TexasTrashWatch: September 2004 Archives

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September 21, 2004

Global Alliance Against Incineration/Global Alliance for Incineration Alternatives

GAIA - Global Alliance Against Incineration & Global Alliance for Incineration Alternatives - all you ever wanted to know about the problems of and alternatives to incineration. Sponsor of Global Day Against Waste on September 1st.

Posted by robin at 07:21 PM

September 20, 2004

State Environmental Commissioners Vote to Keep Some Hazardous Electronic Waste Out of Landfill

On Thursday September 16, 2004, at a suspenseful hearing a 2-1 majority of the Commissioners of the state environmental agency voted to overturn their staff's decision on letting hazardous electronic waste to be disposed of in a trash landfill.

Without this ruling, hazardous waste polluters would have gotten the message that the TCEQ would approve plans that reclassifies hazardous waste as "Special Waste" after being mixed with garbage in landfills.

Texas Campaign for the Environment hopes to use this case to increase support for keeping ALL toxic electronic waste out of landfills in Texas.

In addition, this is the second time in 6 months that at least two of the three Commissioners were willing to reconsider actions of staff and do something different than staff recommended on a waste issue.

To see more on this case, the website of the landfill that was unlawfully dumped on and is fighting to have the hazardous waste removed has press clippings and lots of background on the case. Go to Texas Disposal Systems's website and click on "About Us" and then "Latest News" or "TCEQ Filings & Information"

Posted by robin at 05:05 PM

If you have problems with how your local trash facility operates: Have your Say!

The state environmental agency (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or TCEQ) is revising rules regarding garbage dumps and other garbage facilities. Right now, the agency is about to publish proposed rules on site Operating Plans which are the part of the permit that address the day-to-day operations of facility.

The most recent draft Site Operating Plan rules are available now. Latest Version of Proposed Rules on Site Operating Plans for Landfills

You can still make comments on this phase of the rule-making. Here are some comments that a number of groups submitted on a n earlier draft of the rules (Download file).

Here's a link to the TCEQ webpage with details on proposal, timeline, etc. As mentioned above the "Proposed Rule" and timeline are being changed TCEQ Site Operating Plans Rules Re-write Page

Feel free to borrow or echo ideas from the comments submitted by trash groups already, or add your own ideas. Email your comments to: mswsop@tceq.state.tx.us

Include your name and address and request updates!

Posted by robin at 04:59 PM

New Proposed Rules on site Operating Plans Available & Stakeholder Meeting on September 22nd at 9:30 am

The state environmental agency issues newest set of proposed rules on Site Operating Plans for landfills Click here for more information

You are welcome to attend an informal stakeholders meeting about these proposed rules on Wed. Sept. 22 at 9:30 am in Room 201 S Building E at the TCEQ headquarters in Austin.

Posted by robin at 04:50 PM

Stop the Dump - Brazoria County

Posted by robin at 04:39 PM

September 15, 2004

Innovative Recycling Partnership in NYC

New York Times September 15, 2004

City Sees Savings in a Partnership Built on Tons of Plastic and Metal

By Ian Urbina

One of the toughest challenges with recycling has always been finding markets for the recycled goods, whose resale can then help defray the costs of the program. In announcing a 20-year recycling contract yesterday, the Bloomberg administration said it had solved that problem by encouraging a company to find those markets.

The contract with the company, the Hugo Neu Corporation, based in Manhattan, will not only give New York City some of the revenue from the sale of recycled plastic, metal and glass but will also allow the recycling company to take in greater revenue if it finds lucrative markets for those products. "The magic formula here is that as the market for recycling improves, the city wins, and as Hugo Neu's performance improves, the company wins," said Robert Lange, director of the waste prevention, reuse and recycling bureau in the Department of Sanitation. "This is the genius of a true public-private partnership."
The contract, details of which are still being negotiated, features two improvements from previous city contracts with recyclers. First, if the market for recycled materials improves, the city will pay less in fees for its recyclable trash. But if the market worsens, the city will not pay above a certain amount.

The city now pays about $51 per ton to recycle metal, glass and plastic. During the first five years of the contract, the city will not pay more than $48 per ton. By contrast, the city would pay about $70 a ton to send the materials to be buried in a landfill.

The contract's second improvement, according to city officials, is that it gives Hugo Neu the incentive to find markets for the costliest parts of the recycling stream: plastic and glass.

"I am proud to announce that we are entering a new era for recycling in New York City," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said during a news conference at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where the city plans to build a $25 million sorting plant. "This long-term contract allows the Hugo Neu Corporation to make the capital investment necessary to develop better markets for the city's recyclables."

The mayor explained that under the new plan the city would save about $20 million a year from what it currently pays to recycle its metal, plastic and glass. Part of these savings come from the contract's sliding scale, which ties the city's recycling future to the shifting and complicated markets for metal, glass and plastic.

The demand for metal is strong at present, largely because of a building boom in China that has driven up prices for recycled metal. The market for certain types of plastic, like that used in the milk jugs and water bottles that are recycled in New York City, is also strong.

But the market for other plastic, like that used in toys or to cover dry-cleaned garments, remains weak. The contract will require Hugo Neu to construct the Brooklyn sorting plant to be able to process these other types of plastics.
The contract also stipulates that if the company can find a market for the other kinds of plastic, it can keep a large part of the money it makes on the sale of that material. This will encourage the company to find buyers for the plastic, thus increasing the chance that in the future, the city might be able to expand its recycling program, a step that would remove even more trash from the waste stream.

"The hope is that there will come a time when the markets for these materials is strong enough that Hugo Neu will pay the city rather than the other way around," said Carmen J. Cognetta, counsel to the sanitation and solid waste management committee of the City Council. "The limiting factor here is glass."

Mr. Cognetta explained that because glass is made of cheap and abundant raw materials, mostly water and sand, it has very little resale value. The value of glass is further lowered by the fact that there is no way to turn one color of glass into another color. Recycling companies now sell mixed-color glass after it is pulverized to be sprayed over landfills to limit odor or to be used as a substitute for sand in construction projects.

As is the case with plastics, the contract will give Hugo Neu a similar incentive to find markets for glass. While exact percentages have not been specified, the contract says that if Hugo Neu finds markets for the glass, it can keep a large part of the profit.

"Finding markets for these products is key," said Mark A. Izeman, a senior lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "But so too is public education and streamlined collection."

Mr. Izeman said that since the cost of picking up the materials accounts for about 90 percent of the overall cost of recycling, the city will need to make sure that sanitation trucks pick up the maximum amount of recyclables possible for each mile driven.
"It's a winning contract, and ultimately stronger public education and more efficient collection will be critical to getting the most out it," he said.

Posted by robin at 09:37 PM