ReCommunity has put together an excellent resource on recycling. It covers, well … everything. I thought that it would just be a good resource for our readers. So that’s enough from me, here you go learn something about recycling:
ReCommunity Recycling: Education
Finally, Detroit residents will be receiving curbside recycling. Actually some are right now;this Labor Day weekend Palmer Woods residents had their recycling carts delivered. What began about 4 years ago has grown to about 10,000 Detroiters, and hopefully one day all of Detroit will be recycling.
“Our goal is to get to a point where everyone in the city is recycling,”
Ron Brundidge, director of the Public Works Department.
In the suburbs of Detroit, recycling has been embraced my most communities, we have drop-off locations and curbside collection everywhere. Now finally Detroit will get to experience the joy of reducing waste through recycling. Education in schools and in the home is where it begins, hopefully a new generation of Detroiters will embrace the earth and environment. By practicing green ideals like recycling we can make change.
Recently, the recycling authority serving my hometown of Farmington Hills, MI, the RRRASOC – the Resource, Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County, went to single stream recycling. Single stream recycling is a system in which all recyclables, including newspaper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum, junk mail, etc., are placed in a single bin or cart for recycling. These recyclables are collected by a single truck and taken to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to be sorted into various commodity streams for sale to markets, where it is processed into feedstock which can be used in the manufacture of new products. Here is a picture of our new 96 gallon cart, which is 82 gallons larger than our old bin.
Until recently, the predominant form of curbside recycling in the U.S was “dual stream” collection where each material type is kept in a separate bag or bin, and trucks have three or more compartments. The move to single stream recycling is a way to reduce costs. On the collection side, the use of a large roll-cart allows collectors to automate pick-up from inside the truck cab, and single-compartment trucks save labor and transportation costs. (See, Single Stream Uncovered by Clarissa Morawski, Resource Recycling, Feb. 2010). Due to the ease of use and larger bin sizes, cities often see an increase in recycling rates. In areas where single stream recycling is offered, participation is around 95%. Ann Arbor, MI had a 20% increase in recycling tonnage after implementing single stream recycling in 2010. Unfortunately, that 20% increase was 40% short of projections and caused Recycle Ann Arbor to request an increase of over $107,000. Ann Arbor’s single stream recycling system cost over $4.6 million to implement and, based on the overly optimistic projections, was expected to take 7 years to repay the costs.
The real complaint against single stream recycling is an increase in contaminants, causing a decrease in value for the recycled materials and an increase in the amount of previously recycled materials going to landfills. The Blue Heron Paper Company saw the level of contamination go from 3.3% in 1999 to 6.1% in 2005. This caused them to send over 11,000 tons of material to landfills in 2005, up from 5,200 tons in 1999. However, by implementing a consumer education program and investing in new technology at the material recovery facility, the Metro Waste Facility in central Iowa was able to keep contaminant levels to 3%.
Michel E. Hoffman of Wunderlich Securities points out one of the other possible downsides of single stream recycling. He believes that the move to single-stream recycling could have consequences. Hoffman says, “There are a lot of small- and medium-sized companies that will have to think about building single-stream MRFs. Some won’t have access to capital. Those who do have capital may not want to risk it. The alternative would be to sell to a larger competitor. So as single-stream processing matures, it may fuel a new wave of consolidation in the waste industry.”
The recession of 2008 has led to reduced city budgets. This has only sped the adoption of single stream recycling due to its lower costs. With this pressure on government to reduce costs, despite its mixed success, despite increased contaminants and increased consolidation (leading to less competition) it looks like Single Stream recycling is here to stay.
Over the past decade a lot has changed in the recycling world, new products such as bio-plastics have made their way into the recycling stream. The original “No. 7” group for non-recyclables is now too large to contain the new materials on the market. A complete redesign for the labeling of recyclable material is too important to ignore anymore. A pilot program was put together by the Package Recovery Label System, rolling out sometime 2012 hopefully. The program included five companies such as Microsoft and REI.
“Consumers are faced with a confusing landscape of recycle messages…” Anne Bedarf, the Project Manager of the test labeling project. Bedarf hopes to prove the effectiveness of the new labels which in turn will increase recycling rates in many communities.
The new labels will classify packaging of products into three categories:
For material with limited recycling the phrase “check locally” will be in the center of the chasing-arrows icon. For non-recyclable material a black diagonal line will cross through the arrows.
This pilot-program is the beginning of change, the beginning of more accurate way to sort recyclable material found in consumer packaging as well as an attempt to change the way we think about whether something can or cannot be recycled. Hopefully, it will lead to more material making it to the recycling bin rather than the trashcan.
There are still bumps along the road ahead, recyclable material may become easier to identify but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy to actually recycle it. Hopefully this over-haul of the recycling labels will encourage more communities to institute curbside-recycling or create more recycling centers or drop-off locations.
If you would like to learn more about this project, please read my other article about recycling labels.
Let me know what you think, leave a comment below…
Do you believe that new recycling labels will increase recycling rates?
Styrofoam, just the sound of the word may send chills down the spines of many.
“Doesn’t that stuff NEVER break down?”
The answer is Yes. But there is more to the story. Styrofoam is actually Polystyrene aka Plastic, which has been infused by air to puff it up. We all know that air is a good insulator, so Styrofoam keeps your coffee warmer longer for this reason.
If you throw Styrofoam in the trash, then it will go to a landfill and will not break down for hundreds of years, maybe never! So what do we do about all of this foam waste?
Recycle it!
You got it! Styrofoam is actually very recyclable, but one of the least recycled materials because it is mostly air and therefore recyclers do not waste their time hauling it because the rates are too high.
Luckily, there are progressive companies like Dart Container in Mason, MI (outside Lansing) who have a polystyrene recycling facility and collect within a 100 square miles as well as accept deliveries of used Styrofoam. If you would like to learn more about Dart and their recycling initiative please read my article about it, which is based on a tour I took of their facility.
Recently, a life cycle analysis (LCA) was released by Cascades, Inc., which dispels many myths about the illustrious Styrofoam. The LCA demonstrates the vast capabilities of the material as well as calculating the ecological effects of its manufacture and use.
The study proves that polystyrene is actually a good choice for the environment, based on the fact that the impact of a material on the environment is determined by the type and amount of energy used to make it. Here’s what they found out:
Designed to judge the environmental impact of Cascade’s food packaging trays, the LCA included 7 types of packaging materials.
The president of Cascades, Luc Langevin said:
“This analysis provides an new perspective on food packaging. The environmental performance of our trays is much better than popular belief. Polystyrene foam can now be part of our environmental packaging solution.”
“These findings have us taking stock of our current situation so that we can better understand our impact and thereby improve our efforts to reduce the environmental footprint left by our products.”
I hope that this post helps shed some light on the myth’s about Styrofoam. It is actually a very ecologically sound choice, thus why we use and recycle all of our Styrofoam cups here at Maxi. We hope that in the future, more companies and consumers start to understand the ecological benefits associated with choosing Styrofoam over paper cups. I urge you to please forward this post to someone whom you think would benefit from the information.
The full results of the LCA are available on cascades website.
Original article found though Packaging Diva published by JoAnne Hines.
You can read the original article by Cascade’s Inc. in The Sacramento Bee by following this link.
I am old enough to remember a time when appliances and electronics were expensive, big and lasted a long time. Due to their cost, you fixed things that broke and they did not quickly become obsolete. Every neighborhood had a TV Repair Service or a Handy-man who could fix TV’s, radio’s, phonographs, appliances, vacuum cleaners, etc. A recent AARP article (see, I am old) updated the old 50% rule. In essence, if the repair cost less that 50% of the replacement cost of an item, then repair it.
Sadly, this old rule is at odds with our current digital age and Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, who described the trend in a 1965 paper. He noted that the number of components in integrated circuits had doubled every two years from the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 until 1965 and predicted that the trend would continue.
I bought my first “personal” computer, a Commodore Vic-20 in 1980. I still have it sitting in our basement. I bought my second PC in 1985, a Tandy 1000. Since then, the number of computers I have bought are t00 numerous to mention. It seems, like Moore predicted, that I would be replacing a computer every few years. Sometimes it is because something went wrong with it, but often, it is just because I need (or want) a newer, more powerful and faster computer. It is even worse with cell phones. I had drawers filed with close to twenty old cell phones. Often they worked fine, but I received a newer phone with better features by re-signing another 2-year contract with my wireless provider.
As mentioned in the My Life Scoop Blog, the United Nations Environmental Program estimates that each year, 20-50 million tons of e-waste is dumped into landfills around the world, ranging from old phones, TVs, microwaves, computers and more – but most of the time it’s not because these gadgets are defunct; they’re being dumped in favor of new releases. They go on to say that most people fail to properly dispose of their unwanted electronics, carelessly trashing them without regard to the hazardous materials they contain, including PCBs, lead and mercury. Many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, respiratory illness, and reproductive problems, and damage the earth by seeping into the soil and ground water.
My wife finally had enough of this e-waste build up and in no uncertain terms told me to find a home for all these gadgets. Fortunately, we live in Farmington Hills, MI and our local recycling authority, RRRASOC accepts e-waste at its Southfield location. They also accept e-waste at the various Household Hazardous Waste Collection Events that they hold throughout the year.
RRRASOC points out that e-waste:
“…is the fastest growing portion of the municipal waste stream. As those products reach the end of their useful life, it is important to remember that many of these products are reusable, recyclable, or pose a concern if not handled properly.”
It is important to use an e-waste recycler that you trust. There are some e-waste recyclers out there that say they recycle the e-waste in an environmentally sustainable manner, but in reality do not. A recent Waste & Recycling News article stated that for the first time criminal charges have been filed against electronic waste recyclers accused of duping customers and sending e-waste abroad to developing countries.
According to the article:
“…the indictment says the company developed a scheme to falsely represent that it would dispose of all e-waste in an environmentally friendly or green manner. The company also said it would recycle the items in the U.S., not overseas… Executive Recycling was the subject of a “60 Minutes” report in 2008 which tracked containers from its facility to Hong Kong.”
Executives for the company could spend up to 20 years in prison, if convicted on the most serious charges. An even better way to get rid of functional e-waste is to donate them. Most schools, charities and places of worship run on very tight budgets. What appears to you as an obsolete computer or printer, may be a step up for them or one of their clients. At this years Plymouth Green Street Fair, unwanted e-waste was donated to raise money for Beaumonts’ Chidren’s Hospital. Another exhibitor collected used cell phones to be turned into prepaid phone cards for US Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to call their families.
Despite these efforts, the e-waste at both my home and office continues to grow. If you have a good suggestion for a way to recycle or donate e-waste, please let us know in the comments.
Related Links:
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) plans to update the labels used to differentiate recyclable material in consumer packaging. Recently, I have noticed more and more “green-washing” done by companies who advertise that their product is “recyclable”. Though this statement may be true, often this message confuses the consumer, whom at a glance may think it is made from recycled material. Also, even if a company claims that their product is recyclable, that does not always mean that recycling for that specific material is available in your area. To clear up all the confusion, so we all can see this issue clearly, the SPC has decided to update the labeling system for various recyclable materials into four categories.
These categories include:
*For more information about Styrofoam recycling, please read our article about Dart Container and their Styrofoam recycling initiative by clicking here. |
What does all this mean for you, the consumer? It means simply that the materials you receive all of your favorite products in, and the products themselves will be easier to identify if it is actually recyclable and how to recycle it. Of course, in different areas there are different recycling options available, but now consumers will know more clearly if their product or packaging is recyclable and what steps to take to get it to the right facility to take care of it. It may be as easy as curbside for some of you, or it could be a trip back to the place of purchase. Either way it will be easier to identify recyclable materials.
A limited number of SPC members will be participating in a test run of the project this fall that will run through 2011. SPC hopes that this new labeling system will eventually become universal.
Susan Freinkel, a blogger for Fast Company, wrote about an initiative that is underway to update the numbering systems on plastic containers. Hopefully we will see this system become implemented in the next 2-3 years. This new numbering system should take into account the greater variety of plastics now available in the market. Right now the market is flooded with a broad range of bio-plastics. Only some of these bio-plastics actually are biodegradable. As of now these bio-plastics are mixed into the #7 category along with other non-recyclables.
The recycling world is constantly changing as new materials are introduced into the market. The ability for recyclers to manage the materials they receive is essential to them being successful. The state of the recycling world right now (in particular plastics) is a mess. Bio-plastics along with other materials mislabeled as recyclable, when in actuality they are not recyclable or recycling for such materials is not easily accessible. Overall, the changes the SPC has proposed to help determine how readily available recycling is for specific materials and updating the plastics numbering system for recycling to include bio-plastics, could greatly benefit the recycling world.
I recently got the chance to take a tour of Dart Container’s recycling facility. Dart has a statewide (and further) polystyrene (also known as Styrofoam) recycling program, where they collect used polystyrene from the food service industry, schools, county recycling drop offs; and people send them polystyrene to be recycled. Dart’s trucks go within a one hundred mile radius of Mason, MI (right outside Lansing), reaching forty-four county sites in twenty counties. Dart does this as a public service and they do not necessarily make money recycling, they do it because it is simply the right thing to do (being as they are primarily a new polystyrene manufacturer).
The process itself is quite amazing; they have a few employees who sort the trash before it gets processed. There are three different levels of polystyrene, which ends up as three different colors/qualities of usable resin. After being sorted the polystyrene is melted back down and then cooled in water. Little pellets are created, and they are slightly bigger than normal virgin plastic pellets and a little smaller than a pea.
Dart faces a few difficulties in this recycling system, first is transportation and second is finding suitable end-users, or basically what to do with all the plastic resin they reclaim. Lets start with transportation: recyclers get paid in weight; Styrofoam is 90% air and therefore, a truckload of polystyrene is not worth much to traditional recyclers. Long haul drivers are expensive because of this. For these reasons, getting truckloads of Styrofoam can become very costly.
Finding end-users who can use this product and put it back out into the mainstream is a whole task in and of its self. Currently their recycled polystyrene is being made into picture frames, rulers, Frisbees, toys, it has even been used as filler underneath concrete. Still it remains a continuous effort to find enough end-users to take their product because some industries cannot use it, such as the food service industry. The regulations will not allow post-consumer content unless they were returned to them within forty-eight hours for the original point of use, which is usually impossible. Ideally, Dart would like to go directly to the end user, knowing where and what their product is turned into. Since they cannot find enough end users, they have to occasionally sell to brokers. These are people who are in the business of buying from product and selling it to end users for a profit.
Next lets dispel some myths about polystyrene; all foam is simply not the same. At Dart, they deal exclusively with #6 polystyrene, which was created and patented by Dow Chemical. Though Styrofoam is petroleum based, it actually takes very little compared to other plastic products. Only twelve to fourteen little teeny tiny beads go into a coffee cup. If you are interested in learning more about polystyrene, it’s life cycle analysis and how it stacks up compared to paper, corn and other plastic products please visit their website.
For more information visit please visit Dart Environment on Facebook here.
Below are some pictures of from my tour of Dart’s recycling facility, enjoy!
My wife Gail, daughter Michelle and I are on a long overdue trip to Israel. We have visited many ancient religious sites, museums, open air markets (Souq) both in the old and new cities of Jerusalem. So what caught my attention the most? The communal street side recycling bins for both paper and plastic.
Jerusalem does not yet have citywide curbside recycling. While there is a new recycling center that you can take your recycling to, it is underutilized. (See the Jerusalem Post article about it here)
As you might expect for the Middle East, Jerusalem is hot! Everyone carries bottles of water, soda, juice and other liquids to stay hydrated. In the U.S. there usually is no place to recycle plastic bottles while out in public. My family holds onto them until we can get home and put them in our recycling bin. But here in Jerusalem, they have taken a different approach. Every few blocks there are big wire mesh cages with different bottle size holes in them. Jerusalem residents (and tourists) do not have to go far to recycle those empty plastic bottles.
The same goes with newspapers. There are over twenty-two daily newspapers in Israel, a country with only 7.6 million people. Add to this all of the weekly papers including political, sports, and foreign language and you have a large amount of material to recycle. Again, due to the lack of curbside recycling (I think that it might be impossible to get a truck down some of these narrow streets) Jerusalem has taken a communal approach by installing large paper recycling drums, which are located every few blocks. After years of complaints about how ugly they look and the difficulty of putting anything other than newsprint in them, Jerusalem is now rolling out sleek blue boxes for curbside recycling that will accept all types of paper or cardboard! To find out more about Jerusalem’s new paper recycling systems read Jerusalemite’s article here.
My family agrees that there is much less litter in Jerusalem than many cities we have visited, both in the U.S. and overseas. It is a pleasure to wander its tree-lined streets armed with the knowledge that you can recycle that empty plastic bottle just about anywhere down the street.
Here is some pictures of recycling in Jerusalem, Enjoy!
On Saturday April 30, 2011 Richard and Joshua Rubin represented Maxi at the Grosse Pointe Farms Earth Day “Green” Fair. The fair was hosted by Local Motion Green, a grass-roots organization involved in helping raise public awareness by putting on community-based events. Their mission is to illuminate the links between environmental toxins and negative health consequences, in an effort to influence personal and industrial behavior, as well as promoting improved health and quality of life. Melissa Sargeant, (Education Coordinator) of Local Motion contacted Maxi asking if we would like to be involved, and we are sure glad she did. This is one event we definitely did not want to miss!
The fair took place under one big tent in the Richardson Elementary parking lot. From 10am – 4pm, the lot was buzzing with activity, full of interested people wishing to reduce their carbon footprint by going green. Of course we had our Rain Barrels, Compost Tumblers, and new for this season, our Container Gardening display. Maxi also donated four fiber drums to be decorated by children and repurposed as recycling bins at the Grosse Pointe Academy. (Maxi believes in teaching green practices at an early age, see our article about Michigan Green Schools and our OPrep article about recycling in the classroom.)
Maxi had a great time meeting people and explaining our mission and about our products. We would like to formally say thank you to Local Motion Green for contacting us and look forward to working together in the future.
To view all the photos from the event check out the slideshow below.
For more information about Local Motion Green give them a call at 313-881-2263 or send them an email.
Earlier this week the Reusable Industrial Packaging Association (RIPA) had their annual Technical Conference in Indianapolis, IN. Maxi Container was well represented with both myself, Richard Rubin, and our Sales Manager, Bob Vannatter in attendance. It was a thoughtful and in depth meeting looking at many issues which affect industrial packaging. RIPA formed a new Product Group to represent companies that manufacturer, collect and recondition Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC). The other Product Groups, Steel Drums, Plastic Drums, Fiber Drums and IBC’s also had numerous agenda items, including air emissions, use of post consumer regrind in making new plastic drums, periodic certification of design types, and many more.
Again many issues dealt with both Maxi’s and RIPA’s core value of sustainability. I am proud to be a active member of an organization whose purpose is to promote the use of reusable packaging and help its members navigate the complex world of regulations regarding the transport and reconditioning of industrial packages in an environmentally sustainable manner.
For example, RIPA as a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is helping to draft the International Organization for Standards (ISO) Environmental Packaging Standards. Approximately 30 nations are involved in this project to clarify and harmonize environmental issues related to the production, use, reuse, recycling and recovery of packagings. RIPA chair’s the ANSI committee on “Reuse” and is a member of the ANSI committees on “Optimization” and “Material Recycling”.
With the amount of international commerce it will only be through organisations such as ISO, ANSI, and the Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods of the United Nations that we can continue to transport the many chemicals, paints, pharmaceuticals necessary in making the many products we enjoy. We cannot compromise our short term safety or the environments long term sustainability in order to enjoy the blessings of our industrialized lifestyle. Here at Maxi we are committed to finding the balance between the two so we, and our children and our children’s children cane enjoy both a high standard of living the our beautiful natural world.
The Michigan House Committee on Energy & Technology is looking into two bills in committee on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 9am. HB 4265 and HB 4266 seek to return yard waste to landfills for minor energy production purposes. Both bills are sponsored by Rep. Kenneth Horn, sponsor and Rep. Paul Opsommer, co-sponsor. These Bills are a bad idea on many levels.
Michigan banned Yard Waste going to landfills in 1995. As a home owner, the impact of this ban was negligible. Instead of putting my yard waste out with my trash, I had to put it in low cost compostable paper bags availble at most hardware stores, supermarkets and big box stores in my area. In my town of Farmington Hills, MI the yard waste is collected by The Recycling Authority, and is taken to a large-scale compost site where it decomposes and becomes a rich, black humus. According to The Recycling Authority, each year RRRASOC residents generate 80,000 tons of waste. At least 30% of that waste can be composted.
Another good use for yard waste is composting at home. Composting at home reduces our dependence on trucks to haul yard waste to large-scale compost sites. It also provides us with our own source of rich humus to reuse in our gardens. Composting at home reduces the use of expensive petrochemically based fertilizers which find their way into our sewers, lakes and streams. It is less costly to produce than buying fertilizers, mulch or hummus at the local garden center. Also, composting at home is inexpensive and easy and creates a sense of connectedness with our natural world.
Here at Maxi Container we are so excited about the benefits of composting at home that we created our DIY Compost Tumbler Kit. We re-purposed a food grade plastic drum and provide all the parts and information necessary to begin composting at home.
The Michigan Recycling Coalition (of which Maxi is a proud member) is actively opposing these bills. If you live in the great State of Michigan, please call or write your representative and let them know how strongly you oppose these Bills. If you can, attend the next hearing on these Bills on March 1st at 9am, 519 House Office Building, Lansing, MI. Yard Waste can be a valued resource for the home owner. You should not be charged to give it away for free and bury it in a landfill.
OPrep Recycling Kick Off « Maxi News Room http://t.co/cbVK4NT via @Digg
City Year Detroit officially kicked off their recycling initiative at Osborn High School, otherwise called “OPrep” by the students and faculty. OPrep is home to four smaller schools that otherwise would have closed. Now functioning as part of the small school initiative, OPrep also has partnered with City Year Detroit, providing extra-curricular activities and opportunities for the kids. Please check out City Year’s website to see what they do. City Year has chapters in 20 different locations across the country. Maxi was happy to help when City Year Detroit asked for a donation of containers to start recycling paper and plastic bottles in the classroom. Educating the students about the advantages of recycling and reusing materials started the event. There was a short discussion about what they do or don’t recycle. Some of the students had no experience recycling whatsoever; while a couple students currently recycle in their homes. Some had even made trips to the recycling center. Following the discussion there was a short video called The Story of Bottled Water (2010)about the myths of bottled water and how its negative impact on the environment. The students split into three groups. Each group had a different task. The first group went to paint and decorate the bins. The second group played games with recycling oriented themes. The third group made yummy snacks like pizza bagels. The students were excited and engaged in the activities and were thankful for the donation of the fiber drums from Maxi. Maxi really enjoyed teaming up with City Year Detroit and the OPrep students to help promote recycling in the classroom. We only have one planet, lets try not to wear it out. Together we can make a difference. Please support local recycling initiatives in your local area.
 |
| Students busy decorating / painting. |
 |
|||
| It was all smiles for Jamia Daniel and Fantajisa Smelley as they painted. |
