Monthly Archives: June 2013

EPA Fines C&D Landfill For Violations

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In 2009, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality fined and closed two landfill sites dedicated to construction and demolition waste materials in Coteau, outside the city of Baton Rouge. In a legal case that has lasted several years, it is now expected that the owner of the land and facility will have to pay in excess of two hundred thousand dollars to settle all charges before re-opening its doors.

Violation incurred by Gordon’s Disposal will result in a fine close to seventy four thousand dollars and violations at the nearby David Trahan Construction and Demolition landfill will result in fines totaling one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Both landill and recycling locations were repeatedly cited for environmental and safety regulations by the State and regional Environmental Protection Agency prior to being closed. Typical infractions that lead to site closure often include a failure to provide annual reporting to the state agency, lack of safety controls and measures for employees, infrequent or disregarding the need for routine testing of contaminants in the soil, air, and water surrounding the facility, and poor record-keeping.

Closure of a waste and recycling location is often an extreme measure that is taken only after years of disregard and non-compliance with state and federal environmental regulations.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Think it might be easier and less expensive to ignore the environmental laws that pose a challenge to your business? Ignoring regulations  such as record keeping, routine testing, and providing adequate safety measures might work for a short time, but in the long-run non-compliance will catch up with you! Play it smart and learn the waste and recycling rules that apply to your business. Once you know exactly what you need to do, you’ll be better equipped to find the best solutions.

 

Wisconsin Breaks E-Waste Recycling Goal

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Officials from the state of Wisconsin recently announced that more than one hundred million pounds of e-waste and unwanted and unusable electronics has been collected and recycled as a result of the state’s ban on sending electronics and computers to regional landfills. The ban on e-waste disposal was enacted three years ago and included all residents and business owners in the state.

Televisions, computer, and cell phones top the list of most frequently recycled items. A report released by the state’s Department of Natural Resources indicates that Wisconsin residents own three television sets per household. During fiscal year, 2012, which ended June 30 of last year, the state had collected more than twenty four million pounds of old and broken TV sets.

Throughout Wisconsin, there are more than four hundred state-approved registered e-waste collection sites that residents and businesses can bring their equipment to. These sites are guaranteed to responsibly handle the destruction of any data left behind on the machines as well as uphold all environmental guidelines for dismantling and recycling the metals and toxic substances contained in them.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Recycling electronics waste is a great way to help the environment and clean out your office’s storage closet! If you have old computers, electronics equipment, and phones taking up space, call your state’s Department of the Environment or Department of Sanitation to find out where and how to recycle e-waste. You’ll cut down on your waste disposal fees and gain some room in that closet or spare room!

NYC Offers E-Waste Recycling For Apartments

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In innovative new waste management and electronics waste recycling program has been launched for multi-unit residences with more than ten units in the New York City.

The initiative, being promoted as e-cycleNYC, is a voluntary program designed to encourage apartment dwellers to increase their level of electronics recycling.

While there are numerous retail locations throughout the city that offer free drop off for e-waste materials such as computers and televisions, those individuals and families residing in apartments may experience difficulty with transporting large or heavy items – especially those that live in older buildings without elevators or for those city dweller who do not own an automobile and rely on public transportation. New York City officials believe that the municipality’s low e-waste recycling rate, compared to other locations in New York State and cities of comparable size, is attributable to that fact.

The new e-cycleNYC program would allow for residents to leave their e-waste in a designated location within their building for collection, free of charge. The waste would be collected along with other recyclables and garbage.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When it comes to recycling more and disposing less, you need to think about the habits and needs of the people you are targeting. If you’re trying to increase recycling efforts in your business, think about your employees’ routines and habits and what might be hindering them from recycling more. Coming up with a solution might help to save you money in waste disposal fees!

Another Oregon City Bans Plastic Bags

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Eugene, Oregon businesses and residents are encountering few difficulties and are actively embracing the city’s new plastic bag ban that began May 1, 2013. City administrators indicate that they have yet to receive any complaints about the process for gradually easing into a comprehensive plastic bag ban. Eugene is the third city in the state to implement such a ban joining Corvallis and Portland.

Eugene has a designated zero waste analyst who is dedicated to implementing, monitoring, and reporting on the new initiative. Based on initial reports, businesses have not registered any complaints about financial or procedural inconveniences associated with the ban, however, there have been questions about who the ban applies to and the timeline for making the changes indicted by the new regulations.

The new law states that for all residents and business in the city of Eugene all plastic bags are banned from use in grocery stores, retail shops and and any other businesses that might provide plastic bags to customers. All businesses in these categories are required to offer paper bags to customers at a charge of five cents for each bag. The city provided exemption of one year to several businesses that were able to show that they had a large inventory of plastic bags already in stock and that the switch to paper would create a financial hardship.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Plastic bag bans are growing in number in both large and small cities around the country. If your business uses them then it’s in your best interest to start finding affordable, “green” alternatives!

 

C&D Recycling Service Convicted For Non-Compliance

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Construction and demolition waste recycling business Mike Davidson Enterprises has been forced to close its doors after an investigation by the Delaware Natural Resources and Environmental Control Department cited the operation for over twenty waste regulation violations, many  of which were determined to be on-going and blatantly non-compliant.

As a result, the business was forced to stop accepting and processing C&D waste materials and recyclables as a result of having its business permit suspended.

The twenty two violations included the following:

* Improper storing of recyclable materials.

* Failure to submit the required annual reports to the Natural Resources and Environmental Control Department.

* Failure to maintain and provide fire protection as required by their permit.

* Failure to maintain the required records of environmental testing of ground, air, and water in the vicinity of the facility.

As the violations have been long-standing, it is uncertain if a compromise can be reached that would allow the recycling service to re-open for business.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When it comes to waste and recycling, following environmental rules and regulations is a “must do” for your business. Take the time to learn which laws apply to you and your services and follow them! Failure to do so can result in fines, expensive court costs, and maybe even having your business permit suspended.

North Carolina Hits Waste Diversion Record

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Officials from the state of North Carolina have recently reported that in 2012, residents participated in recycling close to half a million tons of household grade recyclable waste material, exceeding more than three hundred pounds of recycled material per person. The information was included in the yearly report released by North Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment.

This participation from last year marks the state’s greatest rate of recycling and lowest rate of waste disposal since the state began taking yearly measurement of landfill use starting in 1991. In some counties around the state, the personal household recycling rate was in excess of seven hundred pounds per person.

Additionally, reasons for the increase can also be attributed to a seven percent increase in available curbside recycling services in municipalities and a doubling of opportunities for residents to recycle e-waste and other unwanted or unusable electronics.

The collected recycled materials are then re-sold to regional manufacturers who rely on the material as part of their production supply chain.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If you’re looking to increase your business’ or town’s recycling rate, take a look at how, where, and when you provide opportunities to promote recycling. Are people aware of the importance of reducing waste? Are recycling bins easy to access and routinely collected? Are successes promoted and announced? Small steps can yield big results in cutting waste and saving money!

Ohio Improves Glass Recycling Program

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a special quarter of a million dollar grant to the Ohio regional EPA office and the Hamilton County Municipal Waste District for a new waste recycling center under construction in the town of St. Bernard. The grant funds will be used to incorporate and purchase innovative new recycling equipment and the ability to recycle increased varieties of waste materials.

Glass recycling will become a primary focus of the new facility and something that is not currently included in the region’s waste recycling services. There will also be streamlining of operations through equipment designed to sort, clean, and screen the glass materials.

Located near the city of Cincinnati, the grant funds and facility expansion will help the region to reduce its dependence on landfill space as well as providing manufacturers in the Ohio region with recycled glass materials that are used in the creation of numerous new products including new glass containers and home insulation.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Is you town or city looking to enhance and improve recycling and waste management services? While there’s no guarantee, looking to your regional environmental protection agency for grants and assistance might yield a program that fits your needs.

Recycling Up At Shopping Malls

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Before being placed on hangers or folded on shelves, the typical piece of clothing arrives at a retail store wrapped in plastic bags enclosed within cardboard boxes. This common practice ensure that the garment stay preserved and clean during packing and transport but also results in clothing stores having large amounts of plastic waste to contend with after every shipment is unpacked.

While most retail stores throw polyethylene and other thin film plastics right into the garbage, a new recycling program geared specifically for plastic waste used in the garment industry has been started by the real estate business Simon Property Group which owns and manages shopping malls and retail outlets throughout the United States.

Concord Mills in Concord, North Carolina, is the most recent Simon outlet to begin recycling and baling clear plastic waste materials. The facility has a designated  room in its shipping and receiving area which contains a hydraulic baler for compressing garment bags, shrink wrap and plastic shipping materials into one hundred and sixty pound bales of plastic. The bales are then transported to recycling facilities where they are processed and resold.

Close to one hundred and forty of the outlet’s two hundred stores are involved and the  program has recycled over two thousand pounds of plastic since last fall.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Shopping malls often have limited space for recycling and disposal so it’s important to think creatively and maximize resources. However, taking the time to think strategically about recycling is important for cutting down on waste disposal fees and your businesses environmental impact!

EPA Awards NASA For Waste Reduction

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA recognized the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas recently for its successful strategic plan and project implementation for increasing municipal solid and organic waste composting. In 2012 the agency increased its composted amount from sixteen tons, which was recorded for 2011, to two hundred and fifty tons, which was recorded at the end of the calendar year.

The plan and project were launched as part of the Federal Green Challenge, an EPA environmental and materials management contest that urges federal departments and agencies to take steps in cutting back their environmental impact and reduce energy use and waste materials disposal fees.

In 2012, close to three hundred federal buildings and divisions cut their environmental impact in a variety of areas. Over the course of the year, the participating groups diverted more than three hundred and sixty thousand tons of waste from landfills, saved over fifty million kilowatts of electricity, close to five hundred thousand gallons of oil, and reduced water waste by one hundred thirty million gallons. All efforts combined resulted in a savings of over thirty one million dollars to US taxpayers.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business is spread out over multiple locations it can be hard to successfully your waste and recycling levels. Take a page from the EPA’s play book and encourage some friendly competition between sites! When you increase recycling and reduce waste and energy usage everybody comes out a winner!

NYC Starts Composting For Apartments

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The Department of Sanitation in New York City has recently formed a partnership with a Manhattan real estate firm to offer organic matter and food waste collection to an apartment building on the city’s West Side. This will be the first multi-resident dwelling to be provided with such a service. The food scraps collected from the building will be composted.

The Helena residence building has six hundred units and the organic material will be collected five days a week. The collection focuses of food waste as well as plant material. Plastics that are labeled biodegradable or compostable will not be allowed as will animal wastes, liquids, and foams.

As compostable food waste and organic material comprise close to a third of the residential waste stream, the new recycling and composting program provides the residents and owners of the apartment building with an opportunity to reduce waste disposal fees by diverting waste away from landfills. The city, through its composting program, will then have additional landscaping materials in the form of nutrient-rich compost, to enhance and support trees and plants around the city.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Food and organic waste collection is the hottest topic when it comes to diverting waste from landfills and reducing your trash disposal fees.  What is your business or municipality doing to incorporate food waste recycling into your waste plan? It’s a great way to save green while “going green”!