Monthly Archives: April 2013

Mariners Win Recycling Championship

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The Seattle Mariners professional baseball team with be partnering with BASF Corporation for the second year in a row to sponsor and promote Safeco Field’s Sustainable Saturdays waste recycling.

In this partnership, BASF sponsors the “zero waste” recycling locations and bins during games. Last year, the collective effort between BASF, the Mariners, and game attendees resulted in diverting two million pounds of waste material from regional landfills and saved the franchise and field over one hundred and twenty eight thousand dollars in waste disposal fees. It is estimated that the Sustainable Saturday program was responsible for diverting more than eighty six percent of waste generated at games.

Due to their recycling achievements in 2012, Major League Baseball awarded the Seattle Mariners the distinction of Recycling Champions for the American League division. For this year’s season, the team’s pitcher, Felix Hernandez will be working with BASF on a food waste composting promotion by giving away over ten thousand kitchen compost containers at an upcoming game. Attendees will be encouraged to compost their food not only at the stadium during game day but also in the own homes every day.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Sometimes it takes teamwork and collaboration to make strides in recycling. If your business is in entertainment or recreation, how can strategic relationships be created to boost recycling efforts, save in disposal fees, and make an environmental impact? Good publicity might be right around the corner if you do!

 

Airport Flies High With Recycling

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The Seattle Tacoma International Airport has been recognized by the State of Washington Recycling Association as the Recycler of the Year in their business category. Through innovative planning, “Sea-Tac” launched a number of strategic maneuvers to increase their recycling rate from twenty four percent to a little over thirty percent in 2012 alone. These changes involved providing unwanted food to a regional food bank and working closely with construction and maintenance staff to reduce the overall volume of hazardous and toxic waste used and generated by their offices.

The environmental milestones reached by the airport last year include:

  • donating almost four hundred meals meals worth of food to a local food bank
  • Recycling over seventeen hundred tons of waste materials
  • Recycling close to one thousand tons of cardboard, paper, and aluminum
  • Recycling fifty four tons of spent cooking oil
  • Diverting over twenty five thousand pounds of food and organic waste from landfills

The savings experienced by the airport came to over three hundred thousand dollars and this included saving of two hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in disposal fees. The airport earned over thirty two thousand dollars in recycling rebates. This decreased the amount of waste the airport needed to landfill by over five percent in one year.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When your business makes a commitment to recycling and waste reduction, you can get more than just cost savings – if you do a good job, you may even receive positive publicity and thanks from your local community. That kind of news is worth its weight in gold! (or in this case, the weight of the trash you divert!)

Colleges Excel With Food Waste Recycling Efforts

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Seven institutions for higher education throughout the New England region have been recognized by the United States EPA for their commitment to improving and enhancing their waste reduction by initiating food and organic waste recycling programs.

The colleges and universities that received the Achievement Award in the Food Recovery Challenge for reducing food waste on their campus communities were: Clark University, Middlebury College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Keene State College, Suffolk University, and the University of New Hampshire.

The combine effort from the seven schools resulted in diverting more than twenty five hundred tons of organic waste and food scraps from regional landfill. Diversion method included campus based composting programs, food donation efforts and others.

Throughout the United States, over thirty four million tons of food scrap and organic material waste was generated in 2010. Food waste has one of the lowest landfill diversion rates nationally with only three percent being composted or used to create alternative energy.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: We all need to eat but what are you doing to reduce the amount of money spent on disposing of your food waste? Whether you own or manage a business, or are just trying to contain expenditures for your household budget, take a hard look at what you buy, how much you buy, and how much you need to throw away. You might be able to save on those weekly and monthly food expenses!

New Jersey School Wins Big By Reducing Energy Waste

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that Bloomfield, New Jersey’s Demarest Elementary School is the grand winner in the 2012 Battle of the Buildings Energy Star Competition for cutting its overall energy use in excess of fifty percent. More than three thousand businesses and organizations submitted their buildings in the national contest.

The award winning school reduced its consumption use through a variety of easy and affordable strategies:

  • a long-malfunctioning heating system timer was replaced allowing the system to operate on an efficient schedule.
  • custodians shifted from automatic heating to adjusting the boiler based on outside temperatures and modified lighting so that lights were dimmed or off completely during times when students and teachers were not present.
  • Vending machines and computers were turning off and unplugged when work ended for the day.

Overall, the school’s measures saved nearly $76,000 in energy costs. Energy reductions were verified by independent professional engineers for accuracy and authenticity. Based on information submitted from all participants, a grand total of over fifty million dollars was saved.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What are the schools and government building in your community doing to cut energy use costs? As this elementary school shows, simple changes such as unplugging machines and actively managing heating and cooling can result in big savings. That not only helps the environment but also helps tax payers!

Zero Waste Goals For Manufacturing

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International manufacturing firm, Procter & Gamble, announced that it has recently attain zer waste status at forty five of its production facilities worldwide.

The company, which makes household products and personal care items reduced its overall waste generation by sixty eight percent within the last five years. For the forty five manufacturing facilities receiving the zero waste designation, the goal was attained by recycling, reuse, and converting waste material into renewable energy. Less than one percent of all waste generated was sent to landfills.

Procter & Gamble’s long-term environmental strategic plan include attaining the zero waste designation at all of their facilities and using one hundred percent recycled or renewable materials in all the products the make. Reaching the zero waste status for the first forty five facilities helps to plan the transition for the remainder as well as provide a plan of what can be done more efficiently and effectively in the future. The overall goal is to conserve resources and save money while reducing the company’s demands of the environment.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Think your business is too big or too small to have a goal of zero waste? Think again! If you’re looking to save money on waste disposal start looking at ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Even boosting your waste diversion rate ten percent can result in big savings over the course of a year!

Using Recycled Plastic For Bridge Repair

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County administrators in New York state have made the decision to use materials made of one hundred percent recycled plastic when repairing the Dean Road Bridge in the village of Clare.

The St. Lawrence County Highway Department is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the bridge and will be replacing the decking using a product called Struxure, manufactured by the green-friendly building materials company, Axion International.

The recycled plastic materials that were used to create the boards resulted in over thirty thousand pounds plastic being diverted from landfills across the country.

The county used Struxure boards on another project the prior year that originally called for the use of concrete forms. The boards were much easier to install and have proven durable in the tough weather conditions of upstate New York. The boards easily withstand water and the salt substance used to treat snow and ice and so the county has determined their use an effective cost saving and environmentally friendly measure.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether it’s your own business or the activities of your local government, it pays in more ways than one to be on the look out for cost effective green alternatives. Technology is advancing rapidly in green options for the construction and municipal repairs sector, and you might be surprised by the options, alternatives, and savings!

Building Owners Fined Over Lead Paint

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Two residnetial building owners in the state of Rhode Island will have to pay a fine of close to fourteen thousand dollars after being cited by the regional division of the United State Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating federal and state disclosure laws concerning lead paint.

Donald Ciotola and Carol Simeone, the landlords in question, were charged with violating the US Toxic Substance Control Act because they did not notify tenants in the buildings they owned and managed about the potential dangers of the pre-exisiting lead-paint that is used throughout the building.

Lead paint poisoning is a serious public health concern throughout the state due to ageing multi-family housing. Children and infants are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning, which has been shown to low intelligence, create learning disabilities and behavior problems. Adults who are repeatedly exposed to high lead levels can develop memory and nerve disorders in addition to muscular and joint pain.

The purpose of the laws is to make sure prospective renters have sufficient information about lead poisoning dangers in housing that has not been cleared of lead paint in order to make a reasonable decision of their safety and the safety of family members.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you’re a building owner or property manager, it’s your responsibility to understand the laws about lead paint. If you cannot sufficiently eliminate the problem by construction, re-modeling, and removal of the toxic substance, then you must inform potential renters. Failure to do so can land you in hot water!

More EPA Toxic Waste Violations in PA

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently settled a case against a manufacturer of aerosol products in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania for illegal storage of hazardous and toxic waste material at its facility. The company, Spray Products Corporation, agreed to a fine of twenty five thousand dollars.

The infractions were discovered during a routine inspection by regional EPA representatives. Improperly storing hazardous materials is in violation of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act which all businesses, regardless of location, must follow. Toxic wastes stored at the facility included solvents, acetone, and heptanes.

Spray Products was cited for not correctly labeling and managing the record keeping of containers of  hazardous waste; failing to conduct routine inspections of the storage area for toxic materials; neglecting to ensure proper training for employees with responsibilities for handling of the chemical waste; and lack of a required emergency plan.

The business has cooperated with the EPA to resolve the matter, and has agreed to the fine and performance improvement plan in lieu of admitting any wrong-doing.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you work with, sell, or store hazardous or toxic waste material, you can bet your next paycheck that regional EPA representatives will pay a visit to your business to conduct a routine inspection. Instead of incurring fines and negative publicity, be sure you know your federal and state regulations and are following them accordingly!

EPA Report Waste Recycling Efforts Stay Steady In Florida

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The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has recently released a state-wide recycling report which shows that for they year 2011, the waste recycling rate for Florida residents and businesses held steady from the prior year.

Since, 2010, Florida has maintained a waste diversion rate of thirty percent or greater. For the 2011 report, twenty three county governments reported a recycling or reuse rate of thirty percent or more or more, and nine county governments reported a forty percent diversion rate or higher. However, Alachua County, located near Gainesville in north central Florida, attained the highest waste recycling and diversion rate with fifty percent for 2011.

State waste and recycling officials believe that increased involvement from the commercial sector could help to boost diversion rates even higher in the years ahead. The state of Florida has a 2020 goal of diverting fifty seven percent of waste on average across all municipalities. Preliminary recycling data for last year, 2012, is expected to be released in July.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Improving the recycling rates for homeowners and residents is an important part of reducing waste that is sent to landfills but it also takes a commitment on the part of businesses too. If recycling or reusing material waste isn’t a part of your business plan, chances are you’re spending too much on garbage collection and dumping fees. Not only can recycling help to preserve the environment of your community but it can also save you money!

 

More Bag Bans In California

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More and more cities and towns throughout the state of California are adopting single-use plastic bag bans and the latest municipality to approve such a rule is Redwood City. Earlier this week the city council vote to approve a city wide ordinance that would ban all plastic bag use in retail businesses and would encourage restaurants to impose a fee for food take-out bags.

Retail businesses operating within the city have the choice to offer customers recycled bags made of paper or reusable plastic bags at a cost of ten cents a piece. After January 1, 2015, the required cost will increase to twenty five cents per bag. Patrons who receive California food stamps, welfare, or food assistance programs are exempt from having to pay the fees.

Store owners must show the bag charges on all customer receipts and maintain a record of all bags sold. Store owners who do not follow the regulation can be given a fine from one hundred to five hundred dollars depending on frequency and severity of the violation.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: As more communities embrace plastic bag bans it’s important for businesses that currently use them to start to formulate alternate plans. Instead of trying to fight “city hall” use a possible ban as a way to find cheaper, alternative solutions that will also be environmentally friendly. Be a leader in your community instead of someone scrambling at the last minute trying to follow!