Category Archives: Waste or Recycle Material

Waste Recycling Materials

Innovative Recycling Program Launches In Louisville

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Kentucky’s largest city, Louisville, is getting ready to launch an innovative new “wet-dry” waste recycling test program for commercial residents in its central business district. The program’s developers expect that it could help to recycle as much as ninety percent of the waste materials that are generated in the area.

The program is expected to begin in Spring of 2014 for both residential owners and tenants as well as businesses operating in the district. Restaurants and other food-producing businesses will be provided with the two types of recycling carts – orange and brown. For these businesses, collection will take place between two and six times per week. Participants will be asked to separate liquids, food scraps and organic matter, dirty tissues and paper towels into a distinct brown recycling bin classified as “wet waste.” All “dry waste” which would be comprised of newspapers, cardboard, plastics, metals, and glass will be separated into one orange colored recycling bin.

Other businesses will use only the orange dry waste container and are encouraged to collect food waste and organic matter in black garbage bags for collection.

All collected organic waste, from both bins and bags, will be transported to a composting facility.

Currently, the Louisville area only diverts eleven percent of its municipal solid waste collected from the business district. City officials are hoping their innovative new program will increase those numbers before the end of the year.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What is your business, office, or town trying to do to reduce the amount of garbage that needs to be sent to landfills? If you’re looking to save money on disposal costs, increasing recycling and re-use of materials is the place to start!

Opportunity Grows With Increased Plastics Recycling

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While the overall recycling rate may have dipped slightly in the United States recently, the recycling of materials made of rigid plastic, many labeled as HDPE plastics, increased by ten percent in 2012 to a level greater than one billion pounds. The final total of the amount of collected nearly triples the amount of the material that was recycled in 2007 when tracking and reporting of rigid plastics recycling began. Rigid plastic is now considered one of the fastest growing materials in the recycled goods market. The increase in availability of recycled materials ensures that manufacturers needing the material to produce new goods can procure them at lower prices.

In addition, a year over year increase in over eighty two million pounds collected compared to data from 2011 in attributed to the fact that recycling firms and municipalities are developing efforts to attract hard plastics recycling from both residential and business customers. Close to sixty percent of the recycling processing of rigid plastics takes place in the US and Canada.

Polyethylene and polypropylene make up over seventy percent of all rigid plastics collected in the US and over sixty percent of all Americans now have convenient access to recycling programs that accept rigid plastic materials.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Does your home, business, or community offer convenient recycling for rigid plastic materials? If you’re paying money every month to dispose of these waste materials in a landfill, you’re missing the chance to go green and save green! If you generate large amounts of waste materials of this nature, take some time to look into the re-sale market for rigid plastics. If you generate small or minimal amounts, find out where and how you can get them recycled. It’ll help the planet and your bottom line at the same time!

Grocer Wins EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge Award

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Sustainable Materials Management Program recently awarded the Shop-Rite grocery store chain as a winner in the nation-wide Food Recovery Challenge that is sponsored by the EPA. Based on data collected throughout 2012, the Shop-Rite store in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania attained the highest increase in food waste diversion and recycling compared to data collected for the previous year.

Store management says the improvement was a result of the commitment to donating food deemed edible and composting all food that was not. As a result of the store’s changes in food disposal policies, the diverted food waste was able to provide nutritious meals to community members in need and be used in the production of nutrient-rich compost for use by regional farmers and landscapers.

Nationally in 2011, more than thirty six million tons of food waste was generated with close to ninety six percent being placed into landfills and incinerators. However, close to twenty percent of all Americans are in need of some form of food assistance for themselves or their families. Shop-Rite’s participation in the Food Recovery Challenge not only helped to save the store money in waste disposal fees but also helped residents of the local community in need of a helping hand.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Does your business or employer generate significant amounts of food and organic waste on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? Not only can you cut costs and reduce your contributions to landfills by donating un-sellable but viable food to local charities, but it can also gain you some good press. Helping others can help your business in more ways than one!

Amusement Parks Recycle Food Waste

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Amusements parks and recreation area provides hours of summer fun with family and friends but they also are responsible for generating tons of material wastes, in particular food scraps and organic waste such as grass clippings, leaves, and branches, every year. Keeping an amusement park clean and operating efficiently is no simple task! Educating employees on how to handle and separate materials that can be recycled such as plastic beverage bottles and paper can be a confusing and challenging endeavor.

One such recreational area in Bristol, Connecticut, the Lake Compounce amusement park, has recently created a new three-year organic waste agreement with their local waste hauler, Covanta. Covanta will offer park employees training on how to correctly and effectively handle organics separation which will then in turn be used to create energy from the waste.

The Lake Compounce recreational facility holds the special distinction of being the oldest amusement park in North America operating continuously. Park administrators are looking forward to implementing other sustainable waste solutions as a way to keep the facility clean for visitors and help to reduce the costs associated with disposing of trash in landfills.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether your business has been around for generations or just opened its doors a few months ago, it’s never too late or too soon to think about ways to reduce your waste disposal fees. Waste recycling, materials re-use, organic waste composting, and waste to energy solutions are becoming more affordable and available with every passing year. When was the last time your business did a waste audit? If it’s been more than a year, you might want to look and see what employees are putting in the dumpster – you might be able to turn that garbage into gold!

Bottle Ban Hits San Francisco

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The governing board  for the City of San Francisco has recently approved legislation that would effectively prohibit the distribution and sale of water in plastic bottle on all municipal properties. The regulation would apply to all city events, including participating vendors and city departments.

The Board of Supervisors for the City unanimously endorsed the proposal. The plan will be phased in incrementally, and by October 1, 2016 it is anticipated that all events taking place on city-owned property would be expected to comply with the plastic water bottle ban. The only exception to the rule would be in the case of running and walking events and participant sports – in those instances, bottled water would be allowed.

The regulation does need a final vote, scheduled for later in March. If that vote is successful, as it is expected to be, than the legislation would need to be signed by the City’s Mayor – another hurdle which it proponents expect to clear without problem.

When enacted, the legislation will also require that city government enhance and improve public access to water in city owned or leased properties and events.

City administrators hope the new policy will help to reduce the amount of waste generated and increase the use of re-usable water bottles and drink beverages. Additionally, it provides a cost savings to the city in no longer having to purchase bottled water for special events.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Is bottled water something your business relies heavily on? While plastic bottles can be recycled, they still cost you money. Take a look at green-friendly options and you might find a way to reduce your waste and save money every month!

General Motors Reaches For Zero-Waste

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The Midwest United States might be cold and covered in snow this winter, but two General Motors distribution facilities are no longer covering regional landfills with material waste any more.

GM distribution facilities in Chicago, Illinois and Hudson, Wisconsin have recently reached their environmental sustainability goals of attaining a status of being landfill-free, meaning that all waste generated daily is recycled, reused or used for energy conversion.

The two facilities are used primarily for customer service and help to facilitate the delivery of GM parts to car dealerships throughout the country. The two locations are responsible for processing thousands of shipments annually, so it was essential to develop a strategy to recycle and re-use the cardboard shipping materials and wood pallet waste that accumulated on a daily basis.

The Chicago facility estimated that it process over twenty five tons of waste cardboard every year – that total weight is slightly more than twenty automobiles! The financial cost of disposing of that much waste in a landfill is also significant so the switch to recycling not only reduces disposal fees but also earns GM’s recycling partners one hundred dollars for each ton of cardboard.

The local recycling partners are responsible for the recyclables, but employees at all levels of the organization are responsible for achieving waste reduction success. GM’s goal is to have all of its one hundred and twenty five facilities be landfill-free by 2020.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, it pays to have a strategic plan in place when it comes to recycling. Chart you progress one month at a time and develop your ideas as you go along. In no time you’ll be saving green while “going green”!

Going Green At The Golden Arches

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International fast food chain McDonald’s Corporation has announced it is replacing its purchasing practice of foam polystyrene beverage cups for hot liquids such as coffee and tea and starting to purchase paper-constructed cups. The corporate-level decision was made as a result of customers asking for containers that were constructed with a higher recycled content and less environmental impact.

The Oak Brook, Illinois restaurant chain anticipates that its fourteen thousand United States locations will begin to switch over to the new beverage line throughout the winter and spring months of 2014.

The switch from foam to paper has been in the evaluation phase for some time. In 2012 the company conducted a test pilot with two thousand stores replacing the long-used foam coffee cups with extra-thick paper cups. The test results confirmed that customers were pleased with the switch and that the quality of the beverages was not compromised in any way. Recent changes and innovations in the manufacturing of high-quality paper cups made of recycled materials also resulted in making them a cost effective alternative to the standard polystyrene foam cups that have been in use for decades.

While paper cups still require some energy and chemicals to produce, they are easy to recycle, degrade quickly and put less of an overall strain on the environment.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Whether you run a large restaurant chain or operate a single-location corner sandwich shop, it’s worth the time to investigate environmentally-friendly products such as beverage containers. The more your customers can recycle, the less you need to dispose of in the trash. When you go green you can save green too!

Airline Reduces Waste With Green Cups

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International airline carrier, United Airlines, has recently announced that it will introduce a brand new, green friendly hot beverage cup to use in its United Club in-flight drink service and hospitality rooms starting in March of 2014.

In the news release, the Chicago-based airline discussed the company’s shift to using an insulated InCycle Cup to replace the Styrofoam coffee cups that are currently in use. The new cup is completely recyclable and manufactured from fifty percent recycled materials. The InCycle cup is produced in the United States by MicroGreen Polymers.

MicroGreen’s technology for their recyclable beverage cups comes from re-using recycled water bottles and other beverage bottles made of plastic. One recycled plastic bottle creates four and one half InCycle cups. The InCycle cup is insulated, which eliminating more waste by removing the need for a hot beverage protective sleeve.

The switch comes as part of United’s strategy to evaluate all operational recycling to discover new opportunities to cut waste disposal and boost cost effective recycling. Additionally, the airline is simplifying the recycling process for flight attendants and grounds workers to increase overall recycling amounts. Over the prior six years, United recycled almost twenty four million pounds of waste materials generated through its aircraft and on-ground facilities.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: The market for recycled materials is always changing and improving. When was the last time you looked for environmentally friendly and waste reducing alternative products for your business or home? If it’s been some time, you might want to check again. You could be pleasantly surprised by the cost of green friendly products and how much money you’ll be able to save in the long run when you stop putting garbage in the trash and start recycling it instead!

 

Grocery Chain Goes From Waste To Energy

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The state of Massachusetts has recently provided the necessary licensing approvals to the Stop & Shop Supermarket grocery store chain so that it may move ahead with its proposed plan to convert excess food scraps and waste into energy.

The Department of Environmental Protection for Massachusetts released the required permits for the supermarket to start construction on a new Product Recovery Operation to be housed at the company’s primary distribution center located in the Cape Cod community of Freetown. The new operations plant will rely on anaerobic digestion methods to re-use unsold food as a source for electricity and heat for the building. In addition, a fertilizer byproduct will also be generated as an outcome of the process.

It is anticipated that the new operation facility will process close to one hundred tons per day of unsold food waste and be able to generate slightly over one megawatt of energy. This amount would satisfy forty percent of the distribution building’s electrical needs – resulting in a significant cost savings.

The facility will utilize all unsold food items from Stop & Shop grocery stores, including the deli, produce, bakery, and items that are past expiration or otherwise unfit or unsuitable for human consumption. The New England supermarket chain has an already established food to composting and food to animal feed program and this newest endeavor is seen as a way to continue to lower energy costs while converting waste materials into usable byproducts and electricity.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: You company’s food scraps and organic waste have many useful applications beyond your dumpster and the landfill! If you’re paying to dispose of large quantities of food waste it’s time to look into alternatives. You’ll be able to save green and go green at the same time!

 

Colleges, Elder Care Facility Achieve EPA Awards For Recycling

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In November of 2013, as part of America Recycles Day, two schools in Massachusetts and an elder care center in Connecticut were honored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their efforts in keeping waste food out of landfills and distributing waste fit for human consumption it to local agencies that work to feed the economically disadvantaged and hungry. Each year, over thirty million tons of food waste is generated in the United States and only three percent of that total waste is composted or re-used.

The award winning facilities were the University of Massachusetts (Amherst campus), Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Orchards in Southington, Connecticut, an assisted care facility.

The Food Recovery Challenge, sponsored by the EPA, encourages organizations and businesses to reduce the amount of food they purchase and dispose of and to divert extra or waste food to feed to non-profit food banks or composting and animal feed initiatives. In the New England region, more than fifty private businesses, non-profits groups, schools, hospitals, and government agencies participates in the challenge during 2013.

The University of Massachusetts used several strategies for reducing food waste including tray-less dining, compostable cutlery, and a student-run composting business. The University is currently constructing an anaerobic digestion facility for on-site processing and will be used by other communities in addition to the University to produce green energy. Facilities  for anaerobic digestion capture the gas created by composting food and convert it into electricity.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business is paying money every month to send waste food and food scraps to a landfill, you may be missing out on an opportunity to reduce your waste disposal expenditures, protect your region’s environment, and help help your less fortunate members in your community.