E-cycling in Virginia

The state of New York passed a law last year that requires electronics manufacturers to recycle old products turned in by customers, including TVs, computers, and phones.  It doesn’t go into effect until 2012, but the Electronics Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act is expected to create a lot of revenue for local recycling companies.    

 

In 2008, Virginia passed a similar law, but it only applies to computer manufacturers.  

 

Tell us what you think--could Virginia benefit from something like the Electronics Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act?   Should the commonwealth amend its current e-cycling law to include other electronic products?

For a list of states with e-cycling laws, check out this pdf from ecyclingresource.org.  

Can you recycle a vending machine?

They’re a fixture in so many businesses around the country: vending machines.  Whether you’re at work, school, or the gym, you probably pass by one at least once a day.  

But have you ever wondered if vending machines can be recycled?

The answer: absolutely.

At first, recycling a vending machine might seem like an impossible task and in fact is often done incorrectly.  However, here is a list of just some of the materials that can be recycled from a single vending machine: 

The bulbs

 The coin and bill changer

·           The compressor, which is made of steel and copper, and contains oils.

The radiator, which is made of multiple materials such as steel, copper and aluminum. 

The circuit board

      

The motor

Refrigerants. These are the gases which keep the contents cold.

 The advertisement on the front of every vending machine is printed on a polycarbonate sheet.

The key to recycling these machines and others like them (such as refrigerators and air conditioners) is attention to detail. Simply crushing them and grinding them at a standard scrap yard doesn't do the trick because the gases, oils, bulbs and related nasties need to be treated first. The cool part is when done properly, these hazardous components are easily recycled.

How do you make sure the recycling is being done right? Make sure the facility you are using is certified to evacuate refrigerants, and ask to see documentation verifying where everything went. Your efforts on this front reward the good guys and of course ensure a healthy environment.

Does Zero Waste Exist?

Recently I was driving down the road and heard an ad from Subaru claiming their plant in Indiana is a zero waste facility. Could this be true?

http://green.autoblog.com/2006/10/31/subaru-zero-waste-factory-wins-epa-award/

We frankly don't see it as possible. One reason is not every material that comes out of these plants are technically recyclable. For example, the carpet used in cars is a hybrid type that has no markets. We also are all too aware that suppliers may be taking stuff back and saying the materials are recycled when in reality its not happening.

When we visited the Subaru website, turns out they are not claiming zero waste but zero waste to landfill. Is this true?

http://www.subaru.com/company/environment-sustainability.html

Clearly they are sending stuff to waste-to-energy facilities. Point of fact is the US Green Building Council doesn't allow projects to count waste going to these kinds of facilities as diversion because its really not. Its waste reduction. The burnt garbage, now in ash form, does indeed go to landfill. So how is this zero waste or no landfill.

So while we question the claims, we support the goal. The creation of waste by manufacturers points to inefficiencies, which we all pay for when we buy their products. Movings towards less waste is admirable and desirable. But lets not get ahead of ourselves with undeserved accolades.

Carpet Recycling 101

Not a day goes by that we don't get a call, email, or now Tweets asking us questions about carpet recycling. People are fascinated by it in ways that continues to surprise us. So we decided it was time to write a blog about it.

We should start by telling you that almost every ounce of carpet is made of plastic. That's right - the fibers you walk on are plastic! Very rarely do we run across carpet without plastic fiber. Care to guess non-plastic fiber type? Wool.

Here are the steps we perform to recycle carpet:

1. Collect it. This used to be more difficult than you can imagine because the carpet needed to be kept clean and dry due to the technology that is used to identify fiber type. Now with much better equipment we use open top dumpsters and customers can mix their carpet scrap with other waste materials.
2. Separate it from other materials. Most of the time our customers do NOT separate their carpet waste by type nor do they keep the carpet separate from other debris. And this is ok with us. When we get the loads, first we use an excavator to pick up debris and feed it into our conveyor system. Carpet ends up on our main sort line where workers drop all carpet and pad into a bin separate from other materials.
3. Spread and Sort. We then use a loader to move the carpet from the bin to a place on our plant floor where we can spread it out and access each and every piece. We then use a hand held computerized identifier than analyzes the fiber from each carpet roll or tile. Once we know what it is, we create piles for each grade.
4. Package it up. After we have piles with sufficient volumes of each type of carpet or pad, we then package the materials as required by our customers. Typically broadloom (rolled) carpet is baled so that each bale weighs in excess of 1000 lbs. Carpet tile is usually stacked on pallets and then wrapped in plastic. Its important that we examine each piece as we package to make sure no contamination, such as wood or non-recyclable carpet, makes it into the finished product. Currently we separate carpet into 10 different grades!
5. Store, Market & Ship. We keep at least 40,000 lbs of each grade on hand before shipping. Markets for us are as far away as central China, Europe, and South America. Customers for this material want us to ship as much as possible on a load to lower their overall cost.

What happens to the carpet next? Stay tuned for future posts.

A Fair Question....

The other day I ran across an intriguing sounding video, titled "How will the Sustainability Impact the Solid Waste Movement." Here is a link: http://bit.ly/m9Gsiv

Unfortunately when I watched the video it seemed like the usual industry patter. But I still think its a great and fair question that we should strive to answer.

The answer is probably highly variable, depending on who you ask. The Ace answer is people are definitely more interested in recycling than in years past, but problems with the US economy and the lack of policing on the green washing front is, to some extent, taking the edge off what should be wonderful times for those of us in the recycling space.

Over time the economy will recover and it won't be a moment too soon for all of us. There are also movements to certify facilities like ours, thus helping to remove false claims. I think the most promising of these has been put forth by the Construction Materials Recycling Association. Our fingers are crossed.

We'd like to hear what you think....

Is recycling good??

Most everyone we talk to agrees that recycling is great. Yet some building professionals don't always agree. Who is right?

The arguments against do have some validity. I read a post today where people were pointing out that recycling carpet pad (plastic) into new carpet pad means the chemicals associated with the older, potentially more noxious pad is brought into the newer, less problematic formulation. And this then compromises indoor air quality which can be a serious issue especially for those people with immune system sensitivities.

But if old pad can't be recycled into new and there are no other viable markets, is it better to ship all this material to landfills? Doesn't that impose a much more significant cost? Or is there a middle ground here where recycling can continue to exist as a great outcome with little to no negative effect? We know there is.

Old carpet pad can and should continue to be recycled into new product but should be labeled as having the recycled content and noting that such content may be a hazard to some users. There also should be pad offered to the market that offers an alternative therefore providing a true choice to consumers. A win win.

Other materials have similar tradeoffs but we think there is never a good argument against recycling. What do you think?

Help is on the way!

Ace has invested millions of dollars and employs many full time workers to have the capability of recycling construction debris. And with all of that investment and effort we are able to do great things, yet one of the things we have been unable to do properly is tell our story.

Why?

It's because there is no federal, state, local or private sector means to verify a company's recycling claims. A fact. So we end up competing agains landfills, a man and a truck, and other far less capable recycling operations that make wild and unverifiable claims about how much recycling they were able to achieve. Up to this point, the market perversely rewards this behavior because these folks give the market what it wants: high recycling rates at low cost (no overhead).

Facilities like ours have been clamoring for years now for somebody to step up and setup a system of independent verification. These cries for change have fallen on deaf ears. Until now.

The Construction Materials Recycling Association recently announced it is creating a program called Certification of Real Rates (CORR) to solve the problem. We of course hope its implemented and produces the kinds of results necessary to reward actual recycling from the normal business as usual.

Want to read more? Check out: http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/arcshow.html?id=11051600301