Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Training Program offered at ABC of Wisconsin Winter Convention
Date: February 22, 2008
Location: Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells
WasteCap Wisconsin will be offering the full-day Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Training Program at the ABC of Wisconsin Winter Convention in Wisconsin Dells. Across the state and nationwide, owners are requiring construction waste recycling as a part of sustainable building. Contractors who know how to recycle will be at a market advantage. There are now more than 140 WasteCap Accredited Professionals who now have the skills to develop, manage, monitor, document and promote a successful recycling program for construction and demolition debris. Reduction, reuse and recycling is allowing contractors and owners to use projects funds for building instead of waste disposal. The training also provides training to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) points for MR 2.1 and 2.2. For more information on the training program, visit www.wastecapwi.org/training. To register for this training session, click here.

Sign up now for your free listing in WasteCapDIRECT
WasteCap Wisconsin has been hired by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to develop an online searchable database of haulers, processors and end markets for Wisconsin’s construction and demolition debris. During the construction of this tool, we are looking for Wisconsin companies (haulers, processors and end markets for construction and demolition debris including asphalt, brick, cardboard, carpet, ceiling tiles, concrete, drywall, scrap metal, pallets, shingles and wood) who want to sign up early to be included in this directory which will be available for public use in 2008. Basic listings are free and upgraded listing opportunities are available to better highlight your business. To signup for your free listing, please email Shannon Delaney at sdelaney@wastecapwi.org for more information.

Whole Foods eliminating plastic grocery bags
Source: Recycling Today
The grocery store chain Whole Foods Market announced that it is halting its use of plastic grocery bags at all of its 270 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company said the goal is to have all the bags removed from the stores by April 22, 2008. To read the full article, click here.

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2. UPCOMING CONFERENCES / GRANTS / JOB OPENINGS
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Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Training at ABC of Wisconsin Winter Convention
Date: February 22, 2008
Location: Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells
Across the state and nationwide, owners are requiring construction waste recycling as a part of sustainable building. Contractors who know how to recycle will be at a market advantage. Reduction, reuse and recycling is allowing contractors and owners to use projects funds for building instead of waste disposal. This training will give you the skills you need to develop, manage, monitor, document and promote a successful recycling program for construction and demolition debris. It also provides training to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) points for MR 2.1 and 2.2. Course fee is $400 for WasteCap Wisconsin/ABC of Wisconsin members and $550 for non-members and those who are not attending the conference. For more information on the training program, visit www.wastecapwi.org/training. To register for this training session, click here.

2008 Joint Winter Conference by AROW, SWANA and WCSWMA
Date: February 27 – 29, 2008
Location: Park Plaza Conference Center, Oshkosh, WI
Sessions cover topics such as climate change’s connections to solid waste, special event recycling, mobile home disposal, how to choose an electronics recycler, construction and demolition waste recycling, education and outreach for residential and business recycling. For more information on sessions and tours, click here.

6th Annual Better Buildings: Better Business Conference
Date: March 5 – 7, 2008
Location: Kalahari Resort and Convention Center, Wisconsin Dells
Attend a first-rate learning, networking and business development opportunity tailored to the residential building and remodeling industry. Connect with cold-climate building experts, master building techniques that deliver comfort, safety, durability and energy efficiency and find the products and information you need to deliver high performance homes to your customers. For more information and to register, click here.

Annual Meeting of the Construction Materials Recycling Association
Date: March 12, 2008
Location: Treasure Island Resort, Las Vegas
Held in conjunction with ConExpo-Con/AGG 2008, the western hemisphere’s largest construction materials equipment exhibition, the 2008 CMRA Annual Meeting is designed to provide great information in a compact time frame while allowing attendees to see the equipment at the big show. For more information, click here.

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3. RECYCLING NEWS THAT AFFECTS YOU
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CONSTRUCTION / DEMOLITION

State of the C&D recycling industry
Source: C&D World, January/February 2008
How much is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) affecting C&D recycling? What regulations helped or hindered C&D recycling in 2007? How are the markets going to be in 2008? No one has the exact answers to those questions, but this article will attempt to answer those queries to the best of the knowledge of the Construction Materials Recycling Association. To read the full article, click here.

A lighter shade of green
Source: Written by Beth Churchill of Marshall Erdman & Associates (Beth also serves as WasteCap Wisconsin’s Board of Directors Vice Chair), GreenerBuildings.com
Healthcare and sustainable design are two exceptionally paired industries because they focus on the same goal: promoting and protecting the health and wellbeing of the community. However, the perceived and actual first costs associated with sustainable design strategies discourage many small or rural healthcare organizations from pursuing LEED or Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC) certification. To read the full article, click here.

FOOD WASTE RECOVERY / COMPOSTING

Jam-packed year of bioenergy industry growth
Source: BioCycle January 2008
This last year was a mighty big year of economic growth in generating energy from biomass. First-generation commercial-scale projects began generating bio-BTUs like: E3 Biofuels' ethanol/feedlot, Fibrominn's 55 MW manure-fueled power plant and Microgy's manure to natural gas facility. Then, in December, E3 Biofuels filed for bankruptcy. Last year began with seemingly every Midwest rural community announcing a corn-based ethanol plant. By fall, the bottom fell out of the ethanol and biodiesel expansion. It went from one extreme to the other. To read the full article, click here.

COMPUTER / ELECTRONICS RECYCLING

Down to Earth: E-Waste in Wisconsin
Source: ABC 27 WKOW, Madison
A bill recently introduced at the state capitol would force electronics makers to take back, or at least pay for the cost to recycle, many of your old televisions and computer parts. More than a half dozen states have laws on the books like this to regulate what's known as "e-waste." The idea is to find an easy and cheap way to encourage people not to dump their old electronics into the landfill. Right now, the alternative is for people to pay for municipal collection sites through taxes and user fees. To read the full article, click here.

Hi-Tech Trash: Will your discarded TV end up in a ditch in Ghana
Source: National Geographic
June is the wet season in Ghana, but here in Accra, the capital, the morning rain has ceased. As the sun heats the humid air, pillars of black smoke begin to rise above the vast Agbogbloshie Market. I follow one plume toward its source, past lettuce and plantain vendors, past stalls of used tires, and through a clanging scrap market where hunched men bash on old alternators and engine blocks. Soon the muddy track is flanked by piles of old TVs, gutted computer cases, and smashed monitors heaped ten feet (three meters) high. To read the full article, click here.

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4. WELCOME NEW & RETURNING MEMBERS
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WasteCap thanks ABC of Wisconsin, Alliant Energy, Bachmann Construction, Boldt Construction, Dunn County Solid Waste, JSA Environment Engineers, Milwaukee Public Schools, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Quad Graphics, Royal Container Service and Stevens Construction Corporation, for their continued support of WasteCap Wisconsin and for sharing the vision of transforming waste into resources.

For a complete list of WasteCap's current members please visit www.wastecapwi.org/members.htm.
Sign up as a member or read about member benefits at www.wastecapwi.org/join.htm.

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5. LEGISLATIVE / REGULATORY UPDATE
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Wisconsin Solid Waste Legislative Update, January 2008
Source: John Reindl, Dane County Recycling Manager, reindl@co.dane.wi.us
Over 1,200 bills have been introduced into the Wisconsin Legislature, and eighteen of these cover solid waste issues, with the following fourteen being active. Based on the limited time left in the Legislative schedule and the status of these bills, it appears that only a few measures have much chance of adoption by both houses. To read the full legislative update, click here.

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6. USEFUL TOOLS / RESOURCES ON RECYCLING
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Waste Management launches educational web site
Source: WasteAge
Houston-based Waste Management has launched thinkgreen.com, an interactive Web site to further educate the public about the business of handling the nearly five pounds of waste that the average citizen produces each day. The site also highlights how certain technologies are recovering resources and protecting the environment. To read the full article, click here.

Environmental issues associated with recycling asphalt shingles
Source: C&D World, January/February 2008
Interest in asphalt shingle recycling is growing throughout North America, but some regulators have questioned if it is safe. Cited benefits of recycling asphalt shingles include the marketability of materials that can use processed asphalt shingles as a component and the conservation of landfill airspace. To read the full article, click here.

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WasteCap Wisconsin thanks its sources for the news, information, and ideas in this issue. WasteCap Wisconsin is a 501(c)(3) private nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide waste reduction and recycling assistance through business-to-business peer exchange, demonstration, and education for the benefit of businesses and the environment. To further this mission, we have developed these e-mail bulletins to provide you with information about the latest resources, recycling technologies, case studies, legislation, and other matters helping us transform waste into resources. You can view a collection of WasteCap Wisconsin's archived bulletins at http://www.wastecapwi.org/bulletin_archive.htm. To unsubscribe, send an email to wastecap@wastecapwi.org with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you have been forwarded this email and would like to subscribe directly, send an email to wastecap@wastecapwi.org with "subscribe" in the subject line.

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Shannon Delaney, Communications Director & WasteCap Wisconsin Bulletin Editor
Kimberly Rauwald, Research Assistant
WasteCap Wisconsin
www.wastecapwi.org