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SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 1 of 8
SSRC Updates November 2015
October Board Meeting notes
Capital Paper Recycling
Trash Bash 2016?
CEF, E-Waste legislation
SE MRC Municipal Organics Collection presentations
Ewaste issues, RFQ interest?
SEMASS offering mercury sheds
SEMASS sending mercury rebate payments
Kingston BOS vote to present PAYT to voters
SSRC releases plastic bag op-ed for ARD
MAPSC, PSI set municipal goals for product stewardship actions
National Product Stewardship Forum coming to Boston
Director’s notes: EBC Solid Waste Conference
Webinar: Best Practices for Implementing Reuse Events
Industry bites back after New York Times recycling column
October Board Meeting notes The Board met at the elegant Weymouth Town Council chambers. Rosemary Nolan’s scrumptious frittata complemented the usual tasty offerings.
Capital Paper Recycling (CPR) sponsored the meeting
Owner Dan Buonagurio gave a candid presentation about CPR in Weymouth, which he founded in 1989. In 1995, he established Mass Hauling, which he sold to Republic Services last year.
CPR is a small, agile, unique company that recycles paper, cardboard, bottles and cans, single stream recycling, metals, e-waste, large rigid plastics, street sweepings, catch basin cleaning, food, aggregates (ABC), yard waste and seaweed composting, soil removal, boat shrink wrap, etc. They can provide containers and transportation.
CPR is a State Contract vendor for recycling on FAC86. Low tech, source separated recycling is their specialty, with a capacity >2000 tons/month of recyclables, including 500 TPM single stream (SSR) sorting.
Street sweepings, soils, ABC: CPR takes street sweepings and soils for landfill cover, grading
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 2 of 8
and shaping, and roadside projects. Can bring crusher on site for ABC for $6.50/ton, which the town can then use for road projects. Much less costly than removing ABC and buying gravel.
Site cleanups: CPR does Bobcat work; taking piles of catch basin cleanings this afternoon for State. Bring to LF for shaping and grading, daily cover.
Document destruction: CPR provides locked truck, locked containers, secure building, certificates of destruction for paper.
Ewaste: CPR partially processes; charges for most, credit for computers. Can use gaylords (best), Comex closed containers, or 40 yard breakaway, customer specific.
Food waste, seaweed: CPR hauls to APlus in Middleboro. Is a growing industry.
Scrap metal market: China has been our savior in the past, no longer. Global economy, low values for the moment.
Large rigid plastics: CPR provides containers, takes compacted (not chipped). DEP offers grant for 40 CY container worth $9500. Kingston is collecting 1-1.5 cans/week, 2.5 tons/load. Cost is currently $35/ton. Important to educate residents on acceptable materials.
The market for rigid and other plastics is soft right now, but will rise with price of oil.
Glass? Working with Strategic Materials in Franklin, which has little interest in single stream glass. If colors are sorted, there can be a return for clear. SM will accept CPR’s glass. Economics of grinding on site to PGA not there with glut of sand from Boston construction.
Styrofoam (EPS)? Is recyclable, but CPR doesn’t want. All air.
Plastic bags? Will take separately from munis for $35/ton, but is a nuisance. Low density, but recycling keeps it out of the trees. (SSRC article) Shrink wrap is a separate commodity.
Available for consultation. Contact Dan at 781-340-9425, [email protected] .
Trash Bash 2016?
Members thought this year’s event was great, connected with new vendors. The Board voted to plan another Bash for spring at the same venue as the last two years, Jones River Trading Co.
Committee volunteers: Ellie Donovan, Lorraine Mavrogeorge, Mary Snow, Gene Wyatt, Sharon White, Janine Delaney.
CEF, Ewaste legislation
Director presented requests to support a few solid waste related bills:
CEF reinstatement: H705 could double available recycling grant money, currently funded through the Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (Class II WECs).
Ewaste Producer Responsibility: H756/S404 – state-run, comprehensive. S452 – industry run, limited. Drop fee to have industry cover cost? Some towns’ fee goes to GF anyway, no harm no foul. Board wouldn’t support if required to shrink wrap and palletize.
Director will bring a summary of financial impacts of bills on towns to next meeting.
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 3 of 8
SE MRC Municipal Organics Collection presentations
On September 24th, six speakers from across the State
shared information about municipal and school food
waste programs at the Southeast Municipal Recycling
Council. Speakers included:
Amy Donovan, Franklin County Solid Waste Mgmt.
District: drop-off and school programs
Bill Fitzgerald, Avon's DPW Director: Manchester
BTS’s town-wide curbside organics collection
Sharon Byrne Kishida, MassDEP MAC: curbside organics programs on the North Shore
Ann McGovern, MassDEP: outlets for organics in SE Mass, and MassDEP resources
Carol Rubenstein and Dr. Barbara Roth-Schechter: Sherborn and Dover collection programs
(Dr. Roth-Shechter has since passed away)
Brenda Black provided the Board with following summary:
Speakers presented how 6 curbside and 5 dropoff towns manage residential food waste. Most
did pilots. MBTS does alternate week trash/recycling curbside collection. Hauler got split
truck for organics/recycling; need tank beneath for liquids.
A North Shore farm accepts for $45/ton, gives compost back to residents. DEP subsidizes bins.
Start in cool weather. No contamination problems, 500lbs/HH/year
Schools: composter takes milk cartons with food, screens plastic out from finished compost.
40% reduction in school waste. “Feed the worms” education minimizes contamination.
Western Mass drop-offs: 2-3 CY dumpster at TS, weekly pickup costs $45/ton.
Dover-Sherborn: 4-64 gal lined toters costs $175/month; residents prefer to backyard, include
meat and bones. A pig farm takes Dover’s curbside food waste for $19K for 150 tons/year.
Meeting minutes are linked here. Presentations and tour photos are here. More photos and
video clips (thanks to Janine Delaney) are here.
OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
Sites Accepting Diverted Food Scraps: here.
Food Waste Composting Fact Sheet: here.
MA munis that collect food scraps: here.
What Goes Into Curbside Food Scrap Container: here.
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 4 of 8
Ewaste issues, RFQ interest?
CRT glass is backlogged everywhere, markets are disappearing. Two SSRC towns cited service problems with vendors recently. Cohasset is happy with EIC.
The Board charged the Director with conducting a new RFQ for e-waste collection. She will present the results at the next Board meeting.
SEMASS offering Mercury sheds
SEMASS is offering new mercury sheds through the current Material Separation Plan. Kingston wants one for Transfer Station. Cohasset and Plymouth may be interested.
SEMASS sending 2 years of mercury rebate payments After an inquiry by SSRC Director Galkowski (coincidentally), mercury / MSP Program “rebate” payments totaling ~$34,000 were mailed out by Covanta SEMASS on Oct 24th to municipalities with long term disposal contracts.
The “rebate” payments reward municipalities’ efforts to divert and recycle mercury-containing devices during calendar years 2013 and 2014. These devices include compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), thermometers, thermostats, switches, and blood pressure cuffs.
The rebates are additional payments to contract communities above and beyond the normal transport, recycling and disposal costs, which SEMASS also pays, either by direct payments to Complete Recycling Solutions, or reimbursement to towns for mercury processing by other Universal Waste contractors.
Payments were been delayed due to company-wide accounting changes. Covanta no longer uses traditional checks. Payables are now made by electronic wire transfer or credit card. Unfortunately, neither of these payment systems worked well for municipalities, so SEMASS pushed through the traditional "check" process for the rebates.
SEMASS expects on-time 2016 payments for calendar year 2015 mercury diversion efforts (issued in late 1st Quarter or early 2nd Quarter 2016).
If you have questions, contact Patti Howard, Outreach Coordinator, at 508-962-7398, [email protected] or Daniel P. Peters, P.E. , Covanta Company of SEMASS, L.P.
Kingston may move to pay-as-you-throw – if voters agree Selectmen voted unanimously last week to put the option of unit based pricing for trash to voters at the Special Town Meeting in April. Voters would be asked to approve placing a question on the ballot for the annual town election at the end of April.
The cost savings to residents was highlighted as the best reason for making a change. All the towns surrounding Kingston use the utility-like system, in which residents buy bags to cover the cost of disposal. Currently, $160 transfer station stickers and a large subsidy from the General Fund cover the cost of unlimited disposal, which recently doubled in the new contract.
Excerpts from article by Kathryn Gallerani, WickedLocal Kingston, Nov. 6, 2015:
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 5 of 8
“Selectmen invited MassDEP Regional Recycling Coordinator Janine Delaney and SSRC Executive Director Claire Galkowski to the meeting to answer questions.
“Both have extensive experience with pay-as-you-throw programs, with Delaney providing technical assistance to municipalities considering adopting one. Both participated in an educational forum on pay-as-you-throw organized by (Selectman Jean Landis)Naumann earlier this year.
“Streets, Trees and Parks Superintendent Paul Basler supports changing to a pay-as-you-throw system. So does Recycling Committee Chairman Gene Wyatt, who said adopting this system helps people keep recycling.” more
America Recycles Day events November 15 is America Recycles Day. Take the pledge! Among local observances:
Hingham schools dedicate a day to waste related topics.
Kingston Library hosts and event with vendors and breakout sessions about sustainability, energy conservation.
Plastic bags in commingled recycling are driving processing costs up. The SSRC Director released an article about proper plastic bag recycling for the local papers.
MAPSC, PSI set municipal goals for product stewardship actions Product Stewardship Institute coordinated a discussion with the
Mass. Product Stewardship Council and MassRecycle to chart a
course promoting product stewardship legislation. Solid waste
managers from 8 Mass. municipalities, most of our DEP MACs and
the SSRC Director represented the Mass. Product Stewardship
Council in the discussion last week.
MAPSC is already working on an industry-sponsored paint bill, S408. Twenty-five towns have
signed letters of support so far, and more are sought. The bill is in Senate Ways and Means. Its
passage would save SSRC municipalities alone over $85,000/year in HHW and disposal costs,
and create many convenient options for consumers to dispose of their leftover paint properly.
Other materials being considered for advocacy of producer responsibility include electronics,
pharmaceuticals, batteries, mattresses and packaging. Local governments have much to gain
by this type of legislation, and have an important role to play in promoting it.
The group will hold monthly call-ins. The next one will be on Monday, November 30 from 2-
3:30. To be added to the list and join the conversation, contact PSI’s Sydney Hausman Cohen.
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 6 of 8
National Product Stewardship Forum coming to Boston Product Stewardship Institute, the national leader in promoting producer responsibility for end of life products, will host a 2 day Forum in Boston on Dec. 8-9. It will also celebrate its 15th anniversary.
Leaders from across the US will gather to discuss cutting-edge issues on product stewardship, extended producer responsibility (EPR), zero waste, and the circular economy.
Over the past 15 years, the product stewardship movement in the U.S. has grown steadily, with 90 extended producer responsibility laws passed on 12 products in 33 states.
Remote Participation Now Available Want to attend all or part of the PSI Forum, but can't get away? PSI is offering a webinar option for the conference so that you can experience the U.S. Product Stewardship Forum online.
Choose from any or all of the following four sessions, each $50: Dec. 8 and/or 9, morning and/or afternoon. Tickets also grant access to audio-visual recordings of the presentations to watch any time.
Join the SSRC Director and PSI in celebrating and assessing 15 years of EPR in the U.S. Learn more, and register for one or both days, or the online option here.
Director’s notes from EBC Solid Waste Conference The Environmental Business Council hosted a solid waste conference in September, which was attended by 35 people from the major waste/recycling companies, consultants, and MassDEP. DEP and the waste handlers presented their points of view on the current state of affairs, and where they think waste policies should be going.
Here are some nuggets:
Gary Moran, MassDEP Dep. Commr. For Operations and Compliance: Disposal is down from 6.5 M TPY to 5.4 M TPY. In state capacity will be about 4.2 M TPY in 2020. We need to push waste recovery up.
o 1500 businesses and institutions are complying with the commercial organics waste ban, diverting food to donation, anaerobic digestion, compost.
o Glass is an issue, need to find alternative uses, new technology. DEP is working with DOT on use as PGA.
Steve Changaris, NWRA: Emissions from disposal are included in Global Warming Solutions Act calculations.
Ben Harvey, EL Harvey and Sons: The gypsum recycling company in Worcester folded for lack of material. The NH processor for asphalt shingles is gone. Many banned materials have no markets, need to find alternative uses.
o Fiber (paper, OCC) and large rigid plastics markets aren’t great, but it is moving.
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 7 of 8
Meg Morris, Covanta: Reduce reuse, recycle, recover energy. Energy from waste facilities funded DEP recycling grants with $11.4 million in Class II Renewable Energy Credits.
o Avoiding waste has great greenhouse gas reduction potential due to the life cycle impacts. The EU is a good model, with effective landfill bans, packaging producer responsibility.
John Farese, Casella Southbridge Landfill: Casella is starting to charge for recycling.
o There is no home for glass, it should be banned from recycling.
o We need to divert more waste or will have to export.
Terry Grady, Republic Services: Republic is building a single stream recycling facility in Freetown, anticipate a 2017 opening.
o Challenges include differences in prevailing wages from town to town; rising cost of single stream recycling; waiting lines at disposal facilities.
Best Practices for Implementing Reuse Events FREE Webinar, Tuesday. November 17, 2015, 2:00 – 3:30 pm.
“The Big Event” , hosted by the Northeast Recycling Council, will present insights into planning reuse events, tips for success, the role of reuse committees, lessons learned from event organizers, costs and benefits, and tips for reuse event success in rural, small town, and tribal communities.
Register here.
Industry bites back after New York Times recycling column By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling, October 13, 2015
By challenging the economic and environmental value of recycling, New York Times science columnist John Tierney has poked the recycling stakeholders hornet's nest. Again.
Among the dozens of groups and companies that have spoken up about a recent story questioning the value of expanding materials recovery are the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
"John Tierney paints a confusing and misinformed picture of recycling, calling it 'wasteful,' 'ineffectual,' and 'costly,'" wrote Robin Wiener, president of the ISRI. "The reality couldn’t be further from the truth."
In a statement, the American Chemistry Council discussed the benefits of plastics and the recycling of that material, saying recycled plastics are often more valuable than the recycled fibers Tierney defended.
SSRC Updates November 2015 Page 8 of 8
Industry groups and outside publications are blasting the story that appeared in The New York Times Sunday Review section earlier this month. The article follows the libertarian columnist's "Recycling Is Garbage" story from nearly two decades ago, which broke The New York Times record for hate mail.
ISRI's statement noted the column completely failed to recognize the economic impacts and shortchanged the environmental benefits of recycling.
Athena Lee Bradley, projects manager at the Northeast Recycling Council, also provided a strongly worded rebuttal.
"I’m not sure what’s more appalling – Tierney’s lack of regard for the impact our production and consumption has on developing nations, the environment, and the loss of resources for future generations or his advocacy for simply 'burying' everything because civilizations have been doing so for 'thousands of years,'" she writes.
Rob Kaplan, managing director of the Closed Loop Fund, authored an annotated critique of the column, introducing it by saying the column "astounded us by the sheer number of inaccurate statements and misrepresentations about the economic and environmental impact of the recycling industry."
Here are links to the Tierney article and several rebuttals, also posted on our In the News page:
The Reign of Recycling, OpEd by John Tierney, NY Times, Oct. 3, 2015
NYT Missed the mark. Keefe Harrison responds, The Recycling Partnership, LTE to NY Times, Oct.5, 2015
Two decades later, NY Times takes another swipe at recycling, Dylan deThomas, Resource Recycling, Oct. 6, 2015
He's Back, Athena Lee Bradley, Northeast Recycling Council, Oct. 6, 2015
ISRI Responds to Misinformed Claims About the State of Recycling in The New York Times, Oct. 7, 2015
Fact Check: Reign of Recycling, Closed Loop Fund Team, Oct. 9, 2015
MassRecycle's response to the John Tierney New York Times Article, (scroll down) Oct. 9, 2015
Where Our Trash Goes: 9 more LTEs in response to "The Reign of Recycling", NYT, Oct. 10, 2015
The Value of Waste Reduction, or, What the New York Times Got Wrong About Recycling, Waste Zero blog post, Oct. 13, 2015
Recycling Wars: Opponents touch gloves, now what?, John Trotti, MSW Mamagement Weekly, Oct. 28, 2015
