NERC | Northeast Recycling Council
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Environmental Benefits CalculatorOriginally Funded by U.S. EPA, Region II, August 1999 Updated
by the © Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) Download the Calculator in Microsoft Excel format Environmental Benefits Fact Sheet (blank)
NERC's Environmental Benefits Calculator is the most up-to-date, accurate, and comprehensive tool of its kind in the United States. It is usable by any state, region, county, town, institution, school and business in the United States. Among the Calculator’s unique features are the environmental benefits of computer recycling and reuse calculator, an energy savings comparison chart, and an emissions savings comparison chart. A great deal of effort went into ensuring that the Calculator, an Excel spreadsheet, is user-friendly. After entering an entity’s specific source reduction, reuse and recycling information, as well as the state-specific data from the web (the web links are provided in the Calculator itself), the Calculator produces detailed graphs and tables analyzing the environmental benefits of the recycling program. In addition, an Environmental Benefits Fact Sheet summarizing the Calculator results is provided. IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ What Does the Calculator Do? NERC’s Environmental Benefits Calculator (in Microsoft Excel 2003; part of Office Professional Edition 2003) generates estimates of the environmental benefits of a study area, based on the tonnages of materials that are source reduced, reused, recycled, landfilled, or incinerated (includes waste-to-energy). The Calculator is based on per ton figures of the estimated energy use and emissions from several lifecycle analysis studies. The estimates are average figures based on "typical" facilities and operating characteristics existing in the United States. Factors that are not included in this Calculator are landfill gas recovery and generation of electricity by waste-to-energy. The Calculator incorporates U.S. EPA's most recent WARM Calculator, as well as, facts and figures for the US Department of Energy, Steel Recycling Institute, Glass Packaging Institute, and US Climate Technology Cooperation Gateway, to name a few. More facts and figures can be found cited throughout the Calculator. The Output Tables provided by the Calculator and the accompanying Fact Sheet are intended to be used as references by waste prevention officials and advocates in preparing outreach materials such as press releases, presentation slides, educational curricula, and articles. Completed Fact Sheets on the ten Northeast states can be found on NERC's website at www.nerc.org. By documenting some of the more important benefits of source reduction, reuse and recycling, the Calculator can be used to educate the public, legislators and others about these benefits, assist state and municipal employees to better understand the impacts of their waste management programs, support market development efforts, and to increase the public’s understanding of source reduction, reuse and recycling as a sustainable environmental strategy. Who Can Use the Calculator? The Calculator is usable by any state, region, county, town, institution, college or business in the United States. It is limited to use in the U.S., because many of the data inputs and conversion factors are based on U.S.-specific data and technologies. In addition, the environmental savings presented in the Calculator are compared to state-specific data. This is important for local governments to keep in mind. U.S.-based businesses are encouraged to use the calculator to determine the environmental benefits of recycling their office wastes and by-products. However, since recycling is only a portion of a business’ activity, there is another model to assist in calculating the benefits of manufacturing and purchasing recycled content materials - The ReCon Tool may be found on the U.S.EPA Climate and Waste Program website, at http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content What Information Does the Calculator Produce? The Calculator yields the following detailed tables with accompanying descriptive charts:
How Do You Use the Calculator? Step 1 Go to “Worksheet 1. Data Inputs” to enter materials management data. Worksheet 1. Data Inputs is the place to input your area's data. This includes tonnages for source reduction, reuse, recycling, landfilling, and incineration/waste-to-energy. See notes to the right of the blue cells in the “Worksheet 1. Data Inputs” for additional tips on entering the materials management data. (If seeking state-specific materials management data and outside of the Northeast region, contact your state recycling agency for this information. The ten Northeast states’ data is run through the Calculator on a yearly basis, and the Fact Sheets summarizing the results can be found on NERC’s website at www.nerc.org.) Step 2 Also in “Worksheet 1. Data Inputs,” enter state-specific data obtained through the Internet. This state-specific data includes statistics such as energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that puts your area's environmental benefits intocontext. Sources for this data and instructions for navigating through the sites to find your state’s data are provided in each Input Section of the worksheet. Please note: This state-specific data is already maintained by NERC for the ten Northeast states. If your study area is within one of these states, contact Athena Lee Bradley for a partially-completed version of the Calculator that includes this data. Step 3 Click on "Worksheet 2. Environmental Impacts,” using the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet. This sheet provides 15 automatically-generated tables from your inputted data. Each table is presented on a separate page with descriptive charts. Step 4 Produce a Fact Sheet Using a Mail Merge Word File. The accompanying Fact Sheet summarizes your area's environmental benefits from the Calculator into narrative form. The Fact Sheet is intended to be used as a marketing tool for educating the public about the environmental benefits of recycling. To create your area's data-specific Fact Sheet, follow these instructions. Save the latest version of your Calculator analysis. Open the blank Fact Sheet in Word. In Word, display your Mail Merge toolbar by selecting "View" and then "Toolbars." From your Mail Merge toolbar, click on "Open Data Source." Select the Calculator Excel file. Select "Wksh 5. Fact Sheet Outputs" worksheet. Again from your Mail Merge toolbar, click on "Merge to New Document." (Please note there are other routes to completing the mail merge through the main Word toolbar under "Tools." Read through the resulting Fact Sheet and edit it to fit your circumstances and the data you entered. For example, if you did not enter any source reduction or reuse figures, delete these references.) For more information about or questions on NERC's Environmental Benefits Calculator, contact Athena Lee Bradley. |
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