TOPICS
Renewing
Supporting Member
·
Good Point Recycling
NERC
NEWS
Register Now for the NERC Spring Conference
~ Focus on Sustainability of Plastics Recycling
·
Asphalt Shingle Waste Management Fact
Sheet Now Available
·
NERC Staff Speaks at
·
NERC Staff Attends the North American Plastics
Recycling Conference
STATE UPDATES
·
Businesses Still Throwing
Too Many Recyclables Away as Sweep Finds Excessive Cardboard Disposal
·
SAVE THE DATE! For the 7th
·
Idling Reduction Workshops
·
FY2007 Municipal Grant
Awards
·
School Chemical Management
Update
·
NEWS FROM ADVISORY MEMBERS
·
2007
·
·
OF GENERAL INTEREST
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NERC's mission is to advance
an environmentally sustainable economy by promoting source and toxicity
reduction, recycling, and the purchasing of environmentally preferable
products and services.
|
TOPICS
We are very
pleased to share with you the following:
Renewing
Supporting Member
Thank
you one and all!
It is through the active participation and support of
its Advisory Members that NERC is able to provide the strength of
multi-stakeholder involvement and problem solving.
To see a listing of Advisory Members and the benefits of membership, visit the NERC
Advisory Membership web page.
It is the broad spectrum of interests represented by
NERC’s Advisory Members and Board Members and their willingness to participate
that significantly contributes to the unique and important role that NERC plays
in recycling in the region.
NERC NEWS
Register Now for the NERC Spring Conference
– Focus on Sustainability of Plastics Recycling
Join
us on March 13th and 14th at the Hotel Northampton to discuss the sustainability of plastics recycling with industry leaders.
Specific
topics will include: bio-plastics
packaging, zero plastics packaging waste, plastic markets update, marine shrink
wrap recycling, and issues effecting the recycling of plastic films.
Speakers
include:
The complete preliminary agenda and Conference registration are available on NERC's
website. Exhibitor Space at the Conference is also available.
For
more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador , NERC’s
Conference Organizer.
Asphalt Shingle Waste Management Fact Sheet Now
Available
In
direct response to requests made at the NERC/NEWMOA Construction &
Demolition Debris Workshop in 2006, NERC developed a fact sheet on the waste
management of asphalt shingles. It may be found on NERC's website by clicking here.
For more information, contact Mary Ann Remolador.
NERC Staff Speaks at
NERC
Staff presented lessons learned from USDA-funded rural special events project
at the 2nd Annual
NERC Staff Attends the North American
Plastics Recycling Conference
NERC
staff attended this two-day conference in
STATE UPDATES
Businesses
Still Throwing Too Many Recyclables Away as Landfill,
Combustion Facility Sweep Finds Excessive Cardboard Disposal
A number of well-known
“Continued disposal of recyclables is a
needless waste of money, raw material, and in-state disposal capacity,” said
MassDEP Acting Commissioner Arleen O’Donnell. “Diverting material from trash
dumpsters to recycling bins saves everyone money. Recycling creates feedstock
for companies that manufacture products with recycled content and employ
thousands of people across the Commonwealth.”
MassDEP estimates that over 1.5 million tons
of paper products are still being disposed in landfills and incinerators across
the state every year at an average cost of $70 per ton – up to $105 million in
recycling savings for business and communities.
As part of a statewide campaign to cut down
on continued disposal of cardboard and other easy-to-recycle materials, MassDEP
sent inspectors to a number of solid waste facilities during the fall to
monitor compliance with a state regulation that prohibits throwing those
materials away.
One of every five truckloads of solid waste
that inspectors observed were found to be in violation of state bans on
disposal of large amounts of recyclables. One-third of the violations involved
excessive amounts of cardboard – up to 40 percent of the material being thrown
away, in some cases.
MassDEP cited 12 companies and organizations
for illegal cardboard disposal from nine locations, with the following waste
hauling companies cited: Allied Disposal of Quincy, BFI Waste Systems of Revere
and Yarmouth, Frade’s Disposal of New Bedford, and Waste Management of South
Hadley and Stoughton; and nine facilities that generated the material: American
Red Cross of Dedham, Building 19 of Lynn, Ethan Allen Furniture of Bellingham,
Friendly Fruit of New Bedford, Home Depot stores in Hyannis and Wareham,
Lindenmeyr Munroe of Franklin, Westfield State College of Westfield, and Wright
Line of Worcester.
The violators were continuing to throw
cardboard away in spite of MassDEP’s efforts to educate waste haulers and
generators about the disposal bans last spring, and ongoing opportunities for
businesses and municipalities to become better acquainted with waste ban
requirements.
Each violator was issued a notice of
noncompliance with the waste ban regulation, and required to draw up a plan to
stop the disposal of banned materials and submit the plan to MassDEP for
approval.
For more information contact
SAVE THE DATE! For the 7th
When: Tuesday, March 6, 2007
from 8:00 - 4:00 (conference & exhibit hall) and Wednesday, March 7, 2007
(optional tours to WeCare Organics, Whole Foods,
Where: Best Western
Royal Plaza Hotel and
Join MassDEP for a professional conference
and vendor exhibit hall focused on organics waste reduction in
Who should attend? Businesses
and state and municipal governments seeking innovative solutions and
cost-saving opportunities for managing organic materials such as commercially
generated food waste and residential leaf and yard waste.
Registration is
available online.
Idling reduction
workshops will be held on March 15 in
Fifteen (15) municipalities
were awarded the idling reduction toolkit grant. The grant provides each municipal awardee
with assistance and materials to develop a local idling reduction
campaign. Materials provided in the
grant may include but are not limited to “no idling” signs, palm cards to
distribute to residents, windshield stickers for cars and buses, bumper
stickers, and anti-idling pledge card that can be used by schools.
For more information
contact John Crisley.
In December 2006, the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection (MassDEP) awarded 30 communities and regional
organizations technical assistance grants and in-kind services totaling more
than $100,000, including over 1,100 hours of dedicated MassDEP staff time to
work on waste reduction projects. MassDEP also awarded school chemical
management grants of $5,000 each to
Additionally, MassDEP awarded approximately $250,000 in grant awards to
communities for Home Composting Bins and Kitchen Scrap Buckets; Public Space
Recycling Containers; Water Conservation Equipment including Rain Barrels and
Water Conservation Kits; Idling Reduction Toolkits; Healthy Lawn Workshops;
Consumer Education Materials. Finally, eight
communities were conditionally awarded Pay-As-You-Throw Assistance grants
totaling $162,000.
For more information
contact Amy Roth.
MassDEP awarded seven communities
the school chemical management grant. The program provides $5,000 to be used towards the cleanout of obsolete
and stock-piled chemicals, and 90 hours of professional hazardous waste
management assistance over a two year period to assist the school with the
creation of a comprehensive chemical inventory, the development of a purchasing
policy to prevent the purchase of unnecessary or highly toxic chemicals, and
the development of an emergency response plan. Each school receiving the grant must commit to forming an Environmental
Health and Safety Team with representatives from Science, Facilities,
Administration and the Fire Department. While the bulk of the chemicals to be managed are generally found in
science labs, the program encourages the management of toxic materials in all
departments, e.g. cleaning products, art department, nurses’ office, grounds
maintenance, fleet maintenance. It is
not unusual to find old chemicals in deteriorating containers, storage rooms
without adequate ventilation, corrosion compromising metal shelving storing
acids, or 10 year supply of other chemicals.
Trainings were held, December 11, 2006 in Spencer
and January 10, 2007 in
Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation recently
awarded $70,000 in grants to two local nonprofit organizations to fund
recycling education programming. The following nonprofit organizations recently
received grants from RIRRC:
The Arthritis Foundation,
Resource Recovery awarded the organization a
$40,000 grant to continue the “E-Z Recycler” program which facilitates
recycling for individuals with arthritis. Many persons with arthritis find it difficult to carry their recycling
bins to the curb for collection. The
program provides those in need of assistance with a wheel kit which allows them
to simply roll their bin out to the curb on collection day. The grant will be used to purchase and
distribute 2,500 wheel kits and bins. In
addition, a comprehensive educational campaign will be launched to educate
members about this unique program.
Instituted in 2005, the “E-Z Recycler” program was
overwhelmingly successful and the current demand exceeds the available
supply.
Recycling for
A $30,000 grant was awarded to Recycling for Rhode
Island Education (RRIE) and will be used for the operation of the
The
Due in large part to funding by Resource Recovery,
the program has grown to over 2,400 members and distributed more than 297,000
pounds of materials last year. The grant
provides funding for the
NEWS FROM ADVISORY MEMBERS
2007
Once again, three prominent recycling and solid
waste agencies in
The
Connecticut Recyclers Coalition (CRC) is working to pass e-waste legislation
that uses shared responsibility with a strong extended producer responsibility
(EPR) component. This effort is being
made after months of research and discussion with experts, administrators, and
stakeholders from around the country. CRC members felt that the Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF) model created a
tax-fed bureaucracy that neither took advantage of corporate efficiencies nor
provided an incentive to equipment manufacturers to improve product
design. In contrast, shared responsibility
with an EPR component allows each player to do what it does best.
Read
the CRC’s e-waste recycling fact sheet or contact CJ
May for more information.
Over
the last year the CRC has educated and entertained nearly 1,000
Read
about “Recycling is Magic” or contact CJ May for more information.
OF GENERAL INTEREST
This past December, agricultural officials,
emergency first-responders, and a few of solid waste professionals gathered in
Recent world events have heightened concern over
animal disease outbreaks and natural disasters. In 2002, 4.7 million birds were
destroyed in
Many Northeast states have sizable poultry and
livestock farms. “Backyard” or “hobby” farming continues to grow in popularity
around the region. Chronic wasting disease in deer is on the rise in Northern
states. Road kill is also an issue
impacting all states.
There are unique challenges to overcome during a
crisis requiring large volume carcass disposal. It is important that agriculture, emergency
management, and solid waste professionals work together to prepare. The following general steps can be used by
state and local officials to prepare for potential disasters:
·
Determine the disposal practices that are environmentally acceptable
according to the area’s geography (e.g., soil type);
·
Identify resources available to the region, including agricultural,
solid waste and composting facilities, haulers, veterinary services, and
existing emergency management plans;
·
Identify state environmental regulations and guidelines for carcass
disposal.
To
test your readiness for a disease outbreak or natural disaster, ask the
following questions:
·
Is your agency ready to deal with the multifaceted dynamics of carcass
disposal-from public relations and pathogen control to large-scale carcass
disposal?
·
As a solid waste professional do you know how to ensure the safety and
personal protection of clean-up personnel involved in carcass transport and
burial?
·
Do you have contracts in place that can be implemented during an
emergency to provide for transportation of carcasses?
·
Do the haulers have the proper transportation equipment to prevent the
spread of disease pathogens?
·
Have you contacted your regional landfill to see if they will allow the
disposal of infectious animals?
·
Are local composting operations prepared and permitted to compost
carcasses?
·
Are the soils in your region acceptable for environmentally safe carcass
burial?
·
Will you be able to provide rapid response in order to protect your agricultural
production from severe disruption?
·
Do you know the agricultural, human health and environmental concerns
pertaining to carcass disposal?
A number of resource documents are available on the
web. These include:
Carcass Disposal: a Comprehensive Review
Articles and fact sheets
on carcass composting, landfilling, and other disposal methods
Overview of options for
the emergency disposal of animals
USDA Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service website
To find out more contact Athena Lee Bradley , NERC Projects Manager.
