10 Things You Need to Know For the Waste & Recycling Industry Today (September 5, 2014)

San Francisco Stalls In Its Attempt To Go Trash-Free “San Francisco has gotten kudos from the global press for its efforts to eliminate waste. Mayor Ed Lee has boasted that his city diverts a greater percentage of its waste from the landfill than any other in the country. San Francisco’s environment department, down the street from Twitter and sharing a building with Uber, features art made from reclaimed refuse and a five-bin system for its employees to minimize trash. But sitting at his desk on a recent weekday, the city’s zero waste manager, Robert Haley, pulled out a piece of paper that contained some troubling stats. After 12 years of consecutive declines, last year the city sent more tons of trash to landfills than it did in 2012: 456,764 tons, or about three pounds per day per resident.” (FiveThirtyEight.com)

Will Seattle Be the First U.S. City to Recycle Everything? “Three years ago, Seattle’s City Council passed Resolution 31312, calling for zero net emissions by 2050, one of few cities crusading for this goal; along with it came a concentrated effort to push residents to conserve water, drive less and recycle way more. Half of Seattle’s greenhouse gas emissions are created through ordinary everyday life — getting around, eating and buying stuff. The city’s campaign used a gradual approach, phasing in rules like mandatory composting over three years, for example.” (NextCity.org)

99 Per Cent Of Sweden's Garbage Is Now Recycled “There’s a ‘recycling revolution’ happening in Sweden – one that has pushed the country closer to zero waste than ever before. In fact, less than one per cent of Sweden's household garbage ends up in landfills today. The Scandinavian country has become so good at managing waste, they have to import garbage from the UK, Italy, Norway and Ireland to feed the country’s 32 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, a practice that has been in place for years.” (The Huffington Post)

Bridgeton Landfill barrier design to take at least another 18 months “Construction on a barrier between the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill and the radioactive West Lake Landfill won’t start for at least 18 months, according to a new analysis from the Army Corps of Engineers. The Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the West Lake Superfund site, had announced a start date of June 2014. A spokesman for the agency could not be reached Wednesday.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

An Update of Flow Control Jurisprudence since United Haulers “Since United Haulers Association v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, 550 U.S. 330, 344 (2007), most courts have upheld local flow control ordinances as constitutional under that holding.  Plaintiffs in the cases since United Haulers have asserted a multitude of arguments in an attempt to invalidate flow control ordinances; however, most of these arguments have been unsuccessful. National Solid Wastes Management Association v. City of Dallas has been the only case since United Haulers in which the court found a flow control ordinance unconstitutional.  That decision was based on violations of the Due Process Clause and Contract Clause.” (JDSUPRA.com)

Law Firms Team Up Against AEP in Coal Waste Lawsuit “A number of law firms have teamed up to file suit against American Electric Power on behalf of 77 individuals. Bordas & Bordas, and Duffield, Lovejoy Stemple & Boggs have teamed up for the lawsuit, which alleges many individuals were exposed to dangerous chemicals in coal waste, including fly ash. The chemicals allegedly caused numerous illnesses and several deaths. The case is concerning operations at the Gavin Landfill site in Gallia County, Ohio. The plant is primarily used for collecting, shoveling, hauling, dumping, spreading and transporting the 2.6 million yards of coal combustion waste by products produced at the AEP Gavin Power Plant each year.” (WTRF.com)

Hartford Landfill, Now A Field For Solar Power “The top of the former Hartford Landfill is now home to nearly 4,000 solar panels. Fifty-two rows of solar panels are collecting direct current to be transformed into 1 megawatt of electricity — enough energy to power about 1,000 homes. Thursday morning, a collection of state and city officials and business people traveled to the summit of the 96-acre, capped garbage pile alongside the Connecticut River to mark the grand opening of the operation, with Mayor Pedro Segarra flipping a ceremonial switch.” (The Courant)

Trash board discusses blocking city workers from bidding on green waste “Trash board members showed concern Wednesday that a possible bid by city workers to continue taking curbside green waste to the city’s burn plant could affect a separate legal dispute with the city’s trash hauler. The trash board has been wrestling for months with the separate issues of green waste being placed in the regular trash bins and curbside pickup of green waste. Pat Connelly, a member of the Tulsa Authority for Recovery of Energy, said resolving a dispute with the trash hauler, NeWSolutions, over green waste currently being placed in trash bins may depend on the outcome of a contract for curbside pickup. NeWSolutions is a presumed favorite to win that contract.” (Tulsa World)

Easton Signs On With New Solid Waste Disposal Contract “The Town of Westport has successfully completed a novel negotiation with Wheelabrator Bridgeport when it comes to disposing of the town's solid waste, First Selectman Jim Marpe announced Wednesday. The contract with Wheelabrator Bridgeport will save the town of Westport over $110,000 annually and more than $1.1 million during its 10-year term, Marpe said.” (Weston Daily Voice)

Sioux City officials concerned about low recycling numbers “Almost four years after creating a free curbside recycling program, Sioux City officials remain concerned over the low number of households that recycle. The city offers homeowners a free recycling bin for curbside pickup. But data released Wednesday by the city's waste collection service, Gill Hauling Inc., shows that only 18 percent have requested a receptacle. City Councilman Dan Moore says it's a sign that too many people are unaware of the service.” (SiouxCityJournal.com)