10 Things You Need to Know For the Waste & Recycling Industry Today (March 19, 2014)

Fire Consumes Brooklyn Recycling Plant “A three-alarm fire broke out Tuesday night at a commercial recycling plant in Brooklyn, authorities said. The fire at Rapid Recycling Paper Corp. on Humboldt Street in Greenpoint was reported around 7:30 p.m. A 911 caller and another witness told police that they saw an electrical panel in the one-story building spark and catch on fire, which they tried to put out with a fire extinguisher. But the blaze spread after it extended to paper, plastic and other combustible material that were present.” (WSJ.com)

City of Tulsa seeks to crack down on recycling violators “Darren Stefanek, solid waste supervisor with the Streets and Stormwater Department, said city officials are being more aggressive in their audits of recyclers to combat high contamination rates—meaning too many Tulsa residents are putting nonrecyclable material in their blue bins…. Last year, Tulsa had a 28 percent contamination rate. That meant the city's recycling contractor, Tulsa Recycle and Transfer, had to spend excessive time and money separating trash from recyclables…. ‘We're going through every single day ... and just tagging everybody (with contaminated recycling) and informing them that this is contamination and what the contamination is,’ Stefanek said. After three tags, the city attempts to contact the owner about the problem, Stefanek said. After that, the recycling cart will be taken back.” (Tulsa World)

Leachate cannon saving landfill money “The Montmorency- Oscoda- Alpena (Mich.) Solid Waste Management Authority has spent years and thousands of dollars disposing of leachate and invested even more in plans to find ways to reduce its cost. In August it found the solution to its leachate disposal dilemma. Last summer the landfill board approved spending $185,000 for a water cannon that would syphon the water from the secondary lagoon at the landfill in Atlanta and spray it in a mist form, which causes the leachate to be evaporated. Since the machine was purchased and put into operation, the landfill has saved over $200,000 in leachate handling and treatment.” (The Alpena News)

Contaminated soil recycling project in New Jersey concerns Staten Island officials “Staten Island’s elected officials fear the West Shore could see increased contamination if a New Jersey project to construct a recycling plant for contaminated soil is pushed through. The “Rahway Arch” project would take a 125-acre tract of land along the Rahway River -- which feeds directly into the Arthur Kill -- and place a soil recycling operation for chemically contaminated soil within a 100-year flood plain that was flooded by Hurricane Sandy. Staten Island officials believe insufficient consideration was given to the borough by the New Jersey agencies regarding permits issued for this project, and they are calling for New York agencies to undertake their own study.” (SILive.com)

Oberlin, Ohio, to resurrect its recycling program after February fire destroyed its municipal trucks “The city is seeking ways to resurrect its recycling program after a fire destroyed its municipal trucks Feb. 15. Since the fire, the city has been using a drop-off site at the Lorain County Recycling Center on Oberlin-Elyria Road. Residents have been encouraged to take their recyclables to the center and take paper products to Abitibi Paper-Retriever dumpsters located at sites across the city. The fire, which is still under investigation, destroyed six trucks used for recycling and trash collection, as well as a forklift, tires and equipment.” (The Morning Journal)

Mount Trashmore taking another step toward transformation “Mount Trashmore has taken another step toward a new future. The Cedar Rapids/Linn County (Iowa) Solid Waste Agency Board on Tuesday picked a Wisconsin engineering and environmental firm from among four finalists to develop a master plan for how the agency’s now-closed riverside landfill near downtown will function in the future and fit into the city around it. Karmin McShane, the agency’s executive director, said the redevelopment experience of Ayers Associates, Eau Claire, Wis., with riverfront redevelopments and landfill reclamations ‘give us a lot of hope’ for the coming transformation of the agency’s Site 1 landfill affectionately called Mount Trashmore.” (The Gazette)

City of Okmulgee landfill overflowing with trash; community left with trash service fee increase “It's a mountain of a mess. The Okmulgee, Okla., landfill, otherwise called the 'Okmulgee Mountain' is overflowing with trash. The city council voted to increase trash service fees to expand the facility, a project that will cost four-million-dollars. But this extra cost isn't sitting well with the people who live in this small community.” (KJRH.com)

Town of Vail passes recycling requirements “Part of the reason it has taken so long to pass a recycling mandate in Vail is that questions about implementation have dogged the proposal. Those questions were answered to the satisfaction of five Vail Town Council members on Tuesday, enough to give final approval to an ordinance that makes the town the first in the valley to mandate recycling — and make not recycling a civil offense.” (VailDaily.com)

Pueblo City Council considers fee for recycling “The trash recycling plan that City Council is considering would have all trash collection customers in the city paying for recycling — whether they chose to actually do it or not. ‘We would hope most customers would want to recycle because they would be paying a fee to their hauler for that service, but not everyone will choose to do that,’ said Earl Wilkinson, the city’s public works director. What could offset any increase in monthly trash fees for customers is that haulers also would have to offer customers three sizes of trash bins — small, medium and large — and bill accordingly.” (The Pueblo Chieftain)

Northglenn launches recycling pilot program “The city of Northglenn is distributing recycling bins to 80 residences in an effort to increase participation with households that don't already use the free recycling program offered by the city. ‘We're starting this initiative to reach customers who are unaware of the recycling capabilities this city offers,’ said David Willet, Northglenn director of public works. ‘Our program is single-stream, which makes it extremely easy for people because they don't have to sort anything into specific bins for glass or plastic or cardboard. It all goes into one bin.” (Denver Post)