Category Archives: Recycle Reuse Niches

Unique Waste Recycling and Reuse Niches

Hotel Chain Waste Recycles Mattresses

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The Hilton Worldwide Hotel Chain recently announced that it is launching a new material waste recycling program for mattresses when new beds and box springs are installed at its hotels.

The company has said that at on average, eighty five percent of the materials used in the manufacturing of the mattresses and box springs will be recycled and therefore diverted from landfills. The steel springs will be removed and sold as metal scrap for use in tools, construction materials, and automotive parts. Wood will be recycled for use in creating flooring, particle board for shelves and pressed wood furniture. The cotton material will be re-purposed to create new automobile oil filters and carpet padding.

The hotel chain, on average, purchases more than twenty five thousand mattresses per year for its United States locations. The new recycling program will help owners and managers to reduce material waste disposal fees while showing a commitment to environmentally sustainable practices.

Hilton is partnering with the DH Hospitality Group which has been contracted to facility all aspects of the mattress recycling program and will ensure that recycling centers are recycling the components and not engaged in reselling or recovering.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Many businesses, like Hilton Hotels, need to constantly update and refresh stock or materials to meet their customers expectations. What do you routinely throw in the dumpster that has monetary value on the reuse or recycling market? You might be surprised by what you’ll find!

Grocery Chain Switches To Paper Gift Cards

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The popular grocery store chain, Whole Foods, has recently made the decision to switch from plastic to paper and wood-made gift cards.

The supermarket chain, which specializes in organic produce, is eliminating its 100% recycled plastic gift certificates and replacing them with cards made of paper and responsibly harvested wood.

The new gift cards are manufactured using 50% post-consumer waste paper material and the Forest Stewardship Council has certified the wood and paper sources. Whole Foods has decided that the paper-made cards contain a lower carbon footprint because they are recyclable, compostable, reusable, and use less energy than the plastic cards to manufacture.

The gift cards are a popular item for sale in Whole Foods stores throughout the country, and the change reflects the Austin, Texas-based organization’s commitment to offer the most environmentally-friendly products available.

The change is expected to result in keeping close to 300,000 plastic gift cards out of landfills. Individual stores will continue to accept and waste recycle the plastic cards as customers use them as the transition takes place.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Take a moment to look around your office or place of work. What products might you be able to replace with more cost-effective and environmentally friendly options? With a little research you might find some ways to save green while going green!

Company Expands Waste Recycling of Cardboard Boxes

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A small, independent business focusing on cardboard reuse company was recently awarded grant money for expansion through Chase Bank and the popular website, Living Social.

UsedCardboardBoxes.com reclaims used cardboard boxes, re-purposes them, and then makes them available for resale.  Their grant award was $250,000 to help with expansion and outreach. The business purchases substantial quantities of no longer wanted boxes from manufacturers. UsedCardboardBoxes.com then re-sells the boxes to individuals and other businesses for less than the price of new materials. Manufacturers have been eager to sell their unwanted boxes as it reduces waste disposal fees and relives them of the responsibility of recycling the cardboard.

In addition to UsedCardboardBoxes.com receiving cash, twelve other small businesses were also winners. These included EcoScraps, a food waste recycling business focusing on compost and lawn and outdoor products; and PlanetReuse, an online marketplace for reclaimed building and construction materials.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Making money from waste recycling requires “out of the box” thinking like UsedCardboardBoxes.com! Whether you’re starting a new business or firmly established take a look for new ways to turn what’s in your waste disposal container into cash! You might be surprised what new ideas you can come up with.

Success For Mercury Waste Recycling

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A national hazardous waste recycling program to collect automotive switches containing mercury has attained the four and a half million switches collected milestone. This amount equals over five tons of mercury that has been diverted from landfills throughout the country where it would otherwise poison the environment through leeching into the earth, air, and groundwater.

The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program was established to manage what happens to mercury switches once the automobile is no longer on the road. Automotive manufacturers ceased production of mercury switches in 2002, but millions are still present in older vehicles. The switches were used for lighting under the hood or in the trunk, and in anti-lock brakes. The goal of the program is to collect and recycle ninety percent of mercury switches by 2017.

When old vehicles are sent to junkyards and landfills, they are crushed or smelted, which releases the mercury into the environment and causes toxic conditions. The program provides special storage buckets for the collection of the switches to automotive recyclers and establishes routine collection of the materials through regional partners.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Mercury is considered a hazardous waste and needs to be carefully handled. Failure to do so puts you, your employees, and community at risk for mercury poisoning. If your business involves this toxic substance, be sure you’re up-to-date on best practices and regulations. Failure to do so can result in fines and significant health issues!

 

Whole Foods Waste Recycles Cooking Oil

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Whole Foods Market, a supermarket chain that focuses on organic and natural products, is saving energy and costs in waste recycling cooking oil. Earlier this month, a test pilot to recycle used cooking oil began in the chain’s Everett, Massachusetts location.

The facility will take the spent canola cooking oil used in the commissary’s industrial fryers and use it to power a generator which will provide almost 100% of the electricity needed for the seventy thousand-square-foot facility. The Everett location is responsible for preparing food to be sold in Whole Foods store throughout the Northeast and Tri-State Region.

The special generator was manufactured by the company Lifecycle Renewables which develops ways for cooking oil to power appliances, lights, and other equipment.

Reusing the canola oil is expected to save Whole Foods’ 20% on its energy bill and waste-disposal fees while keeping more than one thousand gallons of used oil out of landfills. It is believed that this is the first commercial food business in the United States to utilize a wide-scale vegetable oil to energy system. If the pilot is successful, Whole Foods will likely adopt the practice nationwide.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Is cooking oil a part of your business? If so, you might want to consider the options for reusing, recycling, or possibly selling the used oil. It could help to save you disposal fees and reduce your electric bill!

 

Recycling Dollars From Military Bases

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A closed military base in Concord, California is being re-purposed into residential housing, commercial storefronts and schools, and funds from recycling and reuse initiatives are going to help fund it.

The steel used to build the long-empty Concord Naval Weapons Station’s supply buildings and barracks along with several miles of train track rails will be waste recycled and sold to help defray the price of this soon to be five thousand acre housing and mixed commercial use development.

The Naval base was constructed during World War II but after years of dwindling use, was decommissioned 1999. Since then it has stood empty and unused.

It is expected that a total of eight million dollars will be received from the selling of the steel.  In addition, the concrete that was used for building throughout the base will be waste recycled and used for the roads in the neighborhood saving the project an expected one million dollars.

When completed, the new development will include twelve thousand homes, six million square feet of business space, almost eight hundred acres of parks, and be home to twenty eight thousand people. It is projected that the new development will add twenty six thousand jobs.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Waste Recycling and re-use is a great way to save money on any construction project. Whether you’re starting from scratch or remodeling a pre-existing building, look for innovative ways to capitalize on your “trash”.

 

Waste Recycling Opportunities In Rural America

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A national issue is facing rural communities as they strive to implement successful recycling programs. Two of the main stumbling blocks are overall low population number  and the distance from reuse markets. However, despite these challenges there are opportunities, it just takes some creativity and a decision not to force rural communities to follow a metropolitan-area recycling model.

For example, one community in rural Kansas shredded select waste material from a local manufacturer and used it as an alternate means for ground cover.

For those rural areas that also have agriculture-based businesses, small scale anaerobic digestion of organic waste is also a popular and successful model to implement. The results are rich compost and other matter that can be reused or sold.

Another solution is for small rural communities to work together collectively to establish waste recycling opportunities. With a regional system, costs are shared and more materials can be collected for resale.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Are you in the business of waste disposal and waste recycling? Take a look at the business opportunities provided by small rural communities. By helping these regions of the U.S. go green, you might be able to make some green as well!

Canadian Company Waste Recycles Light Bulbs

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Dan-X Recycling in Nova Scotia, Canada, may be the first recycling company of its kind to be devoted strictly to the waste recycling of light bulbs. The business uses its own, specially designed and built machine to break apart the bulbs and separate the different parts for recycling and reuse.

The aluminum caps from the bulbs are sold to a Canadian scrap metal recycler and the phosphorous at the core of the bulb is sent to a company in Quebec for removal and reuse of mercury. The company is still looking for a business interested in acquiring the glass which could be used in the manufacturing of decorative patio stones, concrete, and other building materials.

Dan-X receives its light bulbs from local recycling and trade-in programs designed to have individuals and businesses trade in old, inefficient bulbs for energy-saving ones. In the first two months of operation, the business received over 275,000 light bulbs, with many more to follow.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Take a moment and look at the items ending up in your business’ garbage. What are you paying money to dispose of every month? Could some of that waste be recycled and save you money?

Waste Recycled Drywall Potential

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Some construction and demolition materials can easily be resold or recycled after a project is completed. Items like scrap metal, masonry, and wood typically are in high demand and there are many organizations and businesses interested in acquiring them. But what to do with building materials that have less demand like gypsum wallboard?

Currently, research in underway at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte to determine the effectiveness of this material as a soil additive.

While drywall isn’t considered a toxic material, when it is disposed of in a landfill it can produce hydrogen sulfide, a potentially dangerous gas. When the drywall is left for garbage, it’s beneficial components, namely, calcium sulfate, a proven and safe soil amendment, are wasted from being reused.

In preliminary research, gypsum drywall successfully increased the yield of a canola crop when it was used as a soil additive. The study also showed that there is potential for the drywall to increase the amount of carbon captured in the soil and thus reduce the amount released into the atmosphere as green house gas.

Establishing a way to waste recycle drywall would benefit construction firms by saving money on waste disposal fees, reduce the incidence of dangerous gasses developing in landfills, and help to replenish and strengthen crops and other agricultural needs.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: With waste recycling becoming an important part of the construction industry, to pays to stay on top of the latest research and developments. Cutting disposal costs will help you to go green and save green!

D.C. Restaurant Waste Recycles Oyster Shells

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The Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington D.C. has been a popular restaurant for locals and visitors since opening its doors for business in 1856. Know for its seafood dishes, and in particular, oysters, two years ago the restaurant decided to enact its own form of environmental policy – it is returning their oyster shells back into the Chesapeake Bay.  This area of the Atlantic Ocean is one of the primary sources for oysters in the United States and environmental stewardship of the area is essential for those businesses who rely on it for recreation and the seafood it produces.

Since starting the waste recycling program, the restaurant has returned almost eight hundred acres of oyster shells. This is the equivalent of ten waste disposal garbage bins being sent to a landfill every two weeks. The new recycling program has two benefits: not only does is save the restaurant in disposal fees but oysters need shells to order to live and reproduce. Depleting the Bay of oyster shells effectively limits the source and reduces the quantity and quality available to restaurants. This new policy helps to ensure that oysters will continue to be plentiful in years to come and diverts waste from local landfills.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: When it comes to avoiding waste disposal and increasing waste recycling, creative thinking is the key. Take a look at the trash your business produces. Is there a way you can turn garbage into gold? (or shells into oysters?)