Issue 50 – April 2009
WASTECAP WISCONSIN’S LATEST RESULTS >>>>
WasteCap Wisconsin and its clients have diverted 360,409,804 pounds of construction and demolition waste from landfills, which is 65.6 pounds per person in Wisconsin. The equivalent of 112,195 trees have been saved by recycling wood and cardboard. WasteCap Wisconsin’s construction and demolition projects are currently achieving an average 73.6% recycling rate.
1. WASTECAP WISCONSIN UPDATES / MEMBER NEWS
Don’t throw your money away! In today’s economy, it’s even more important to learn how to reduce waste/costs and save dumpster fees. Register today for WasteCap’s Construction and Demolition Recycling Training in cooperation with Decon ’09, the Annual Conference of the Business Materials Reuse Association, May 1st in Chicago. Join this USGBC Education Provider Program and learn how to meet LEED criteria for construction waste management and run a successful, cost-effective recycling project on your construction or demolition site. To register, click here or go to http://www.wastecap.org/training. Questions, contact WasteCap at wastecap@wastecapwi.org or 414-961-1100
WasteCap Wiscosin’s Jenna Kunde is honored by Waste & Recycling News
Jenna Kunde, WasteCap’s Executive Director, was honored as one of the top women in environmental management in the latest issue of Waste and Recycling News. We would like to congratulate Jenna on her success and continued leadership in recycling. To read the article, click here.
WasteCap Wisconsin launches new website and new edition of WasteCap Direct
Visit www.wastecapwi.org to check out our new website and visit www.wastecapdirect.org to take a look at the new edition of WasteCap Direct. WasteCap Direct is a centralized directory of construction and demolition recycling processors, haulers and end markets through out Wisconsin. You can sign up here to add your business to the directory or call (414) 961-1100 to learn more.
U.S. EPA, partners kick off green building design challenge / Contest to reward designs that save resources, costs
In the third year of the Lifecycle Building Challenge competition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and partners including WasteCap Wisconsin are inviting the nation’s architects, product developers, educators, environmental leaders, and students to submit innovative designs that minimize waste, reuse materials, and cut greenhouse gas emissions. eas generated by the contest help jumpstart the building industry toward diverting the more than 100 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris sent each year to landfills in the United States. This free, Web-based competition supports an on-line library of competition entries and green building resources. To learn more, visit
2. UPCOMING CONFERENCES / EVENTS / JOB OPENINGS
April 23, 2009: Going Green – Diverting Materials from Landfills. WasteCap WI will be presenting on Construction and Demolition Waste Case Studies as part of this 4-day webinar series. To learn more, click here.
April 28-30, 2009: The Building Material Reuse Association (BMRA) conference on building deconstruction, material reuse and recycling—DECON ‘09, will be held in Chicago. For more details, visit http://www.bmra.org/events/conference
May 1, 2009: WasteCap’s Construction and Demolition Recycling Training in cooperation with Decon ’09, the Annual Conference of the Business Materials Reuse Association, Chicago. To register, click here or go to http://www.wastecap.org/training.htm. Questions, contact WasteCap at wastecap@wastecapwi.org or 414-961-1100
May 14, 2009: Environmental Policy and Awards Conference, Madison, WI. To learn more, click here.
Applications are now being accepted for a full time Recycling Assistant with the Dunn County Environmental Services-Solid Waste Division. To learn more, click here.
3. WELCOME NEW & RETURNING MEMBERS
WasteCap Wisconsin would like to thank Midwest Lamp Recycling, Beyer Construction, American Family Insurance, Somerville, Inc., La Londe Contractors, Dunn County, Champion Environmental Services and Pellitteri Waste Systems for their support of WasteCap Wisconsin and for sharing the vision of transforming waste into resources.
For a complete list of WasteCap’s members please visit here
Sign up as a member and read about member benefits here
4. RECYCLING NEWS
Beverage heavyweight to lightweight bottles Source: Plastics Recycling PepsiCo Inc. has announced a 20-percent reduction in the amount of plastic used in the manufacture of half-liter Aquafina-brand bottles. The company went so far as to claim the newly redesigned and rebranded "Ecofina" bottle is the lightest water bottle on the market, tipping the scales at 10.9 grams. The move is part of a larger effort by Pepsi to increase its energy efficiency, and achieve company goals of reducing fuel consumption by 25 percent, and water use by 20 percent, by 2015. The new bottles are expected to save approximately 75 million pounds of plastic annually.
Paper Recovery Rate Increases in 2008 Source: Waste Age The U.S. paper recycling rate increased to 57.4 percent in 2008, up from 56 percent the year before, according to statistics recently released by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). However, the organization is cautioning that “the economic downturn caused a sharp decline in paper demand beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008,” according to a press release. AF&PA attributes 2008’s increased rate to strong global demand for recovered fiber in the first three quarters of the year. To read more, visit http://wasteage.com/news/Paper-Recovery-Rate-Increases-2008-20090330/
Recyle Rain Water with Rain Barrels Source: Waukesha County Lawn and garden watering can make up nearly 40% of total household water use during the summer. This means your water bill may almost double during summer months. A rain barrel collects water and stores it for when you need it to water plants, wash your car or add to a swimming pool. The rain water stored in the barrel contains no chlorine, lime or calcium—it is naturally “soft" water. A single rain barrel will save most homeowners about 1300 gallons of water during the peak summer months. Saving water not only saves you money and energy, but it helps our environment. Diverting water from downspouts keeps that water from becoming runoff into our rivers and streams, and means less water needs to be pumped out of our shrinking aquifers. Waukesha County now has rain barrels available at Retzer Nature Center located at S14 W28167 Madison Street, Waukesha. These rain barrels use the rain reserve diverter kit developed by Sustain Dane. You can see the benefits of this system at www.rainreserve.com. To learn more, visit http://www.waukeshacounty.gov/page.aspx?SetupMetaId=15012&id=22940
Bottle Cap and Trade Source: Waste Industry Many recycling programs refuse to accept rigid plastic bottle caps in regular curbside collection because of their tendency to contaminate other plastics and difficulty in sorting them out. Indeed, it is easy for even diligent recyclers to overlook these tiny bits of plastic. But those little bits add up, not to mention the hazards they pose to wildlife.
According to the Chicago Green Lifestyle Examiner, salon and beauty product maker Aveda is specifically targeting rigid polypropylene plastic caps for recycling. The green-minded company, based in Blaine, Minn., is accepting the caps at all of its stores and is encouraging schools to run cap-collecting programs. Aveda will use the material in its redesigned packaging, which it expects to debut later this year. To learn more, visit http://blog.wasteindustrysite.com/the_heap/2009/03/24/bottle-cap-and-trade/
COMPUTER / ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Over 230,000 Pounds of Discarded Electronics Collected March 14
Source: City of Milwaukee
(Milwaukee, WI. March 30, 2009) Nearly 2,000 people from all over southeastern Wisconsin stopped by the Wisconsin State Fair grounds on Saturday, March 14th to unload over 236,000 pounds of electronics during a collection event hosted by the City of Milwaukee and Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful. About 2,200 televisions accounted for 55% or about 65 of the 118 tons of electronics collected and processed for recycling. CRT Processing LLC is processing all of the material in their Janesville facility. The one-day event was made possible through a sponsorship by Samsung.
The equipment collected on March 14 at State Fair Park filled 18 semi-trailers plus another truck, exceeding expectations by about 50%. “The extreme popularity of the event is a great illustration of the need for increased opportunities for recycling electronics”, said Mayor Tom Barrett. Wisconsin State Senator Mark Miller has long recognized the need to expand recycling of electronics, and on March 10 he introduced Senate Bill 107, which would require manufacturers to provide for the collection and recycling of electronic equipment that they sell in Wisconsin. The bill is modeled after a similar law in Minnesota. It establishes recycling quotas based on a manufacturer’s market share and allows for the sale or banking of recycling credits that exceed these goals. 18 states have now passed similar legislation, and electronics manufacturers generally are rising to the occasion to accept their new product stewardship responsibilities. “Samsung’s sponsorship of the March 14th event shows how some manufacturers are stepping up to develop the infrastructure that they will need to fulfill their responsibilities under the proposed law”, said Rick Meyers, Recycling Specialist for the City of Milwaukee.
Those interested in expanding the opportunities for and convenience of recycling consumer electronics may wish to contact their legislators in support of Senate Bill 107. More details can be found on Senator Miller’s website (http://www.legis.state.wi.us/senate/sen16/news/Issues/Electronics_Recycling.asp). The City of Milwaukee supports the legislation, as do a wide variety of stakeholders from both the public and private sectors.
CONSTRUCTION / DEMOLITION
EPA Publishes New Estimate of the Amount of C&D Materials Generated, Recovered in the U.S.
To read the report, click here.
5.WasteCap WI Project Manager Tip of the Month
Tip: Always put a trash container next to a recycling container to avoid trash being thrown into the recycling bin.
*This is a new category in our monthly email bulletin where we will share tips from our project managers that they have learned from their construction and demolition recycling projects.
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 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, and other matters helping us transform waste into resources. You can view a collection of WasteCap Wisconsin's archived bulletins at 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.
CONTACTS:
WasteCap Wisconsin, www.wastecapwi.org, 414-961-1100
Stephanie Chojnacki, Marketing and Public Relations Manager schojnacki@wastecapwi.org
