SSRC Biweekly Update Week of 1/3/2011
Happy New Year!
In this issue:
CRTRecycling Tour summary, photos
Complete Recycling Solutions Tour summary, photos
SSRC Latex Paint Recycling grant
MassRecycle’s Paper Campaign to air on CBS
Covanta extends drug disposal program
Newton school reduces renovation cost, sends furniture for reuse through IRN
TerraCycle pays for hard to recycle “trash”
MassDEP extends small transfer station permits through 6/2012
MassDEP adds gypsum to list of waste-banned materials
MassDEP to streamline municipal waste and recycling data collection
SSRC Tour of CRTRecycling 10/14/2010
175 Ashland St., Brockton, MA 508-427-7740, http://www.recyclingelectronics.com/
SSRC Tour of Complete Recycling Solutions 10/14/2010
1075 Airport Road, Fall River, MA 02720-4724, (508) 402-7700 http://www.crsrecycle.com/
SSRC Latex Paint Recycling Grant
MassDEP awarded the SSRC a grant for $13,700 to work with its member towns, The Paint Exchange (TPE) in Scituate, and Product Stewardship Institute to collect and recycle leftover latex paint. The parties are almost finished with the details of the Scope. TPE will collect good quality interior latex paint from residents at the SSRC HHW collections in 2011, and on scheduled days at three of our towns’ regular paint collections. TPE then remixes the paint into several different colors in large batches, and sells it at just over half the price of new paint.
The program will be discussed in more detail at our January 20 Board meeting in Duxbury.
The latest episode of “Plymouth County Corner,” with County Treasurer Tom O’Brien, featuring an interview with Claire Sullivan, executive director of the South Shore Recycling Cooperative, is airing at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and at 9:30 a.m. Saturdays on channels 15 (Comcast) and 47 (Verizon).
MassRecycle’s Paper Campaign to air on CBS
MassDEP also awarded a $30,000 grant to MassRecycle to resurrect it’s Paper Campaign, which began at the SSRC. The money will fund a subsidized media blitz through CBS Community Partnerships, which will feature 2 versions of a 10 second ad. The ads will air over 200 times on WBZ TV 5 and WSBK TV38 during NCAA basketball games including March Madness, as well as on the News, Letterman, Jeopardy and other prime time shows from early February through early April. CBS will also produce a 4 minute video which will be aired twice in March and uploaded to YouTube.
The ads, as well as banners on cbs.com will drive viewers to a sweepstakes page, which offers prizes for participants to take the MassRecycle Paper Challenge. It will also link with www.massrecyclespaper.org, which will be updated.
This is a great opportunity for our municipalities to create some synergy with the on-air publicity to remind their residents that most of their waste paper is too good for the trash. The SSRC will be printing thousands of billing inserts for our towns to use in conjunction with the on-air ads with money from a Small Scale Targeted Grant from MassDEP. There are exhibit boards and other tools available for local use as well.
Covanta Extends Drug Disposal Program (from Waste and Recycling News)
Dec. 20 -- Covanta Energy Corp. is extending its prescription drug disposal program through the end of 2011.
The company´s drug safety program had been set to expire at the end of this year. However, the Rx4Safety program was so successful the company decided to extend it for another year.
"Covanta was motivated to roll out the Rx4Safety program after we became aware of the impact pharmaceutical drugs were having on our water supplies and the increasing problem of abuse," said John G. Waffenschmidt, Covanta Energy vice president of environmental science and community affairs. "Our energy-from-waste facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art … air pollution control equipment to ensure the destruction of these drugs in an environmentally sound manner."
The company disposed of more than 30,000 pounds of unwanted medications collected at community-based drug takebacks last year.
Newton school reduces renovation costs; furniture sent for reuse with IRN
This is a story for everyone who says that recycling and reuse cost too much and aren’t worth the effort, and for everyone who has to deal with those folks.
Newton is a suburban city, population about 85,000, less than ten miles from downtown Boston. When the City opened a new high school in August 2010, it reused and donated locally as much furniture as possible from the old school, but was still left with more than 4,000 items of surplus furniture and equipment that needed to go away. Most of the furniture was packed into the gymnasium and pool area; the rest was scattered throughout the old campus.
The City faced tough challenges. The school is located in a residential neighborhood, hampering access for large vehicles. Loading facilities consisted of a single two-foot high dock accessed by one double door. The surplus was less packed than stacked and jumbled into the gym and pool area, a big 3-D jigsaw puzzle, and there were long carries for the surplus that wasn’t in these locations. The surplus was a mix of a lot of usable stuff with a large fraction too decrepit to be used again. more
TerraCycle pays for hard to recycle plastic “trash”
TerraCycle offers free shipping for (brand specific) materials that our recycling processors don’t want- things like candy, gum and cookie wrappers, drink pouches, potato chip bags, Scotch tape holders, Ziploc bags, toothpaste tubes… Most of TerraCycle’s programs offer free shipping as well as a donation for each piece of garbage collected. Sign up to collect one or more of the waste streams listed, or find out more about how the Brigades program works.
I will try it out myself and let you know.
MassDEP extends small transfer station permits through 6/2012
In order to give local Boards of Health time to understand and implement their new responsibilities for permitting their municipal transfer stations, MassDEP has extended operating permits issued since Aug. 15, 2008 through June of 2012. During this time, MassDEP will issue guidance and provide technical assistance for local Boards of Health. Letter
Hingham DPW Director Randy Sylvester attended a workshop run by MassDEP in December to learn what resources municipalities will need to comply. He volunteered me participate on a task force being formed by MassDEP to continue this process. MassDEP acknowledged that towns whose Boards of Health operate their transfer stations may have issues with conflict of interest.
The SSRC will follow through as directed by its members in response to this new statute, and is in communication with other regional organizations. We will take up the issue of a Board response at our next meeting on January 20.
MassDEP adds gypsum to list of waste-banned materials
The MassDEP has established a ban on disposal or incineration of gypsum wallboard at any solid waste facility in Massachusetts beginning on July 1, 2011. Gypsum may be recycled at Gypsum Recycling America, located at 135 Fawcett Street Rear, Cambridge, MA. 617-596-4297 pm@gypsumrecycling.us
Governor Patrick moved Richard Sullivan, the current Commissioner of Conservation and Recreation, to the post as Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs; Ian Bowles is stepping down after four years. He also appointed Ken Kimmel to be the new Commissioner of Environmental Protection. He will replace Laurie Burt, who is stepping down after 3 years of service. Kimmel has been serving as General Counsel to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. [EOEEA press release, 12/28/10]
MassDEP to streamline municipal waste and recycling data collection
MassDEP will be renewing its collection of municipal recycling and solid waste data for calendar year 2010 through a Survey Monkey survey which will be quick and easy to fill out. MassDEP will send this survey via email in early January 2011, and it will be due February 15, 2011. Data submitted by SSRC towns will be very helpful for evaluating and optimizing our member towns’ programs.
There are some important differences compared to MassDEP’s earlier Municipal Recycling Data Sheet collection:
- MassDEP will not calculate residential recycling rates by municipality for calendar year 2010. However, we will make available the information that we receive which will enable basic calculations like per household recycling and solid waste amounts.
- As a result, this survey requests data on all trash and recycling collected through the municipal program, whether it is collected from residents, municipal buildings, schools, or businesses. Survey responses should only include data on materials collected through the municipal program. Data from private subscription hauler collection should NOT be included.
- MassDEP will NOT collect composting tonnage amounts and will instead just collect data on the composting programs available to residents.
- MassDEP will NOT collect data on hazardous products collection amounts, and instead simply collect data on the number of collection days available to residents.
MassDEP expects that completion and submittal of this survey will be a requirement for future municipal recycling and waste reduction grant programs. This survey will provide important data for MassDEP to use to assess and plan waste reduction program initiatives. Once responses are complete, the information collected will be compiled by MassDEP and made available on the MassDEP web site.
MassRecycle’s Spring Recycling and Organics Conference
Building Sustainability through Recycling and Resource Management is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Boxborough MA. This, must attend event, is the premiere recycling conference held in the state. The one-day conference will include a total of 4 tracks: 2 for municipalities, 1 for schools (an municipalities) and 1+ for those interested in organics management.
* 2 Municipal Tracks: Two parallel sets of three workshops packed full of information to help municipalities improve recycling, reduce costs, save time, and make well informed decisions.
* School Track: Three workshops focused specifically on helping schools implement recycling and other sustainability programs
* Organics Track: Three workshops targeted to those specifically interested in organics management, plus each of the other tracks will also include an organics related session.MMA Conference trade show passes available
The 32nd MMA Annual Meeting and Trade Show is being held on January 21 and 22, 2011 at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel. MassDEP's PAYT/ Waste Reduction Booth is #308.
Click here for free Trade Show Only Invitations. As always, only elected, appointed or employed personnel serving our communities may visit the trade show. The show is not open to the general public.
-Claire Sullivan, Executive Director, South Shore Recycling Cooperative
781.329.8318; f 781.329.2097