10 Things You Need to Know for the Waste & Recycling Industry Today (August 18, 2014)

Owners of Alabama landfill accused of violating civil rights note zero violations “Owners of a west Alabama landfill say EPA officials investigating a complaint against the Alabama Department of Environmental management have not contacted them but they would cooperate fully if requested. The Tuscaloosa News reported this week the complaint alleges the state violated the civil rights of black property owners near the Arrowhead landfill when it reissued its permit in 2011 and later allowed it to expand.” (AL.com)

Landfills in Illinois have a 21-year life expectancy “An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency report published in July says Illinois landfills have a combined life expectancy of 21 years at current disposal rates. The report, published July 16, said the 42 landfills in Illinois reported receiving more than 45 million gate cubic yards of waste in 2013. The reported capacity for all landfills in the state is barely more than 947 million gate cubic yards.” (The Southern Illinoisan)

To Reduce Plastic Bag Waste, Fort Collins May Allow Businesses To Charge Customers “After months of planning and attempts to seek public input, Fort Collins’ city council is again considering changes to a proposed city-wide disposable bag ordinance. Leaders began discussing the idea more than one year ago, in an effort to reduce waste generated within the city. Fort Collins Councilman Gino Campana says each year residents use an average of 52 million disposable plastic bags. Because the bags cannot be recycled, they end up in landfills.” (CBS Denver)

GM Renaissance Center Composts Food Scraps “General Motors’ global headquarters, a multi-office tower complex that sends no waste to landfills, now composts food preparation scraps from its various Renaissance Center restaurant kitchens for use in urban farming initiatives throughout the city. Composting startup Detroit Dirt collects coffee grounds and fruit and vegetable pieces and mixes them with herbivore manure, some of which ends up in a rooftop garden at the complex.” (Environmental Leader)

Fracking Waste Disposal Fuels Opposition in U.S. and Abroad “A poll taken by Public Policy Polling revealed this week that 65 percent of California residents oppose dumping fracking waste in the ocean. The actions of fracking companies in both the U.S. and England, the eagerness of many government bodies and officials to cater to them, and the obfuscation around the disposal of the waste show they have reason to be concerned.” (EcoWatch)

County readies recycling campaign “Rutherford County leaders want folks to stop sending to the trash what can be recycled to avoid filling up Middle Point Landfill too soon. ‘We can't wait 12 to 15 years from now when the landfill is full to decide we must recycle more,’ County Mayor Ernest Burgess said during an interview at his office on the first floor of the County Courthouse on the Public Square in Murfreesboro.” (DNJ.com)

Covanta and waste by rail: Here's the plan “After weeks of debate and fact-finding, Chester City Council approved a land development application made by the operator of the nation’s largest trash-to-steam incinerator to construct a large building to accept a new mode of waste transport. Much of the debate was centered around the intentions of Covanta, which owns and operates the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility on Highland Avenue near the Delaware River. Opponents alleged that the incinerator, which burns about 1.2 million tons of municipal garbage per year, was trying to covertly increase that amount by accepting waste from New York City by train. After a weeks-long public relations and education campaign, including setting up an informational Website and offering tours of the facility to the public, city council OK’d the plan.” (Delaware County Daily Times)

Proposal calls for reducing Ontario County waste stream by 90 percent “Over the next 14 years, Ontario County Administrator John Garvey wants to reduce the county’s waste stream by a whopping 90 percent. To help accomplish that lofty goal, Garvey is proposing to use about half of the $18.7 million the county will receive from Casella Waste Systems, operator of the county landfill, to fund waste reduction efforts in towns and cities.” (Finger Lakes Times)

Surging wine waste stymies Napa Sanitation District “It’s a problem facing many towns and counties throughout the North Bay: what to do with high-density wastewater created by food and beverage producers? In Napa County — with hundreds of wineries producing millions of gallons of sludgy water that is too thin to be processed with fat and grease waste and too dense to be sent down the drain without exorbitant fees — it’s a problems that has led to more than 12,000 truckloads of wastewater being driven to Oakland’s sewage treatment plant each year.” (Napa Valley Register)

Opposition mounts to proposed recycling center expansion “Community concern over the proposed expansion of a south Forsyth recycling center seems to be growing. Commissioner Todd Levent, in whose district the Advanced Disposal facility is located, held what he called a town hall meeting on Thursday night to discuss the matter with residents and business owners. Held at Levent’s retail business in the Midway Community off Highway 9, the meeting drew a standing-room-only crowd of about 200.” (Forsyth County News)