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

Mayor Ballard to announce deal for recycling plant “Mayor Greg Ballard today will announce an agreement for a waste disposal firm to build a $45 million recycling plant on the southwestside. The deal with Covanta Indianapolis — first discussed by the mayor last week — means all the trash picked up in the city would first go to a new sorting plant in an effort to identity and increase the amount of trash recycled in the city.” (IndyStar.com)

Cleanup of Toxic, Stinky Waste Ordered for Indiana Town “A 14-year struggle to protect an Indiana community from a polluting waste dump is coming to an end. A federal judge has approved a final class-action settlement requiring Soil Solutions Co. to cease operations of its waste facility in Elkhart. Nearby residents have been exposed to dangerous pollution from decomposing waste piles for more than a decade, said Kim Ferraro, a senior staff attorney for the Hoosier Environmental Council, who worked on the case.” (PublicNewsService.org)

Waste-to-energy incinerator county’s top choice “A waste-to-energy incinerator will be the solution to Hawaii County’s garbage problems, judging by a list of finalists released Tuesday for the project. All three companies making the short list specialize in mass-burn incineration, with garbage combusted to produce power to sell to electric companies. The companies are Covanta Energy Corp., the operator of Honolulu’s HPower incinerator; Green Conversion Systems Inc., which recently built an incinerator for the city of Los Angeles; and Waste Management Inc.’s Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., which won a $125 million bid to build an incinerator in 2008 before the project was killed by the Hawaii County Council.” (West Hawaii Today)

Battery groups introduce model recycling bill “The Corp. for Battery Recycling (CBR), the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the Rechargeable Battery Association (PRBA) and Call2Recycle have unveiled what the four groups are calling a model bill for battery recycling. The four groups say that for the first time battery interest groups have joined forces to take shared responsibility for the collection and recycling of all used primary, or single-use, batteries and rechargeable batteries. The model bill only covers consumer batteries. The groups introduced the model bill at the Product Stewardship Institute’s National Batteries Stewardship Dialogue Meeting, June 11-12 in Hartford, Connecticut.” (Recycling Today)

Polk County Commission Approves Final Settlement With Republic Services “County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a final settlement with Republic Services to clear up disputes over compliance with its 2010 franchise agreement. The vote ends two years of negotiations that included threats of a lawsuit by Polk County and stonewalling by Republic in providing documents and repeated attempts at mediation.” (TheLedger.com)

New Jersey organic waste company is expanding its reach “A New Jersey producer and supplier of mulch and other organic waste-based products is expanding into Pennsylvania, it announced Tuesday. Britton Industries, which is based in Lawrenceville with an additional facility in Hamilton, says it is expanding through the opening of a Philadelphia location.” (NJBiz.com)

Jury Orders Recology To Pay $1.3 Million To Ratepayers After Whistleblower Brings Lawsuit “A verdict has been reached this week in a fraud case against San Francisco’s garbage company, and both sides said they’ve won. A whistleblower brought a lawsuit against Recology, in a story that KPIX 5 first reported earlier this year. After a month-long trial and more than a week of deliberations, a San Francisco jury ordered Recology to pay back $1.3 million to ratepayers for bonuses it received in 2008. The bonuses are for meeting recycling goals and diverting garbage from the landfill.” (KPIX5)

Exide's hazardous waste permit application deficient, California says “A Vernon battery recycler, under fire for polluting the air with excessive amounts of lead and arsenic, has been given 30 days to correct shortcomings in its application for a permit to handle hazardous waste. A notice issued Tuesday by state regulators faults Exide Technologies for failing to describe the amount of lead-contaminated waste on the site, underestimating the cost to clean it up and not including a safety assessment for hazardous waste-holding tanks that could spill in an earthquake, among other deficiencies.” (LATimes.com)

Legal action against FD landfill now ‘unlikely’ “Legal action against the regional landfill now looks unlikely, as officials work closely with the Iowa attorney general's office to resolve violations that occurred between 2008 and 2012. Changes continue to be made at the site to proactively prevent any future violations, Interim Director Cindy Turkle told the North Central Regional Solid Waste Agency's executive board Tuesday night.” (The Messenger)

17 tons of waste from Chico State dorms was diverted “More than 17 tons of waste was diverted from the landfill when 1,600 students moved out of the residence halls at Chico State University this year. The University Housing and Food Service and Associated Students reported in a press release that the 14th annual Diversion Excursion gathered nearly twice what was collected last year. Volunteers sorted 3,477 pounds of recyclable goods, collected and donated 265 computers to Computers to Classrooms, sent 26,134 pounds of household items to Goodwill and 4,290 pounds of food to the Jesus Center and Esplanade House.” (Oroville Mercury-Register)