David Bodamer, Executive Director, Content & User Engagement

April 22, 2014

4 Min Read
10 Things You Need to Know For the Waste & Recycling Industry Today (April 22, 2014)

 

  1. Apple Will Now Recycle Any Product You Give Back—and Give You Credit for It “Starting today, Apple Stores will begin accepting any of the company’s products for recycling at no charge. Even better, if the items look resalable, you might even get a store credit, a.k.a. an Apple gift card. CEO Tim Cook last month told shareholders the company wants to “leave the world better than we found it,” and this initiative is part of that.” (Time)

  2. L.A.'s $400 million trash train going nowhere, to O.C.'s benefit “The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County have spent a decade and $430 million building a railway system to haul trash to a desert landfill, but the system is sitting idle because it is too expensive to use. Instead, Los Angeles County is dumping its trash in Orange County, where space in the Brea and Irvine landfills is plentiful and half the $80-per-ton cost of using the trash train.” (Orange County Register)

  3. State lawmakers push to ban fracking waste in the state “In conjunction with Earth Day this week, state legislators are pushing to pass legislation to reduce the presence of fracking waste in New York. Hydraulic fracturing, a controversial natural gas extraction process which shoots a combination of water, sand and chemicals to break up shale rock, has been illegal in New York for five years due to a de facto moratorium. However, the storage and transportation of waste related to fracking and use of gas extracted through the process is still legal in the state.” (The Legislative Gazette)

  4. TrashNothing Connects Freecyclers Around the World to Reduce Landfill use “You’ve probably heard of “Freecycling” by now, but if you haven’t, it’s a system through which one person’s used/unloved items become another person’s treasure. As the idea has gained in popularity, networks are popping up all over the globe, along with websites and apps that make this kind of free item-swapping easier.” (TechInvestorNews.com)

  5. Federal tax credit to aid new Graniteville recycling plant “Work on a Graniteville recycling plant is forging ahead after $20 million in federal tax credit financing was secured to finish the project. Recleim has received funding through the New Markets Tax Credit Program that will finance hefty equipment costs and working capital for the Atlanta-based company’s flagship appliance and electronics recycling facility in the old Hickman Mill textile plant.” (The Augusta Chronicle)

  6. Explosive Materials in Reused Rocks Halt Landfill Expansion “The city has canceled a $3.9 million contract with Northern Alaska to expand the landfill, after workers found evidence of explosive material in heaps of rock recycled from the wastewater treatment plant site. About two weeks ago, city manager Chris Hladick says Northern Alaska discovered dynamite wrappers and wrappers from booster explosives buried in the piles of rock at the landfill.” (KUCB.org)

  7. Warren County boosts recycling efforts “Warren County government recycled more than 13 tons paper files in less than a year’s time instead of incinerating them, county officials announced at the annual meeting of local recycling coordinators. Freeholder Director Edward J. Smith commended the effort as he read a letter from Warren County Department of Public Works Director Alex J. Lazorisak to county Recycling Coordinator Victor Camporine outlining how the county significantly boosted its recycling.” (NJ.com)

  8. EPA fines San Bernardino County’s Molycorp $27,300 “The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Monday ordered Colorado-based Molycorp Minerals LLC to pay a $27,300 fine for improper management of hazardous wastes that contained lead at its mine and mineral processing facility near here. Molycorp operates a rare earth mine, mill and separation facility that is believed to be the nation’s only rare earth mine.” (The Sun)

  9. Communities net $1.2 million rebate from Waukesha County recycling “Waukesha County residents recycled enough waste containers and paper in 2013 to cover an entire football field to a depth of 22 feet, about the height of a two-story building. The recyclables were collected by 25 municipalities, and they will split more than $1.2 million from sales of the material to help offset their costs of the service, county solid waste supervisor Rebecca Mattano said Monday. Waukesha County has paid out more than $12.1 million to the municipalities since 2001. The 25 communities spent $3 million to collect and haul plastics, glass, metal and paper in 2013, so the county payments will cover a little more than one-third of the total costs, according to Dale Shaver, director of the county Parks and Land Use Department. (Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)

  10. Study: Fuels From Corn Waste Not Better Than Gas “Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration's conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change. A $500,000 study paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change concludes that biofuels made with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.” (ABCNews.go.com)

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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