David Bodamer, Executive Director, Content & User Engagement

April 18, 2014

4 Min Read
10 Things You Need to Know For the Waste & Recycling Industry Today (April 18, 2014)
  1. Landfill on the High Seas: Why's the Ocean Full of Trash? “’The ocean is full of literally hundreds of millions of tons of junk,’ Dr. Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Center in Southampton told NBC News. ‘It has gone into the oceans from land, it’s come off ships over many many years and it takes a long time to break down.’ Complicating efforts even more is the fact that the search off Australia is concentrated near one of the world’s garbage hot spots or ‘gyres.’ (NBCNews.com)

  2. Waste handler shut down: Radioactive oilfield waste company shut down for violations “The North Dakota Department of Health has ordered a company that handles radioactive oilfield waste to shut down its facility near Killdeer after state inspectors found several violations there earlier this month. The emergency order issued Thursday alleges that Dyad Environmental LLC failed to properly store and track the disposal of the waste, which was primarily filter socks, which collect naturally occurring radioactive material from oilfield byproducts, said Dave Glatt, the department’s environmental health chief.” (The Jamestown Sun)

  3. Duke Had $15 Million in Costs Related to Spill in First Quarter “Duke Energy Corp. said it recorded about $15 million in costs related to a coal-ash spill in North Carolina in the first quarter, while also warning further costs can't be estimated at this time. The costs are related to a metal pipe running underneath a waste-storage pond owned by Duke Energy that burst in early February, pouring as much as 39,000 tons of coal ash—the byproduct of burning coal for fuel—into the adjacent river.” (The Wall Street Journal)

  4. Minneapolis Eyes Styrofoam Ban for Food Containers “You deal with it many times each day in its various forms, and probably don’t even think about it. But one of those forms is drawing some heated debate in Minneapolis. ‘I've never talked to a market that was interested in taking Styrofoam in any of its forms,’ said Mower County recycling director Jeff Weaver. (KAALTV.com)

  5. Michigan will not cite garbage haulers, landfill owners for importing, exporting waste “Garbage haulers are free to take waste outside Jackson County — and bring it in — as long as work continues on the county’s solid waste management plan, according to a state official. The decision helps resolve some on-going confusion regarding the status of the county’s flow-control ordinance, which required all garbage generated in the county to stay in the county. The ordinance was established 27 years ago to ensure waste was taken to the county’s incinerator.” (MLive.com)

  6. Bag and film recycling efforts expanded “Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is joining a public and private effort to increase a certain type of recycling. Cynthia Moore is the DNR’s recycling specialist. She says they are stepping up awareness so more people will recycle plastic bags and films.  ‘Most people are aware that they can recycle plastic bags, and we’re trying to get the awareness out that not only can you recycle plastic bags, but there are many other types of plastic film and wrapping that you can recycle.’” (WTAQ.com)

  7. Board approves landfill contracts “At its monthly meeting Thursday, the St. Clair Board of Commissioners approved five contracts for more than $3 million with construction companies to expand the Smiths Creek Sanitary Landfill. Construction is expected to begin in the next 30 days on the 1.3 million cubic yard expansion for another cell at the landfill, according to St. Clair County Administrator Bill Kauffman.” (TheTimesHerald.com)

  8. Paint recycling program plan approved “PaintCare, a Washington, D.C., based product stewardship organization for the paint industry, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources announce the official approval of the program plan for the responsible recycling of unused and leftover paint in the state. The legislation making the program possible (Act 58) was signed into law by Gov. Peter Shumlin in 2013. The program will begin May 1. ‘Vermont is an environmental leader,’ said Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowitz. ‘The launch of our paint recycling program offers another easy and responsible way for Vermonters to recycle, while saving money for our municipalities and businesses.’” (Bennington Banner)

  9. Protestors in Athens Take to the Streets as Landfill Development Continues  “With what criteria should we evaluate which places make perfect wastelands? Should we continue burdening an already polluted area or should we create new sites of pollution? There is not a more igniting local issue than the waste management of Athens and Attica, particularly these days anticipating the Greek Municipal Elections of May 2014. With few infrastructure projects in progress, big construction corporations are yearning to be a part of Attica’s waste management endeavors. Currently being in an initiation phase, with most waste treatment facilities not even a decade old, waste management has estimated profits, but be aware of the conflicts that lie ahead.” (SustainabileCitiesCollective.com)

  10. Commissioners delay rural recycling funding decision “The Orange County Board of Commissioners put off for another year Tuesday a change in how the county handles rural curbside recycling service. Chairman Barry Jacobs said the many public comments the board received influenced its deliberations.” (Chapel Hill News)

About the Author(s)

David Bodamer

Executive Director, Content & User Engagement, Waste360

David Bodamer is Executive Director of Content & User Engagement for Waste360 and NREI. Bodamer joined Waste360 in January 2014. He has been with NREI since September 2011 and has been covering the commercial real estate sector since 1999 for Retail Traffic, Commercial Property News and Shopping Centers Today. He also previously worked for Civil Engineering magazine. His writings on real estate have also appeared in REP. and the Wall Street Journal’s online real estate news site. He has won multiple awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors and is a past finalist for a Jesse H. Neal Award. 

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