to be voted on an approved by the City Council.

The Mayor also announced the launch of a city wide food scraps and waste collection program that will soon be piloted. The curbside recycling of food will start with homes on Staten Island and progress as participation research is collected and analyzed. If the program is a success and cost favorable, then it will be enacted throughout the five boroughs.

New York City buries over one million tons of food in regional landfills each year at an expense of eighty dollars per ton. Composting and diverting food waste will save the city substantial amounts of money.

In addition to the test program for residential trash pick up, all schools in the city will now participate in food recycling based on a successful test program in select schools last year.

Bloomberg would like to see the city’s recycling rate reach thirty percent by 2017.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What is your town or local government doing to keep taxes and expenses down? Do you know how much money is costs each year per person to dispose of food waste in your community? These are some great questions to ask at your next town council meeting!

Go Green In Your Office This Spring

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Did you know that the United States Environmental Protection Agency offers plenty of ideas and resources for businesses looking to reduce waste, reduce costs, and protect the environment?  Regardless of your business sector or how many employees you might have, chances are you have an front office that handles accounts payable, accounts receivables, bookkeeping, payroll, and customer inquiries. Here are a handful of tips that can help cut back on your waste and office costs:

  1. Use re-usable paperclips instead of staples to hold documents together
  2. Use the reverse side of unwanted documents as scrap paper for taking notes, phone call messages, and to-do lists.
  3. Make sure you have a recycle bin for paper, cans, plastics, and other recyclable goods! The more you recycle the less you have to pay to dispose of it as garbage.
  4. Reuse file folders and inter-office envelopes by placing a new label over the old writing
  5. Store documents online instead of printing out and storing in a file cabinet.
  6. Use a rubber stamp for your return address or pre-printed envelopes instead of printed labels.
  7. Always print double-sided pages and use a draft printer setting for documents that aren’t important – that will save you ink and paper!
  8. Pay bills via e-billing programs or offer direct deposit. That saves on printing checks and mailing them.
  9. Recycle or donate unwanted or outdated computer and electronics equipment.
  10. Encourage car-pooling, biking, or providing bus passes. Consider flexible or alternate work schedules to reduce heating and air conditioning use during peak times of the year.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business wants to cut costs and take an active role in preserving the world we live in, there’s no shortage of ideas to try! If you’re just starting out with “going green” pick a few changes that you can easily implement in your workplace or office. Once you start the recycling habit, and see the amount of money you can save, you’ll never go back to your old ways!

 

Plastic Water Bottle Recycling Rate Increases

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It has recently been announced by the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the National Association for PET Container Resources that the national recycling rate of single-use PET bottles increased almost twenty percent in the last year.

In 2011, plastic water bottles had a thirty nine percent rate of being recycled in the United States. That was an increase from the 2011 recycling rate of thirty two percent. In 2011, five hundred million pounds of plastic water bottles were recycled from the nearly one and a half billion pounds that had been purchased.

It has also been noted that the overall weight of single-serve plastic bottles has dropped to just under ten grams meaning that less plastic is involved in the manufacturing. While these containers make up a very small sub-section of the overall waste stream produced in the United States (less than one third of one percent), representatives from the IBWA stress that all bottled water plastic containers are one hundred percent recyclable.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Does your business sell PET plastic beverages to customers or employees? Make sure you do your part of encouraging recycling by having separate bins to collect these. For ever water or drink bottle that ends up in the trash, that’s more you have to pay for waste disposal!

New Business Ideas for Recycled eWaste

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If you’re thinking the uses for recycled electronics waste are pretty small, think again! Two Texas businesses are taking unwanted and unusable e-Waste and turning it into something you see every single day – street signs! MicroStrate Inc. and Image Microsystems Inc. have joined forces and are are using recycled plastics and electronics waste to produce street signs. Even with their new operations, they already have sold their new products to four different cities in the United States and one city in Russia.

Currently employing close to fifty, the facility is expecting to run twenty four hour shifts within the year as interest in their product builds momentum. There has been great interest expressed in the product from state departments of transportation to test and purchase these “zero waste” signs.

The company handles both the recycling of the plastics and electronics waste and the manufacturing of the signs at their facility. Keeping all work in-house has reduced costs from purchasing through a recycled goods re-seller. The company also has a materials research project involving students from Texas Technical.

For now, regional electronics retail stores and computer companies provide much of the materials needed, but as business expands that footprint is expected to grow as well.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Thinking outside the box is what makes for success in the recycled material business. If you’re not an entrepreneur, but looking to sell your waste materials instead of paying to dispose of them in the trash, there are new businesses that may be interested in working with you!

U.S. Army Starts Battery Recycling Program

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The United States Army is launching a first of its kind recycling program at its Fort Drum Army post in upstate New York. The new program will help soldiers and base employees improve their recycling of household single-use batteries.

The battery recycling initiative is brand new to the Army and the idea was originally conceived by the Public Works Environmental Division. If the test pilot is successful, it the program will likely be implemented at bases around the country.

Collection of the batteries will be simple and easy as the new containers are attained to the current recycling bins that are placed in strategic and high-traffic locations throughout the base.

As battery usage is high on the base, the effort to recycle came about as a way to reduce trash disposal costs. The Army must ship all solid waste to off-site landfills and the less that it considered waste, the greater the savings.

The base will send all collected batteries to the base’s scrap metal purchaser. For now, only household alkaline batteries will be recycled. Lead-acid, rechargeable, or any other batteries that would be considered toxic waste will be disposed of according to state and federal guidelines.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: How many batteries does your business use every month? Instead of putting them in the trash, consider a special recycling program – you’ll be helping to keep them out of the landfill while cutting your costs!

Keep America Beautiful Partners With Schools

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Every year, the nonprofit group Keep American Beautiful invites public, private, and faith-based schools throughout the United States to participate in Recycle-Bowl. Recycle-Bowl is an annual nationwide competition to promote recycling of waste materials in elementary, middle and high schools. Last fall, during the 2012 competition, the program was responsible for collecting over four and a half million pounds of recyclable waste material from all participating school locations.

The annual competition takes place in schools between October 15 through November 9. This past year, Recycle-Bowl had more than fifteen hundred  participating schools from all fifty states. Of all the schools, Taylor Primary in Kokomo, Indiana was awarded first place of all those participating collecting a total of forty seven pounds of recyclables per child. Winning schools from each state were also chosen.

Teachers and administrators from the winning schools agree that the recycling competition is not only an ideal educational opportunity to explore the issues facing the global environment but it’s also a fun activity that comes naturally to children. As more and more schools institute mandatory recycling, waste reduction, and even food composting, recycling becomes not only a special, once a year contest, but something that is expected every day.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you’re running a school, a business, or your own household, holding a competition is a great way to promote the importance of recycling and get everyone doing their part. If recycling isn’t a part of your waste management plan, this would be a great way to get it started. You’ll be saving “green” while helping the environment at the same time!

EPA Recognizes Landfills for Green Energy

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently commended two regional landfills for their ability to generate renewable energy from waste materials in a manner that both resulted in energy savings for the communities they serve and without negatively impacting the environment.

The first of the two landfill energy projects is the Combined Heat and Power Project at the Coca-Cola Hickory Ridge Landfill in Conley, Georgia. At this site, the energy resulting from landfill gasses is responsible for a non-stop supply of green electricity, steam, and water. This initiative provides almost 100% of Coca-Cola’s energy needs and results in energy savings and economic development for the company.

The second energy project is the Small Electricity Project at the Watauga County Landfill in Boone, North Carolina. The landfill had been closed for close to twenty years but was ideal for launching a small electricity generating operation in partnership with the Appalachian State University Energy Center. As a result of the project, economic and energy assistance is provided to the county and research opportunities are now available for students and faculty.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: How are the different members of your town or community working together to save money, energy, and environment? While recycling is a great way to cut costs and reduce trash, there will always be some materials disposed of in your regional landfill. If that trash isn’t being used to generate energy it’s simply costing you money!

Wood Treatment Companies Fined for Violating Pesticide Laws

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After protracted legal discussions  two companies involved with wood treatment have settled cases with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over violations of federal laws involving the use of pesticides. The two businesses are Gardner-Fields of Tacoma, Washington and IBC Manufacturing of Memphis, Tennessee.

Both companies were charged with selling and distributing illegal pesticides that were mislabeled as approved. Such actions put both the environment at risk as well as the health of people and animals. In the event of mis-use or poisoning, products with incorrect labels can provide no assistance to medical staff or those attempting to remedy the problem.

Both cases involved the mis-labeling of chemical wood preservatives. Gardner-Fields will pay over thirty five thousand dollars in settlement fees and IBC Manufacturing will be required to pay two hundred and sixty five thousand dollars to fines. The violations were discovered during a routine inspection of facilities by the EPA back in 2008.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act requires that wood preservatives be registered with the EPA and distributed or sold with correct instructions and labeling of appropriate uses. Anyone involved in the distribution and sale of pesticides is responsible for complying with the law and staying current on products and policies.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your construction or remodeling business uses, sells, or recommends chemical wood treatment products, make sure you’re staying up to date of the regulations. If you’re uncertain about the safety of a product, contact your state EPA office for assistance.

More Fines For Medical Waste Violations

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The nation-wide pharmacy and drug store chain CVS has recently agreed to pay fines totaling eight hundred thousand dollars for recycling and hazardous waste violations that occurred at their retail locations in several towns in Connecticut.

Several inspections conducted by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for the state of Connecticut at these stores identified that toxic photo processing chemicals and unsold pharmaceuticals were being improperly handled and disposed of and that stores were not adhearing to the state’s recycling regulations.

Officials from CVS agreed to pay three hundred thousand dollars in penalties and another five hundred thousand dollars to fund state based environmental clean up, materials handling, and education projects.

CVS also is required to strengthen its environmental practices including their education and training programs for handling hazardous waste materials. The stores that were cited will be subjected to unannounced inspection audits to monitor compliance with the regulations.

This issue is not a new one for CVS. In 2012, the chain agreed to pay close to fourteen million dollars to settle a California lawsuit pertaining to hazardous waste dumping.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Does your business handle hazardous or toxic waste? If it does, you want to make sure that you are staying up to date and practicing the regulations for handling and disposal. Why be subjected to huge fines and negative publicity when you can simply follow the law?