Project: Green Industry

San Francisco working to eliminate all waste by 2020

If San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom gets his way, his city will soon have “the best recycling and composting programs in the nation,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. On June 9, the city’s Board of Supervisors approved the mayor’s proposal to cut the amount of waste sent to the city’s landfill and to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of the Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance (081404) which is expected to take effect in the fall, is to stop sending waste to landfills or incinerators by 2020.

The ordinance would require every city residence and business to sort waste into three separate color-coded bins: green for compost, blue for recycling and black for trash. Citizens or companies that fail to properly dispose of waste after several warnings could face fines. These fines, said officials, would only be levied in flagrant cases. Fines would initially be capped at $100 for residents and small businesses that generate less than a cubic yard of waste a week. Fines could be as much as $500 for businesses that don’t have the proper bins. No fines would be imposed until July 2011 for residents and operators of multifamily buildings or multitenant commercial properties. In building locations where recycling carts won’t fit, owners and tenants can receive a waiver.

Jared Blumenfeld, head of the city’s Department of the Environment, told the newspaper that the ordinance won’t create trash police. He said violators would receive numerous notices and phone calls before any fines were issued. Blumenfeld said the owners of apartment buildings are the ones most likely to skirt the ordinance, reports SFEnvironment. “We’re mainly focusing this new law at multitenant buildings; only 25 percent of those building owners provide recycling for renters.”

According to a USA Today Snapshot, each American generates an average of nearly 5 pounds of trash per day. Of the trash generated, 54 percent goes into landfills, 33 percent is recycled and 13 percent is burned.

--Dave

Get on board with pot recycling efforts

This just in from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association has brought back its popular pot recycling program. Almost 20 retail garden centers will accept plastic pots for recycling all season (through Nov. 1). Other retailers will accept pots June 20-21 and Sept. 19-20. The plastic will be re-used after it is processed and distributed to manufacturers looking for recycled plastic.

Now that’s what I like to hear! I guess everyone has their pet causes. Pot recycling is definitely mine. In my opinion, it’s the most straightforward effort the green industry can engage in to show concern about the environment. I’m lucky that in my neck of the woods, most horticulture plastics can be tossed in my curbside recycling bin. I wish that was the case in more locales.

Here are some programs that are stepping up to keep horticulture plastic out of landfills:

• Missouri Botanical Garden

• University of Illinois Extension

• Washington State Nursery & Landscape Association

• Houston Arboretum & Nature Center

What’s the recycling scene like in your part of the world? Are you taking part in collection campaigns? Post a comment and let us know.

-- Sarah

Make every day Earth Day

If you or your customers are going through Earth Day withdrawal, there are several opportunities to helping to make the planet greener on a daily basis. Sacramento Bee columnist Claudia Buck offered the following suggestions:

Give 1 for the planet
Over 1,100 companies in 38 countries are now participating in One Percent for the Planet or 1% FTP. Since the Vermont-based program was launched in 2002 over $42 million has been donated to environmental causes. Companies participating in the program range from international corporations like Sony to independent retailers.

These companies make donations directly to the environmental nonprofits of their choice, deciding which organizations receive the contributions and how much they receive. Companies use a “member” logo in their marketing materials to inform the public of their participation in the program, giving consumers an opportunity to support the businesses and brands that have made the commitment to support environmental causes.

Saving some green
Consumers looking to invest in mutual funds can choose to do so in an environmentally conscientious way. GreenMoney Journal has released a top 10 list of mutual funds that invest in companies focused on maintaining clean water, developing and using alternative energy sources, producing and delivering organic products and avoiding products related to alcohol, gambling and weapons.

GreenMoney Journal publisher Cliff Feigenbaum said these mutual funds enable “people to align their money with their values.” He said the goal of the list is “make money and make a difference.” Funds on the list include: Appleseed, Integrity Growth & Income, Wells Fargo Advantage Social Sustainability, Dreyfus Global Sustainability, Calvert Large Cap Value, Calvert Global Water, Pax World Global Green, Pax World International, Pax World Small Cap and Firsthand Alternative Energy.

Cutting down on plastic
Consumers looking to cut down on the amount of plastic they are carrying in purses and wallets can discard used or expired gift cards, unused credit cards, old library cards, membership cards, video rental cards, shopper discount cards or old hotel key cards. Most of these cards are recyclable and some are even biodegradable.

Earthworks Systems in Solon, Ohio, reports that many of these cards are made from a base material of PVC plastic. About 10 billion new cards are placed in circulation every year. The company said when the cards are replaced or reach their expiration dates, most of them are thrown in the trash, contributing more than 75 million pounds of PVC material to the waste stream every year.

According to the International Card Manufacturing Association, 16.9 billion plastic cards were produced worldwide in 2006. North America remains the largest card unit market with more than 8.3 billion cards manufactured in 2006.

Earthworks, which manufactures and recycles PVC for card applications, has implemented the Retailer Gift Card Return Program. The program allows retailers to send back zero-value gift cards for recycling into earth-friendly, reusable sheet material.

Earthworks’ return program allows consumers to redeem gift cards at the retail checkout. The used cards are retained by the retailers and returned to the Earthworks Recycling Center for shredding and processing into reusable sheet material ready for making new gift cards. The new cards are loaded and used exactly like any other type of gift card.

--Dave

Plastic bag manufacturers implement aggressive bag recycling initiative

The Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council have initiated the Full Circle Recycling Initiative in an effort to dramatically increase recycling of plastic bags. The initiative sets an aggressive goal of 40 percent recycled content in all plastic bags by 2015, including at least 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. Each participating company will decide how to support the goal.

The industry is expected to invest nearly $50 million to overhaul manufacturing processes and on an annual basis will collect 470 million pounds of recycled plastic for the manufacture of new bags. This effort will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 463 million pounds, conserve enough energy (natural gas) to heat 200,000 homes, and reduce waste by 300 million pounds every year.

“This bold move will conserve natural resources, reduce waste and stimulate plastics recycling throughout the nation,” said Cal Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council. “Plastic bag makers have listened to policy makers and customers and are launching an initiative that will make a lasting positive impact on American communities.”

Retail entities that have announced their support for this effort include: Walgreens Co., Publix, Food Marketing Institute, Arizona Retailers Association, California Retailers Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Ohio Grocers Association and Texas Retailers Association. In addition, several major retailers and grocers recently started using recycled content bags.

Recycling of plastic bags and wraps has escalated in recent years to an estimated 830 million pounds in 2007. This represents a 27 percent increase from 2005. Progressive Bag Affiliates will continue working with major grocery and retail chains to increase at-store programs that allow shoppers to bring back their used plastic bags and wraps.

--Dave

Bottoms up

Good news for wine drinkers in Oregon and Washington – you can now recycle wine corks. Sommeliers and neophytes (like me) can help protect cork oak forests. (If you prefer the screw-top variety, recycle the bottle, OK?)

The Willamette Valley Vineyards (WVV) is the first winery to launch a cork recycling program. Winery founder Jim Bernau said the new program is needed to sustain the cork forests of Portugal, Spain and other cork-producing countries. High-quality, natural cork is the “best way to preserve wine quality,” he said. But the cork forests are second only to the Amazon Rainforest in their importance to the world’s biosphere, he added.

The Cork Re-Harvest program is a collaboration with WVV, Whole Foods Market, the Rainforest Alliance, WVV’s Oregon and Washington distributors and Western Pulp Products. You know Western Pulp for its nursery and greenhouse fiber pots, but the company also makes wine shippers.

Recycling boxes are available at 11 Whole Foods stores in the region. When distributors deliver wine to these stores, they will pick up the cork and it eventually winds up at Western Pulp’s Corvallis warehouse.

Retailers, did you try getting customers to bring in plastic pots for recycling? Are your efforts stale? Try partnering with another recycling program. Think corks for coleus and plastic for pansies. Ask your distributors and vendors to help.

-- Kelli

Recycler converts ag plastic into crude oil

Agri-Plas Inc. in Brooks, Ore., is converting unwanted agricultural plastics into crude oil and shipping it to a refinery for commercial processing. How’s that for business acumen? Growers could potentially turn their used plastic from spring into heating oil for winter.

Agri-Plas accepts many types of plastics including nursery pots and trays, ground cover, seed sacks, plastic binder twine, triple-rinsed pesticide containers and greenhouse film.

The company recently delivered its first full tanker (8,200 gallons) of oil to a refinery in Tacoma, Wash., which translates to a final delivery of 196 barrels of oil.

“The fact that Agri-Plas has been able to take plastic that would otherwise go directly into the waste stream and convert it into a commercial product that can eventually be pumped into a gas tank is truly groundbreaking,” said Tim McCabe, director of the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department.

The synthetic crude oil that Agri-Plas is reclaiming from unwanted plastic can be refined for a variety of uses. The oil can used in literally thousands of high-end products ranging from makeup to food items, as well as gasoline, diesel, lubricants and other petroleum-based products.

Agri-Plas is gearing up to deliver its second shipment of crude oil this month. The company is currently testing technology developed by Plas2Fuel, a Kelso, Wash., alternative energy company, that created the unique process of converting plastic into high-value, synthetic crude oil. Agri-Plas is planning to expand its operations within the next several months. Within the next year, Agri-Plas hopes to create up to 58 new green-collar jobs at its headquarters.

Today, Agri-Plas is operating one plastic-to-oil converting unit. The company soon expects to add three more units, which will create one full system, and will operate this venture under the name of Agri-Plas2Crude.

-- Kelli

Missouri Botanical Garden maintains plastic recycling program

Earth Day, April 22, kicks off this year’s plastic pot recycling program at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Program coordinators are thrilled with the growth of this program. To date, the program has saved more than 680,000 pounds, or 340 tons, of plastic garden pots, cell packs and trays from landfills.

The program also enlisted the help of 10 satellite collection sites. Locations are available on the program’s Web site (www.plasticpotrecycling.org). Collections run through Sept. 30.

Plastic is granulated on-site into chips, which is used to make plastic timbers for landscape projects. The timbers are water and pest resistant and can be cut and drilled similar to wooden lumber. Proceeds from the sale of plastic timbers are used to fund future collections. Grants from the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resource Authority, and California-based Monrovia Growers also support the program.

I’ve got some recycling envy. I Googled “plastic pot recycling” for my area, and came up with nada. Now, if I lived in the city instead of the sticks, and had access to a city recycling program, I could recycle my cell packs and 1-gallons that are piled in my barn. But my country-fried refuse company does not have a recycling program. My calls and e-mails to their home office inquiring about such a program have gone unanswered. Missouri gardeners, take advantage of this program!

-- Kelli

Polycarbonate gets new life as crates

Polycarbonate is a material that’s plentiful throughout the green industry, and historically it hasn’t been recycled. If you’ve participated in any type of recycling program, you’re probably familiar with the numbers on the bottom of plastic containers. The numbers represent the resin types and help recyclers sort the product. Polycarbonate sheets are stamped with a No. 7, which in the past haven’t been recycled. However, a handful of programs have recently been accepting No. 7 resins.

But Green-Tek Inc., a plastic coverings fabricator in Edgerton, Wis., has crafted a solution that keeps polycarbonate sheets out of the landfill. Green-Tek customers can return their old polycarbonate sheets when they purchase new sheets. Green-Tek takes the old sheets and turns them into shipping crates. The company replaced the oriented strand board (OSB) sides of its crates with the used polycarbonate sheets.

The crates are holding up well and no one has complained of freight damage. The crates are adorned with large, brightly colored labels that notify customers of the innovative use of old sheets.

The program saves end users the expense of disposal, diverts polycarbonate from the landfills and saves trees from being chipped into OSB.

-- Kelli

Fresno, Calif., ranks as No. 1 recycling American city

If you’re considering implementing a recycling program for your customers and wondering what are the chances of it being successful, you may want to check out the March issue of Men’s Health magazine. This issue (Page 76) contains the results of the magazine’s first survey of America's recycling habits. California, which really isn’t a surprise, is home to four cities (Fresno, Fremont, Anaheim and San Diego) that finished in the top 10. The magazine reports that in 1989 California set the goal of recycling 50 percent of what its residents discarded. The state reached that goal in 2004 and today its recycling efforts have climbed to 58 percent.

Criteria for determining which cities do the best job of recycling included whether recycling is mandatory, ease of recycling (i.e., no sorting, curbside pickup), variety of materials recycled (cities earned bonus points if they recycled more than glass, paper and plastic) and percentage of households that participate in a city’s program.

The article also discusses the EPA’s Plug-In To eCycling program which is a partnership between U.S. EPA and consumer electronics manufacturers, retailers and service providers that offer consumers opportunities to donate or recycle their used electronics. All Plug-In partners have committed to work with recyclers who meet or exceed EPA’s Guidelines for Materials Management, the agency’s voluntary guidelines for safe electronics recycling.

And if you’re wondering which city was at the bottom of Men’s Health recycling survey, it was Wichita, Kan. It was one of nine cities that graded out an F for its recycling efforts.

-- Dave

New York retailers bag plastic; hybrid car owners gain perks

On Jan. 1, New York became the second state to require retailers and grocery stores that supply their customers with plastic bags to provide recycling bins for those bags. California was the first state to enact bag recycling legislation.

Stores in New York affected by the legislation are establishments with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space or those that are part of a chain with more than five stores, each with more than 5,000 square feet of retail space. Retailers are required to provide collection bins for used plastic carryout bags, to recycle the returned bags and to keep records for three years indicating the amount of plastic bags collected and recycled.

With the recycling law at the state level, local governments are pre-empted from adopting their own bag recycling laws. However, New York City has been allowed to retain an earlier enacted law that established a city-wide bag and film plastic recycling program.

New York Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith Enck said the bags “are a persistent litter and environmental problem. Nationally, we discard nearly 100 billion plastic bags every year.” She said the legislation will make it easier for citizens to recycle used bags and would encourage them to use reusable bags instead.

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Hybrid car owners, in addition to spending less money for fuel and receiving tax credits, are starting to receive some other perks from cities and businesses, reports USA Today. Drivers of hybrid cars are receiving preferential treatment when it comes to driving in high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and free or reduced-cost parking or reserved parking spots.

The newspaper reports some city residents and business customers aren’t happy with the special treatment extended to the hybrid car owners. Officials in Ferndale, Mich., addressed this concern by offering free meter parking to owners of cars that get 30 miles or more per gallon of fuel based on federal data.

Expect to see increased use of these perks by both the public and private sectors in order to encourage more people to conserve energy and live healthier.

-- Dave