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November 2016

NERC’s Advisory Members

Distinguished Benefactors

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Benefactors

Coca-Cola

Samsung

Waste Management

Sustaining Members

  • Advanced Drainage Systems

  • American Beverage Association

  • Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR)

  • Blount Fine Foods

  • BlueTriton Brands

  • Bulk Handling Systems

  • Casella Resource Solutions

  • CLYNK

  • Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Inc.

  • Council of State Governments/Eastern Regional Conference

  • Eco-Products

  • Fire Rover, LLC

  • GDB International

  • Glass Packaging Institute

  • Henkel

  • Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI)

  • International Bottled Water Association

  • Keep America Beautiful

  • Keurig Dr. Pepper

  • MRM

  • Nestle USA

  • NEWMOA

  • PaintCare

  • Plastics Industry Association

  • Re-TRAC

  • Recycling Partnership

  • Republic Services

  • Reverse Logistics Group

  • Revolution

  • Serlin Haley

  • Sims Municipal Recycling

  • Sonoco

  • Strategic Materials

  • Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC)

  • TOMRA

  • US Composting Council (USCC)

A list of all the logos of our Sustaining Members can be found under Advisory Members

NEW & RENEWING MEMBERSHIPS

New Sustaining Members

Renewing Supporting Member

NERC NEWS

STATE NEWS

CONNECTICUT

MASSACHUSETTS

VERMONT

ADVISORY MEMBER NEWS

OF GENERAL INTEREST

NEW & REnewing memberships

The broad spectrum of interests represented by NERC's Advisory Members, Individual Supporters, and Board Members and their willingness to participate significantly contribute to the unique and important role that NERC plays in recycling in the region.

For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein, Executive Director.

nerc news

Haven’t Registered Yet for NERC’s Conference? November 1 & 2 - Portsmouth, NH

If you missed registering for NERC’s Conference online, don’t worry.  Walk-in registrations will be accepted at the door and all you have to do is show up.

If you’re still on the fence about whether you should attend, you need to take another look at the Conference Agenda. We’ll be talking about achievable recycling rates, sustainable packaging, safety in recycling collection and processing, electronics reuse, the changing roadmap for food scrap management, new and proven models for food scrap collection, and food scrap processing success,  In addition, the Conference will feature a demonstration of how to fix a broken electronic device, a social hour in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and lots of networking. 

NERC Receives Contract to Coordinate the Vermont Green Business Program

The Vermont Green Business Program (VT GBP) is a recognition program for businesses that conduct their operations in an environmentally-friendly (green) manner.  The no-cost, voluntary program includes the business sectors of hotels, restaurants, marinas, golf courses, and groceries in the Green Mountain State.  This year it will also include dairies.  

NERC won the contract to coordinate the program for the next year with Vermont’s Environmental Assistance Office (EAO).  The work will include:  identifying potential business members, conducting assessments of interested businesses, providing feedback on how to incorporate green practices into their business operations, assisting the businesses with achieving the business requirements, creating a network for the member businesses, promoting the program via social media and traditional news sources, and partnering with other statewide business programs to distribute the GBP marketing materials.

NERC’s work on the contract began on October 1st.  For more information about the program, contact Mary Ann Remolador, Coordinator, VT GBP.

Sustainability & Your Office Equipment – What can you do? - Webinar – November 15th

Buying green, saving power & paper, responsible reuse & recycling - the State Electronics Challenge is a free program that can assist you to improve your organization’s sustainability practices.

The Challenge is open to local, regional, tribal, and state governments, all public & private K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and non-profit organizations.  Participants receive access to free technical assistance, tools, resources, and recognition in support of their efforts to decrease the environmental impact of electronic office equipment.  The Challenge also documents the success of participating organizations.  Program participants receive annual sustainability reports that detail their reductions in energy use, greenhouse gases, and waste.   

To learn more about the State Electronics Challenge, register for the upcoming introductory webinar:

For more information, contact info@stateelectronicschallenge.net or visit the website at www.stateelectronicschallenge.net.

Free Webinar - Food Recovery = Food Rescue - Innovative Strategies

Join NERC for this exciting webinar on Food Recovery = Food Rescue - Innovative Strategies on November 16, 2016 from 1:00 - 2:30 pm (EST).The United States spends an estimated $218 billion a year growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food not eaten—52 million tons of food landfilled annually, plus another 10 million tons that is discarded or left unharvested on farms (ReFED).  And, yet 13 percent of U.S. households (15.8 million households) were food insecure in 2015 (Feeding America).

The webinar will present an overview of models for collecting and redistributing usable, healthy food to our neighbors in need. Two such models will be discussed in detail:

  • The Food Rescue Alliance , a project of Boulder Food Rescue, facilitates grass roots food recovery and movement-building around ending food waste and engaging in food justice in the Rocky Mountain region and around the country. The project entails a peer-learning network between food recovery organizations to share information, technology, and resources to develop innovative models of food recovery.
  •  The Friendship Donations Network (FDN) in Ithaca, New York. FDN strives to redistribute fresh, nutritious food that would otherwise be thrown away. FDN’s Neighborhood Food Hubs program received 8,268 pounds of fresh produce donated by household volunteers in 2015. Through the “hubs,” residents can donate excess produce from gardens, orchards, or CSAs (community supported agriculture).

For more information contact Athena Lee Bradley. The webinar is funded in part through a United States Department of Agriculture grant.

NERC Presents in Canada

NERC’s Project Manager, Athena Lee Bradley, had the honor of presenting at the Canadian Composting Council’s 26th Annual National Organics Recycling & Compost Conference held in late September in Niagara Falls, Ontario. About 250 people attended the event, including a number from south of the border.Canadian Compost Council logo

The Conference opened with an inspiring plenary presentation by Rod Tyler, CEO of Filtrexx International and the inventor of the compost sock. Mr. Tyler explained for attendees the connections between climate change impacts, soil erosion and erosion control, urban gardening, green infrastructure, reforestation, low impact designs, and compost. His presentation set the stage for discussions which occurred throughout the rest of the conference, including the true value of compost and the importance of compost specifications for market development.

“Small is Beautiful: Community Solutions in Organics Recycling from our Good Neighbors to the South”, featured Ms. Bradley presenting on “The Food Recovery Hierarchy in Rural and Small Town Communities”; Amy Freeman of Edible Flint speaking on “Good News Rising: Organics Recycling Leads by Example in Flint, Michigan”; Daniel Ash with Farmer Pirates on “Organics Collection and Composting in Buffalo, New York”; and Linda Bilsens with Institute for Local Self-Reliance presenting on “Waste to Wealth Composting: Building Healthy Soils and Local Economies”.

Other presenters from the United States included Bob Rynk with SUNY Cobleskill speaking on “Recovering Heat from the Composting Process”; Brian Jerose, with Agrilab Technologies discussing “Thermal Energy from Composting”; and Jean Bonhotal, Cornell Waste Management Institute presenting on “Using the Composting Process to Mitigate an Avian Influenza Outbreak”.

A particularly noteworthy session discussed the benefits of using compost on farm soils. Mike Lishman, owner of Arlington Farms, a 1,000 acre, multi-crop farm, set out a few years ago to practice more sustainable farming. He developed a residue management plan to keep crop residues on his land, implemented rotational farming, and started planting cover crops and using organic amendments. He has now virtually eliminated the use of commercial fertilizers on his farm, relying almost entirely on compost and his other sustainable practices. Mr. Lishman has become a well-known advocate for compost, participates in soil research projects to document the benefits of compost to his soil and plants—noting that his plants are healthier and he has greater yield. He also markets custom compost application equipment to other farmers.

Mr. Lishman and others on the panel also addressed what needs to happen to get more farmers using compost: meeting the farmer where he/she is; building customer relationships to better meet the needs of farmers; being prepared to work with farmers when they need to apply compost; and determining which application equipment works best.

It was an exciting two days of sessions, with some 30 exhibit booths and lots of opportunity for networking as well.

For more information contact Athena Lee Bradley.

Partnering to Promote Recycling &  Composting

Through its Creating Healthy Communities through Food Recovery & Composting in Vermont NERC staff has been working with representatives from Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District (LRSWMD) to advance their Sustainable Solutions Business Program. The District includes the communities of Stowe, Johnson, Morrisville, and others and is known for its beautiful vistas, quaint towns, and popular tourist destinations.

The District received funding from Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to help businesses reduce waste and assist businesses in complying with Act 148 - Vermont’s Universal Recycling & Composting law. Act 148 requires mandatory recycling and reduction, recovery, and/or diversion of food scraps for businesses. Food scrap diversion is being implemented through a phased-in timeline. By July 2017, businesses generating 18 or more tons of food scraps per year (about two 64-gallon carts/week) will need to divert them from the landfill.

NERC accompanied LRSWMD staff on eleven technical assistance site visits, and assisted with one waste audit. The site visits involved a walk-though waste assessment and in-depth discussions about current materials management practices with proprietors for each establishment.

To participate in the program, businesses are asked to report tonnages of waste, recyclables, and food scrap diversion (if applicable).

Following the site visit, each business is presented with a report of observations from the visit, along with recommendations and a suggested plan of action for reducing waste and increasing diversion, a sample environmental policy for the business to adopt, resources, and free promotional opportunities.

Participating businesses receive free promotion through press releases and social media, customized service recommendations for hauling and equipment options, staff trainings in waste reduction and waste separation strategies, and free troubleshooting, feedback, and on-going support from District staff.

One of the exciting outcomes of conducting the site visits was the opportunity to visit a number of businesses already embracing “green practices.” For example, Hob Knob Inn located in Stowe, sends it kitchen prep scraps to a local pig farmer. The Harvest Market store owner has embraced sustainable serviceware with a goal to only offer packaging and serviceware which is certified compostable or recyclable in the store and for their catering service.

Commodities Whole Foods Market in Stowe has a unique reuse practice. The Market saves its waxed produce boxes and other containers for local farmers. The farmers can reuse the containers for packing and storing their own produce. The market uses compostable serviceware for its deli and composts its food scraps.

Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit organization located in the town of Johnson. VSC is the largest international residency program in the US, hosting more than 50 visual artists and writers each month. The 30-acre campus has adopted numerous environmental policies, but is interested in becoming more sustainable and a green campus for artists. Meals feature a wide assortment of locally produced bread, cheese, meats, and produce. Currently, all food scraps (prep and post-consumer) are collected for a local chicken farmer. Recycling bins are in place throughout the campus. Structures around the campus are being renovated for energy efficiency. Its creative reuse program goes a long way helping to keep trash to a minimum including: giving reusable mugs to students when they arrive, buying "Local Color" recycled paint, offering warm jackets and sweaters for its international students in its clothing “reuse closet,” reusing steel cans from the kitchen for artists, buying used furniture from ReSOURCE: A Nonprofit Community Enterprise, and more!,

NERC will continue working with the District to recruit and assist potential partners in joining the US Environmental Protection Agency Food Recovery Challenge. The program addresses the economic, environmental and social impacts of food waste and helps participants to save money while protecting the environment and benefiting their communities. Through the free, voluntary program, participants receive tools for implementing food waste reduction, recovery and diversion programs, assessing the costs and benefits, plus positive recognition for their efforts.  

NERC’s Creating Healthy Communities through Food Recovery & Composting in Vermont is funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency.Join NERC in becoming a Food Recovery Challenge Endorser or Partner!

NERC Blog Worth Repeating - How Much Can We Recycle?

The NERC Blog Worth Repeating was written by Chaz Miller, the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the National Waste & Recycling Association.  It was originally posted in Waste360 on September 8, 2016.

Changes in the waste stream have a major impact on our ability to meet recycling goals.

The Olympics recently finished in Rio. It was a showcase of some of the top feats in athletics. And achieving those feats takes a lot of preparation.

When athletes are training, their coaches set goals to measure their progress. These goals challenge the athletes and spur them on to see how much they can achieve. Setting those goals is important. They need to be based on the athlete’s ability and the performance that is needed to win a gold medal.

Athletes with the right mix of skills and training discipline are more likely to succeed if their goals are well defined and achievable. Goals that set too low of a bar will not lead to a gold medal performance, and goals that are set unrealistically high lead to failure or cheating.

Recycling is no different. Goals give recycling programs targets to attain, and they measure progress and define high-performing programs. Athletes have a major advantage over recycling programs when it comes to goals because theirs are set by experienced coaches. Recycling goals are set by politicians based on what is politically palatable.

As a result, recycling goals vary widely among the 50 states. They range from a low of 10 percent to a high of 75 percent. These goals have two things in common: All of them can be divided by five and none of them were set with any thought as to what is realistically achievable.

Clearly, states that set low recycling goals are more likely to have low performing programs. However, while aggressive goals can lead to high performing programs, they can also lead to aggressive reporting by local governments desperate to show to their citizens that they are meeting the challenge.

When politicians set aggressive recycling goals, they forget about the complexity of the waste stream and of waste generators. I suspect most of them are thinking primarily of packaging and paper and don’t give much thought to the rest of the waste stream, yet packaging is only about 30 percent of the waste stream. Printed paper is less than 10 percent, and all the other paper products are less than 5 percent. Even if we could collect and recycle every single package and paper product, we would only be recycling a little more than 40 percent of the waste we make.

What else is left? Aside from food and yard waste, which are a bit less than 30 percent of the waste stream, the other 40 percent of our trash is “durable” and “non-durable” products. Durable products are defined by the Environmental Protection Agency as those with a lifetime of three years or more, and non-durables are used up more quickly. Products such as appliances and furniture are durables, while printed paper, plastic and paper utensils and clothing are non-durables. Our ability to recycle this vast array of products varies widely, yet when it comes to recycling goals, those differences don’t matter.

Moreover, we’ve seen tremendous changes in the waste stream over the last 15 years. These changes—less paper, lighter weight packaging, etc.—have a major impact on our ability to meet recycling goals, yet most politicians are blissfully unaware of their impact when they set those goals.

Where these recyclables are generated is another blissfully ignored factor. We have succeeded in creating a social norm for recycling in “detached” single family housing. We do less well in rural and more urban settings, and we have failed to establish a social norm for recycling in multi-family housing. About 17 percent of the population lives in the latter. And don’t forget that a considerable chunk of our recyclables is generated at businesses.

I’m not saying we should do without recycling goals because I understand their value. But I am saying we need a far more sensible approach to those goals and to how we measure progress in achieving them.

Let’s be like those Olympic athletes—or at least the ones that don’t cheat—and strive to be faster, higher and stronger. But let’s also be like them and have smart goals. And if you want to know what I think they are, tune in next month.

STATE NEWS

CONNECTICUT

Connecticut Launches Recycling Enforcement Initiative

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (‘DEEP”) updated its Solid Waste Management Plan in July of this year with the adoption of a Comprehensive Materials Management Strategy (“CMMS”).  The CMMS is a road map to achieving the state’s goal of 60 percent diversion of materials from disposal by 2024.  To accomplish this, the CMMS acknowledges that Connecticut will need to increase compliance with mandatory recycling provisions.  Accordingly, DEEP has launched a Recycling Enforcement Initiative (“REI”) to support the goals of the CMMS.

The REI is underway with a more robust field presence to address noncompliance with Connecticut’s recycling laws.  The first one hundred facility inspections, which included but were not limited to those performed within the multi-tenant housing, commercial office space, industrial/manufacturing and retail sectors, have discovered a high degree of noncompliance, as approximately seventy-five percent of the facilities inspected had some degree of noncompliance.  DEEP notes that this high rate of noncompliance may be attributable to the concentration of inspections associated with the multi-tenant housing sector.  DEEP found one hundred percent of the properties in this sector maintained some degree of noncompliance.

The REI will continue to provide increased compliance monitoring and prompt follow-up on non-compliance with Connecticut’s recycling laws.  Further information on both the CMMS and on Connecticut’s recycling laws can be found on the DEEP website.

RecycleCT Announces New Grants for Schools & Non-profit Organizations

The RecycleCT Foundation, a public-private partnership created to promote recycling, is accepting grant applications from K-12 schools and non-profits.  The School Grant Program, to support for recycling-related programming at K-12 schools, provides awards up to $2,500, with application due November 15, 2016.  The Innovation Grant Program, to support new and innovative approaches to recycling and waste reduction, will award as much as $10,000, with applications due January 20, 2017. Only tax-exempt organizations, including nonprofits and public schools, are eligible to apply.

Commissioner Robert Klee of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), who chairs RecycleCT, said, “These grants are designed to help advance the state’s goal of increasing recycling and reducing waste.  These goals are outlined in a new, Comprehensive Materials Management Strategy recently adopted by DEEP.”

“The good ideas, hard work, and education needed to meet our statewide goal of 60 percent diversion will come from our schools and innovative nonprofits,” Commissioner Klee said.  “These grants are aimed squarely at unleashing that potential.”
 
The RecycleCT Foundation was created as a result of legislation in 2014 to raise public awareness and participation in recycling.  The legislation also called for the recycling diversion rate to increase to 60 percent by 2024.  DEEP says the state’s overall recycling rate is currently 35 percent. RecycleCT made over $12,000 in grants to K-12 schools in 2016.

MASSACHUSETTS

MassDEP Sustainable Materials Recovery Program Grants (Round 1) Announced

The Baker-Polito Administration has announced nearly $1.6 million in Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (SMRP) grants for 217 municipalities and regional solid waste districts to help maximize their recycling, composting and waste reduction programs.  See full press release here.

Out of 217 communities to receive awards in the first round of SMRP, 166 communities qualified for the “Recycling Dividends Program” (RDP) and will receive payments ranging from $1,200 to $66,000, for a total of $1.39 million statewide. The RDP is an incentive program that recognizes municipalities that have implemented policies and programs proven to reduce waste.  Communities that earn RDP payments must reinvest the funds in their recycling programs for things such as new recycling bins or carts, public education and outreach campaigns, collection of hard-to-recycle items and the establishment of recycling programs in schools, municipal buildings and other public spaces.  This year, MassDEP saw a 21 percent increase in the number of municipalities that qualified for RDP. 

As part of the SMRP, 205 municipalities also applied for “Small-Scale Initiative Grants” and were awarded funding. These population-based grants range from $500 to $2,000 each and help communities purchase modest but critical recycling materials and outreach tools needed to sustain their existing recycling program or to facilitate new, low-cost initiatives. Both of these SMRP programs are administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).

Visit MassDEP’s Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (SMRP) Municipal Grants webpage for a list of grant recipients.

New Reuse & Recycling Web Page

MassDEP has updated our reuse and recycling web page, to bring together and highlight key content in one place. This update does not affect any existing pages or page bookmarks.  Material can still be accessed in the same way it was in the past.  

The new design groups information into three tabs:

  • Households
  • Cities and towns
  • Business and Industry

MassDEP hopes the new design will make it easier to find key content, and welcomes feedback to help improve the site. Located at the bottom of each page is a box requesting feedback.

VERMONT

Universal Recycling Law Boosts Fresh Food Donations Vermont Foodbank

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and the Vermont Foodbank announced today a 40% increase in food donations in 2016, topping the 25-30% increase seen in 2015. This announcement comes during September's Hunger Action Month. It confirms healthier, fresher foods like fruits, vegetables and frozen meat, are making their way into refrigerators and onto plates of Vermonters in need.

"The energy around these new partnerships is contagious. Vermont's Universal Recycling Law is making lives better, improving nutrition and choice at food shelves, and reducing waste at landfills," said Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources.

The Vermont Foodbank started its Fresh Rescue Program in 2014 when it faced challenges managing growing amounts and types of donated food.  Hannaford Supermarkets, for example, had perishable food to donate that was difficult for the Foodbank to retrieve because of its volume, location, and the frequency of pick-ups needed. At the same time, Vermont's Universal Recycling law was beginning to take effect for large grocery stores.  Said John Sayles, CEO of Vermont Foodbank, "To address this challenge, we activated our statewide network of agencies, connecting partner food shelves and meal sites directly with area Hannaford Supermarkets to keep perishable food local."

In 2016, Lieutenant Scott Murray of the Salvation Army of Greater Burlington Area reported, "We are spending less than $500 a month on food and we'll serve around 40,000 meals this year. That works out to a food cost per meal of under $0.07 versus about $1.47 two years ago. And the quality of what we're serving is so much better than before we started getting these particular fresh food donations -- healthy and nutritious meals, fresh fruits and vegetables and new dinner offerings such as kale, pork, chicken and so much more. This program has changed how we cook, what we serve, and benefits so many people. There is no way we could afford to buy the same food as is donated."

Northwest Family Foods, a food shelf program serving Franklin and Grand Isle Counties, recently reported a 55% increase in food shelf visits after being a pilot pickup location for the Fresh Food Rescue Program. They attribute the increase not to new visitors, but to more frequent use by those already being served, in part because they were able to offer better fresh food, more reliably than ever before.

The Milton Family Center, another pilot pickup location of the Program, also reports great success. According to Food Shelf Coordinator Cheryl Alwine, "The Fresh Rescue Program has been fabulous; much of the food is in very good condition. The produce usually lasts from one pickup to the next, so most people coming in for food shelf food are getting a bag of vegetables or fruit, many times both. Last week, we had so much fruit-apples, oranges, and pears!"

By the end of the first year of the program in 2014, sixteen Fresh Rescue partners collected 347,000 pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste. Today, forty Fresh Rescue partnerships exist throughout the state, and more than a million pounds of fresh food is being saved from the dumpster and shared with Vermonters who need it the most.

"Partnering with the state Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), the Vermont Foodbank is deeply involved in implementing Vermont's universal recycling law (Act 148). The law's first priority is to get edible food to people who need it safely and efficiently. We partner with ANR to educate everyone about the new law, teach our fellow Vermonters how to reduce food waste at home, and encourage the safe donation of edible food to the Foodbank and its community partners. If that's not possible, we teach Vermonters how to compost, so those food scraps can enhance our soils and grow more local food," said Sayles.

As noted, Hannaford Supermarkets was an early partner in the Fresh Food Rescue pilot and considers the commitment to hunger alleviation as a core part of its mission. Ben Theriault, Hannaford's Director of Operations in Vermont, sums up his experience saying, "We have been working hard with the Vermont Foodbank and local pantries across the state to ensure that nutritious fruit, vegetables, and other fresh food is rescued regularly by our stores, so that it can be provided to Vermonters at risk of going hungry."

Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and California are all working to reduce wasted food and help meet the EPA and US Department of Agriculture's nationwide goal of a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030. The ultimate aim is to improve overall food security and conserve our nation's natural resources.

ADVISORY MEMBER NEWS

SPLC Turns Three – Reflecting & Looking Forward

As fall 2016 begins, we celebrate the first three years of SPLC programs.

Reflecting on Our Progress
Three years ago, sixty-five representatives from SPLC’s founding members and partners met at our Founding Summit at the National Academy of Sciences in DC to discuss how a new nonprofit could most effectively advance leadership in sustainable purchasing. I’m pleased to say that many of the items members put on the Council’s roadmap that day are either complete or well under way:

  • We’ve convened a vibrant leadership community of practice, and supported it with in-person meetings, online networking, and knowledge-sharing infrastructure.
  • We created a balanced governance and membership structure that enables input from key stakeholders at more than 160 member organizations.
  • We published a shared definition of leadership in sustainable purchasing in the form of five Principles.
  • We conducted an extensive review of existing sustainable purchasing guidance as part of identifying the best action planning, sustainability spend analysis and product/service category guidance to reference and include in the Council’s Guidance for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing v2.0.
  • We are in the process of launching a System for Benchmarking Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing, which will allow organizations in any sector to self-assess and benchmark their sustainable purchasing activities. This system will inform the Rating System for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing SPLC will pilot in 2017.
  • Along the way, the Council has become a platform for collaborative projects through which members develop solutions to shared challenges, such as the Committee on Supplier Ratings and the Supplier Development Working Group.
  • And, the Council is bringing greater attention to sustainable purchasing leadership via its Leadership Awards, Case Study Library, and hundreds of presentations at conferences, meetings, and on webinars.

These are achievements for us all to be proud of, and they are a testament to the vision of our founding members, the contributions of all of SPLC’s members, partners, and funders, and the hard work of SPLC’s dedicated staff. The SPLC could not have achieved such success without the collaboration and constructive engagement of this vibrant community of purpose. Thank you to everyone who has participated in our work.

Looking Forward
Throughout this work, we have pursued a dual mission: 1) to address shared sustainable purchasing challenges with shared solutions (our “member service” mission); and 2) to promote sustainable market transformation through collective action (our “public interest” mission). As we collectively reflect on SPLC’s work to date and look forward to the work ahead, we invite your input on a question that we grapple with on a daily basis: How can we deliver most effectively on this dual mission?

As a member service organization…

  • Are there shared challenges that we are failing to address?
  • Are there opportunities to create shared solutions that we are missing?
  • Are there missing resources that we could provide to support purchasers’ leadership?

As a public interest organization…

  • Are there ways we could more effectively leverage current momentum to accelerate market transformation?
  • Are there key issues or campaigns that we could more actively support through our work?
  • Are there civil society partners with whom we should be more directly engaged?

We want to hear from you on these questions. For those of you who are members, please feel free to contribute your thoughts within the online Community Forum. For those who are not yet members, please feel free to email us.

Save the Date - CT Recycling Conference - January 2017

The Connecticut Recyclers Coalition will be hosting its annual CT Recycling Conference on January 18, 2017 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington, Connecticut. Details will be available soon at www.ctrecyclers.com. Email if you would like to be added to CRC's mailing list and receive conference updates directly. 

Automotive Glass Recycling Report - BHS Sonthofen

Due to the cost implications of producing virgin glass, the recycling of automotive glass (photo on left)Automotive Glass Recycling has long made great sense. The disposal costs of this resource are not only expensive but traditional landfill methods are being curtailed due to overburden of landfill sites.

Unlike standard glass products, automotive glass is typically made with two or three sheets of glass laminated with sheets of plastic. This makes the recovery of this resource more complicated than standard glass recycling. This has caused the need for recyclers to investigate alternative treatment solutions.

As a result of this; BHS-Sonthofen was approached by a blue chip recycling company to investigate different methods of treatment and develop a solution. The goal was to determine if there was an alternative to the standard glass pre-treatment method which although is effective; suffers from a very high wear rates. The solution should crush and de-laminate the glass to achieve clean individual fractions with a low volume of fines.

Testing Process

BHS selected 2 different pre-treatment machines and 1 secondary treatment machine.

  1. A twin rotor shredder, BHS model VR (photo right). BHS model VR This twin shaft shredder offers a low speed high torque size reduction solution. The VR shredders breaking action promotes minimized wear impact on the cutting blades.
  2. Rotorshredder Model RSA Rotorshredder Model RS, (photo left) a large vertical mill with internal screening offering high throughput with low wear cost. This machine crushes and disaggregates large volumes of materials. This machine can process more material and have a more homogenous crushing result which means the processing time in the secondary machine is reduced.
  3. For secondary treatment a Rotor Centrifugal CrusRotor Centrifugal Crusher Model RSMXher Model RSMX (photo right), which was developed for minerals aggregated industry, is a high speed machine with an internal shelf which allows for autogenous milling.

BHS examined 3 scenarios at the test center:  small-medium volumes and large volumes.

  • For small volume of material (<2 tph), only pre-treatment with the Twin Shredder (VR)
  • For small volume to medium volume of material (2 – 10 tph), pre-treatment with the VR then secondary treatment with the RSMX.
  • For large volumes (> 10 tph), BHS selected the RS Rotorshredder for pre-treatment then secondary treatment with the RSMX. The Rotorshredder’ s greater influence and more homogenous crushing results means that time required in the second step RSMX is reduced.

Test Results

While the VR shredder successfully size reduces the input materials in preparation for step two its influence on the materials do not start the delamination process. Rotorshredder 2018 for large volume of material starts to have a delaminating effect on crushing input materials as opposed to size reducing them.

The output of the two pre-treatment methods was then placed in the RSMX Rotor ceRSMX Rotor centrifugal crusherntrifugal crusher. (Photo left) The resulting material from the RSMX was successful as the high velocity crushing and delaminating action generated a clean glass cullet free from laminated plastic. The fines produced during the process are used as a talc, deactivating the glue on the plastic laminate preventing any sticky residues. You can clearly see the size variation between the delaminated plastic and glass cullet and the ease at which these can be screened apart resulting in clean recoverable fractions.

Conclusion

Twin shaft shredder; (VR) has little effect on the infeed material other than to size reduce it to an acceptable grain size for input into the RSMX.

Rotorshredder (RS) on the other hand has a much greater effect on the infeed materials generating a much more even feedstock for the RSMX and having a first step delaminating action on the materials. It should however be noted that RS2018 requires large TPH throughput to be both economically viable and effective. Rotorshredder like RSMX needs material to work on material and therefore significant throughput volumes are required.

Rotary Centrifugal Crusher (RSMX): We can conclude that pre-treated material fed to the BHS RSMX exit the machine as a clean glass cullet delaminated Glass Culletand free from plastic. (Photo right)

This valuable recovered glass cullet can be reintroduced to the glass making industry or further size reduced as recovered secondary agSizing graphgregate or recovered sand.

This is also true of many other types of glass treated employing this method. Green glass has of late very BHS Pilot Plantsuccessfully been used as recovered sand in many building and drainage projects.

The pilot plant at BHS-Sonthofen GmbH is available for testing of your material. 

Organix Solution’s Layered Approach to Waste Management & Energy Recovery Starts with Source Separated Organics

In April 2003, the City of Wayzata became the first in Hennepin County, Minnesota to begin organics recycling. Working together with the waste hauler Randy’s Environmental Services, their pilot first started out in a specific neighborhood and Randy's used separate trucks for trash and organics collection. What evolved from a hauler’s commitment to organics recycling and a decade of research into a solution that met the needs of the city and residents is the present Blue Bag Organics® system in Minnesota.Organix Solutions Co-collection

Because of the close working relationship with the City of Wayzata, Randy’s was continually evaluating and upgrading its systems to satisfy community needs and concerns. As the pilot expanded into more neighborhoods, the hauler tried split body trucks, purchased new trucks for dedicated routes and built a relationship with a local composting facility. Finally, the idea of a compostable bag as the backbone of a co-collection model took hold and Randy’s not only sought out a suitable compostable material to make the co-collection possible, they also designed and started to manufacture their own compostable bags that would withstand compaction in a truck.

The Blue Bag Organics co-collection program was launched in 2012.  Household source separated organic waste in the Blue Bag is co-collected with other MSW on the same truck, sorted at a transfer station or material recovery facility (MRF) and then diverted to compost facilities. It eliminated the need to add routes, trucks and containers to collect organics, saving enormous costs.

Organics Classified as a Recyclable

In 2014, Minnesota set a new recycling goal for metro counties to recycle and compost 75% of solid waste by 2030, up from a 49% recycling rate. Minnesota Statue 115A.03 subdivision 25a defines recyclable materials as materials separated from mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) for the purpose of recycling or composting. It specifically includes source separated organics (SSO) as a recyclable.

Today over 31 cities in Minnesota have implemented the Blue Bag program and more communities are signing on. Organix Solutions was established to offer the co-collection program to cities and other haulers, and introduce their co-collection program outside of Minnesota, especially in the Northeast. Organix Solutions manufactures its own BPI certified compostable bags branded outside of Minnesota as the Green Bag Organix ™ compostable bags that are designed to withstand the compaction of a waste truck and are fully compostable at a composting facility. 

The Layered Approach

Organix Solutions’ Layered Approach™ is designed to recover a higher percentage of the organic fraction than was previously possible through cost effective SSO programs and the remaining organics found in the MSW stream. The Layered Approach can initially target organics and expand to include other recyclable materials. 

As an example, counties or municipalities may only require Layer 1 SSO for a sustainable curbside co-collection program that directs SSO to composting, which reduces GHG emissions by eliminating the need for an additional truck and dedicated organics route. 

Layer 1 is designed for residential or commercial generators and collection can be done by the local hauler. The Green Bag Organix co-collection program is an SSO solution designed for all stakeholders to divert organics from the MSW and direct this valuable material to a composting facility. Layer 2 involves processing MSW in a MRF designed to recover smaller organic matter along with traditional recyclables to improve efficiencies. Mechanical solutions involving material recycling machinery is added to existing processing equipment to capture traditional recyclables along with any organics and non-recyclable material remaining in the MSW stream.

By separating the remainder of the waste stream through a twin, double stacked ballistic separator into round and flat fractions, traditional recyclables are captured and the remaining organics and non-recyclable materials can be further processed in Layer 3 that is the BurCell System, a proprietary technology for recovering the organic and non-recycled paper waste fraction of the waste stream producing a processed engineered feedstock ideal for dry anaerobic digestion, Layer 4.

As a complete system, Organix Solutions’ Layered Approach provides a cost-effective and sustainable collection and treatment solution that recovers organic waste, recycles it to highest value uses and returns it to our community value chain. This represents an opportunity for municipalities and commercial entities to achieve recycling goals and compliance with impending organic waste diversion mandates.

For more information, contact Debra Darby.  

Vermont Breweries Swap Beer Can Holders for Recyclable Version

Black plastic has been in the news lately. The reason? It’s no longer recyclable in Chittenden County, Vermont. Several local breweries took quick steps to adapt to the change.

“The news came at just the right time,” says Renee Nadeau, co-owner of Rock Art Brewery of Morrisville. “We were just about out of the black ones, so we placed an order for green.” The new color will appear on the shelves as the black ones sell out.

14th Star Brewing Co. CEO Andrea Gagner contacted CSWD as soon as she learned that black plastic wasn’t recyclable anymore. She wanted to make sure that they were switching to a can holder that wouldn’t end up in the landfill.CSWD Rock Art -14th Star can with black plastic holders

“We are very passionate about our community – not only what directly impacts the citizens, but the environment as well.” 14th Star Brewing Co. is currently looking to sell their stock of black plastic can holders to another brewer out of state.

Rock Art has been brewing beer for 19 years and have designed their process and packaging to enable them to keep their environmental footprint to a minimum. “We recycle our water, we minimize packaging, and use recycled paper for our case boxes,” says Nadeau.

If you haven’t yet heard, black plastic is no longer recyclable in Chittenden County because the recycling markets—global companies that buy our material —no longer want it. You can’t “un-black” black, which limits what it can be recycled into.

We depend on the money we make selling recyclables to pay for the recycling program, including operating and maintaining CSWD’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), paying the people who work there, and providing blue recycling bins and tools at no charge to residents and businesses.

Recycling is definitely not without cost. Fortunately, black plastic makes up only 0.06% of what we receive at our recycling facility, and we’re hoping that number shrinks even farther as consumers increasingly choose products thoughtfully packaged in recyclable materials.

So, what can you do? Seek alternatives to black plastic packaging and products. There are many out there and every purchase you make validates the decisions manufacturers have made for their product design and packaging choices—including the right ones.

ISRI Announces Topics for Annual Youth Video & Poster Contest

The submission period is now open for the Institute of Recycling Industries’ (ISRI) fourth annual Youth Video & Poster Contest. Students currently in grades K-12 are given the chance to use their creativity to come up with a poster or video focusing on a selected topic dealing with the scrap recycling industry.

This year’s contest, which is in partnership with JASON Learning, features one theme for poster design and two themes to choose from for video. The theme for the poster contest is ISRI’s role as the Voice of the Recycling Industry™.  Students entering the video contest will choose between a video showcasing the process of recycling an item that is “Bigger than the Bin,” or interviewing a recycling professional employed at an ISRI member company. The goal for both the video and poster contests is to showcase the different facets scrap recycling industry and its impact on the world.

Entries must be submitted by January 20, 2017. Prizes for the finalists include being featured on the JASON Learning and ISRI websites, a year of JASON online access, a contest t-shirt, a certificate, and, for the grand prize winners, a trip to New Orleans, April 22-27, 2017, with a parent or guardian to participate in ISRI’s Annual Convention and Exposition.

New Features Released for the ISRI Mobile App

A new update is now available for ISRI Mobile in the iTunes Store (iPhone users) and Google Play Store (Android users) that is designed to improve the overall user experience for ISRI’s official app. Now ISRI members can sign in to the Members Only section using the same information as they do to login in to the ISRI website. Once logged in, the user will not have to login again.

Scrap magazine now has a standalone button on the main dashboard. Users login using the same ISRI user information and can view the digital edition, the new feature Scrap Beat containing industry news, and ScrapTV. While the app does have specific ISRI member only features, there is plenty of information available for non-members as well.

of general interestEPA Launches Anaerobic Digestion Website

The U.S. EPA has launched a new website dedicated to anaerobic digestion.