Recycling Scraps
May 28, 2010

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NMED Awards $317,000 in Recycling and Illegal Dumping Grants

The New Mexico Environment Department recently awarded twenty one projects totaling $317,000 in grants to municipalities, counties, solid waste authorities, and pueblos, tribes, and nations to clean up illegal dumpsites and for recycling projects.

The department awarded the 2010 Recycling and Illegal Dumping Grants to 18 communities. The table below identifies the successfully funded communities, as well as details about their funded grant projects.

The grants support projects that protect the health and welfare of the environment and residents of New Mexico by preventing and abating illegal dumpsites; promote environmentally sound methods for reuse and recycling; and encourage economic development, community development and collaboration that promote the efficient and sustainable use of resources, sustainable recycling and a cleaner and healthier environment. The grant program is authorized under the Recycling and Illegal Dumping rules, which were adopted in December 2006.

Entities eligible for grant funds include municipalities, counties, tribes, land grant communities, cooperative associations and solid waste authorities. The department received 32 applications for the grant funding that amounted to over $1.2 million in requests. The next grant cycle is scheduled to begin in January 1, 2011, and remain open until the first week of April 2011. Winners for the 2011 grant cycle will be announced in May. Those interested in pursuing upcoming grant funding should visit the bureau’s Web site at http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/SWB/ for details.

If you haven't already registered to attend the June 22-23 NM Recycling Conference, sign up by June 1 in order to secure the Early Bird Discount. Please sign up today to take advantage of the Early Bird rate and be a part of the state's premier recycling education forum.   

NMRC is able to offer free conference attendance and one night stay in the adjacent DoubleTree Hotel Albuquerque to 20 representatives from rural communities (one person per community - representative should be either the community’s recycling or solid waste operator) through a USDA Utilities Program grant.  If you are a representative of a rural community (<10,000 residents), that would like to utilize this scholarship please contact Sarah Pierpont at sarah@recyclenewmexico.com or 505-603-0558 right away as there are only a few scholarships left. The remaining free slots for rural communities will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis and the scholarships are going fast so if you’re a rural community, planning on utilizing a scholarship, please let us know asap.

To learn more and register online, please visit  http://www.recyclenewmexico.com/conference10.htm

Exhibitors can also register and learn more by clicking on the link above. 

Thank you to our Generous Sponsors:

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FY2011 Recycling & Illegal Dumping Grant - Tire Grant Open!

RAID Tire Grants - Due June 18th. NMED is opening another scrap tire grant cycle for fiscal year 2011.  Complete and accurate applications must be received by NMED no later than 5:00 PM, June 18, 2010.  The department is looking for grant application projects / purchases that can be completed within nine months of issuance of a state purchase order.   Approximately $461,500 is available for the grants. 

Municipality, counties, Indian nations, pueblos and tribes, land grant communities, cooperative associations and solid waste authorities are eligible for the funds.  Projects must be completed by June 15, 2011.  Grants can be used to abate illegal tire dumps and stockpiles, for purchase of tire derived products (e.g., ground rubber for playgrounds), for construction of tire bale projects, transportation, and other tire recycling projects.

Grant funding and a finalization of contracts for this cycle are contingent upon the Department of Finance’s authorization to release fund balances for this purpose. 

For more information visit http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swb/index.htm or contact Toni Duggan at 505-827-0559 or toni.duggan@state.nm.us

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Recycling & Climate Change

From Institute for Local Self Reliance by John Bailey

Energy efficiency and renewable power sources get the lion’s share of attention when people seek solutions to climate change. Everyone wants solar electricity, high tech computerized energy management systems, mini wind turbines, super insulated houses, gas-filled triple glazed smart windows, and plug-in hybrid cars. If everyone had all these things, we like to think, then maybe the climate would settle down again.

But things are never that simple. Technical fixes for massive human problems are complicated and expensive. And yet, one of the most fundamental ways we have of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essentially at our fingertips right now through recycling — both at work and at home.

As opposed to mining natural resources in wilderness areas, chopping the tops off of mountains, digging massive strip mines, or clear-cutting forests, recycling is a highly localized, urban, relatively low-tech way of creating raw materials for industry.

According to data from the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, for every ton of product made out of non-recycled, raw natural resources, 71 tons of waste is generated in mining, transportation, refining and manufacturing. Recycling metal, plastic, paper, and glass is effectively a process of mining urban ore.

And, typically speaking, recycled material means energy savings that can be significant. See Table 1, below for a summary of energy savings through recycling (numbers based on USEPA figures):

What this means is that through recycling it is possible to significantly reduce the fossil fuel inputs to our national economy. By reducing fossil fuel inputs we naturally reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that although roughly 30% of the waste generated in the United States is recycled, every year this country creates more waste than the year before. So even though we’re recycling, we’re still making more and more stuff out of energy inefficient raw materials.

In 1980, according to the USEPA, America generated approximately 150 million tons of waste. In 2006 that number had increased to 246 million tons. Waste generation per person went from 3.7 pounds/day to 4.5 pounds/day. In short, while we are doing much better than we were in 1980 with recycling, our capacity to create more and more waste is outstripping our efforts to recycle. In fact, the US EPA estimates that only about half of what we could easily recycle is actually getting recycled.

Recycling also creates new economic opportunities in urban environments.  From material collections to processing to recycled product manufacturing, a growing recycling industry can mean mid-skill to high skill jobs in profitable businesses in every major urban center of the country. A study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance shows that for every 10,000 tons of material, landfills create one job while recycling can create as many as 35 jobs to process, transport and remanufacture new products.

To conclude, then, recycling is a proven and effective way for citizens and businesses to fight global warming. Recycled products mean less energy consumption, reduced costs, and create more jobs than trashing stuff. So if you’re not recycling everything you can – especially at work – roll up your sleeves and get down to basics. Your Mother will thank you, and so will your grandchildren’s grandchildren.

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CARE Reports Higher Diversion Rate in Carpet Recycling & Visits Santa Fe

April 27 – Despite the longest downturn for the carpet industry in more than 30 years, the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) reported higher diversion of waste carpet from landfills and increased job growth in the carpet recycling industry.
"Before the last two years, you had to go back to 1975 and 1976 to find two consecutive years of declining sales," CARE board chairman Frank Hurd said.

In 2009, the organization reversed a decline in recycling and diversion noted in 2008, reporting a 6% increase in diversion from the previous year. The organization said overall carpet recycling has increased 400% since 2002, and 561 new jobs were created in the carpet recycling industry in 2009.

"While we would all have preferred a larger increase in diversion and recycling in 2009, CARE members can and should be truly proud of their accomplishments," Hurd said. The organization reported 246 million pounds of the more than 300 million pounds of post consumer carpet diverted from landfills last year were recycled into new carpet and other products.

Recently CARE hosted their national conference in Santa Fe. NMRC's Executive Director, English Bird, and NMRC Member, Frank Rivera of Green Planet Recycling, attended with English presenting on New Mexico's recycling programs. Green Planet has collected 3.5 million pounds of carpet and carpet padding for recycling since January of 2008 as part of the CARE Reclamation program and hopes to continue to expand their efforts.

For more information about carpet recycling, please contact Frank at 505-837-1950

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Post Offices Offers "Precycling" in Alto, New Mexico

With the help of the Greentree Solid Waste Authority (GSWA) serving Lincoln County, the Alto, New Mexico Post Office implemented ‘pre-cycling’ (recycling at the point-of-origin) for its 1,500 postal patrons. GSWA purchased and placed a 3-cubic yard blue steel recycling dumpster with signage outside of the Alto Post Office.

The Post Office trained its custodial staff in how to empty inside recycling containers in the outdoor container. GSWA then changed its trash and recycling pickup schedules to reflect the immense shift from waste-to-recycling in paper products at the Alto Post Office coming from the employee and patron sides of the postal operation.

The initial weeks of the project confirmed that 1) Post Office waste stream is 95%+ paper products that can be recycled; and 2) postal patrons who would never recycle now find it easy and convenient to do so in a Post Office lobby as they sort through their day’s mail.

The Alto project laid the groundwork for other similar projects now underway at the Ruidoso, Hollywood Station and Ruidoso Downs Post offices – the largest post offices in Lincoln County. Finally, the Alto Post Office and its Post Master David Sepkowitz were selected by the US Postal Service for the regional introduction of the national “Read, Respond and Recycle” lobby recycling program resulting in receipt of $500 worth of free locking lobby recycling containers for patrons.

The Alto project is also the capstone confirmation of 24 months of dedicated volunteer work by George Tippin Sr., an 83 year old GSWA volunteer who collected, bundled, and transported recycling from the Capitan Post Office  between March 2008 –to- March 2010 20 tons of recycled paper material! This significant volume and the Alto Post Office volume (expected to be much larger) will not have to be transported to the regional landfill south of Alamogordo, a 150 mile round trip from the GSWA Transfer Station.

Jim Miller from GSWA will be on hand to further discuss the Post Office recycling success during the "Grassroots Activism" in-depth session on June 23rd at the New Mexico Recycling Conference.

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Selling Recyclables is a Non-Taxable Transaction

Recently one of our members who accepts recyclables and then pays the customer ran into a snag. The customer was advised by the New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department that the transaction of the sale of recyclables should have New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax (NMGRT) added on to it and then the customer/seller would then have to submit that NMGRT to the state. After asking around and a little research, the issue was clarified that recyclables are not subject to NMGRT. They fall under Type 2 non-taxable transactions that include purchases "that will become an ingredient or component of the manufactured product." So in any instance be it someone from the general public selling recyclables for cash or a recycling center selling to the end-market, NMGRT is not required.

More information can be found at http://www.tax.state.nm.us/forms/year08/acd31050.pdf

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NMRC Board Meeting Dates

You can register for the 2010 EPA Resource Conservation Challenge Web Academy Solid Waste Management and Recycling Education Series on the web at:

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/rcc/web-academy/index.htm

June 17:  Multi-Family Dwellings Recycling

July 15:  Recycling & Market Development of Unique Materials

August 19:  Food Waste/Organics Reduction & Recycling

September 16:  Greening University Campuses

October 21:  Sustainable Materials Management                                    

TCE: "Without Dell, Texas Takeback a Complete Failure"

From Resource Recycling, May 14

Everything's bigger in Texas, except per capita collection volumes. A new report released by the environmental group Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE) shows that the Lone Star State ranked dead last in per capita e-scrap collection, with residents recycling only 0.62 pounds per person in the first year of the program. To put that in perspective, other states with e-scrap programs, such as Minnesota or Washington, typically collect between three and six pounds of electronics annually per capita.

In total, 15 million pounds of e-scrap were collected for recycling in Texas in 2009, however 13 million pounds came exclusively from Dell, Inc., which is based in Round Rock.

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the state are required to recycle at least 80 percent of the weight of new products sold in Texas, but these findings indicate that most manufacturers — save Dell — struggled to meet this goal.

"When a manufacturer collects over a million pounds in other states, but nothing or next-to-nothing in Texas, it becomes obvious that collection goals or recycling targets, convenience standards, landfill prohibition, public education and outreach along with strong enforcement provisions — all absent in the Texas law — drive manufacturers to set up effective e-cycling programs," read an executive summary of the report on the TCE website.

Not only does the Texas law still allow disposal of electronics by landfill or incineration, it also does not include Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) as part of its program, thanks to a veto last year by Governor Rick Perry. The report proposes a list of changes to the Texas law to make it more effective, including tougher enforcement mechanisms and public outreach.

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Single-Use Plastic Bag on its Way Out?

Excerpt from News & Record, May 6, 2010

The single-use plastic bag could be an endangered shopping species. The thin plastic bag with handles — known in the industry as the T-shirt bag — is under pressure from municipal bag bans and a growing number of retailers who are encouraging shoppers to BYOB — bring your own bag.

A new industry has sprung up that's churning out reusable tote bags made from recycled water bottles and other more eco-friendly materials, and is poised to profit from the passing of the traditional plastic bag. Dan Sabbah, president of Global Design Concepts in New York, is one executive predicting the days of the plastic bag are numbered. "Plastic bags are quickly going the way of extinction," said Sabbah. His handbag and tote bag company has joined with a Canadian business to form a venture called Global Way to make tote bags from recycled water bottles.

In April, Global Way shipped hundreds of thousands of the bags to retailers including Stop & Shop, CVS and Walgreen's for reusable bag promotions tied to Earth Day observances. "Retailers are getting ahead of this curve," Sabbah said. "I don't believe anyone thinks this is going to go away. This is going to be the wave of the future."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest grocery and retail chain, has pledged to cut its plastic shopping bag waste by 33 percent — or 9 billion bags a year — by 2013. This year it began a bag-free trial in California, eliminating plastic bags at three stores there. Swedish furniture company IKEA and organic grocer Whole Foods Market Inc. stores banished plastic bags in 2008. Target Corp. in April handed out 1.5 million reusable tote bags in honor of Earth Day. The discount retailer gives shoppers a 5-cent rebate for every time they use one of their own bags instead of a new plastic one.

An organization that represents plastic bag makers argues, however, that the future of plastic bags will be one of rebirth and recycling, not R.I.P. "Reports of the death of the plastic bag are greatly exaggerated," said Shari Jackson, director of the Progressive Bag Affiliates, an association representing the major U.S. makers of plastic bags and plastic-bag recyclers.
"There's another side — the recycling side — that is just not being told, and it's growing," Jackson said.

The PBA has set an industry goal to achieve 40 percent recycled content in all bags made by its member companies by 2015. In 2008, Jackson said, more than 832 million pounds of bags and other plastic films were recycled and most retail chains have bins for recycling bags. Recycled bags are being used to make composite deck materials, fencing, shopping carts, containers and new bags, she said.

Supporters of the reusable totes say they hold much more than the typical T-shirt bag and because they are woven out of recycled plastics, they also can be tossed in a recycling bin when they wear out. Most retailers sell the basic reusable totes for about $1. Wal-Mart jumped on the reusable bag bandwagon in a big way in 2007, cutting its bag price to 50 cents.)
"We want to be the low-cost leader, and that's the same when it comes to reusable bags," said Kory Lundberg, senior manager of sustainability communications for Wal-Mart. At 55 California stores, where Wal-Mart is heavily promoting reusables, customers can buy bags for 15 cents.

The PBA and bag manufacturers argue that the reusable bags can be breeding grounds for bacteria. They cite a report by a Washington D.C. television station in which shoppers' reusable bags were tested for bacteria and most failed the test.

Global Way, which makes reusable tote bags for Toys "R'' Us as well as its supermarket and drugstore accounts, is banking on the youngest consumers to lead the demand for reusable bags. It has licensing deals to put Disney and cartoon characters on its bags. The thinking, Sabbah and other Global Way executives explained, is that children will remind parents to bring the Disney Princess or SpongeBob bag along when the family goes shopping. "Children have a big role right now in what's going on in recycled product," Sabbah said.

The first-generation of reusable tote, Sabbah said, generally featured a retailer's name and logo. The bags are becoming so common now, he said, that consumers are looking at the totes to reflect their personal taste, fueling demand for more fashionable shopping totes.

Lundberg of Wal-Mart said the biggest problem shoppers have with the reusable bags is forgetting to bring them into the store when they leave their cars. "What we hear from our customers is the biggest impediment to using them seems to be that they can't remember to bring them out of the car," he said. Wal-Mart is looking at ways to solve that problem, possibly with "Don't forget your bags" reminder signs in parking lots.

Phil Lempert, a consumer behavior consultant who operates the SupermarketGuru.com Web site and appears in the media as the Supermarket Guru, believes the single-use bags will go the way of Styrofoam cups and foam takeout containers. "The demise of Styrofoam cups and packages was driven by our kids who learned in school about environmental impact," Lempert said in an e-mail exchange. "The next generation will not even consider a disposable bag."

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Website Offers Tips, Encourages At-Home Composting

From Waste & Recycling News, May 7, 2010

A new website has been started to encourage home composting and offering tips and products for home gardeners.

The site, CompostMania.com, offers products and educational resources for people interested in home composting. It was launched in Dallas by Robert Olivier and Karl Warkomski.

"CompostMania.com provides composting products for the most advanced gardener to families who want to teach their children about the importance of being good stewards to the environment," said Olivier, who also is CEO. "Our goal at CompostMania.com is to encourage consumers to re-connect with their local ecosystem through composting and organic gardening, which will promote the Earth´s natural lifecycle."

CompostMania.com offers composting, gardening and water harvesting products. To learn more, visit www.CompostMania.com.

Two tomato seedling planted at the same time. The one on the right with left without compost & mulch and the one on the left with compost & mulch..

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How Women Can Save the Planet

From Scientific American by Lawrence M. Krauss

Empowering young women through education will help reduce overpopulation in areas that cannot support it and avoid extremism in the children they raise.

At six billion plus today, the earth's human population will reach more than nine billion by 2050, according to estimates.  If this many people consume energy at the current rate in the developed world, the planet will need more than double the amount of power it consumes today.  But energy is just one issue that humankind will have to tackle to create a sustainable future.  The root cause of the looming energy problem - and the key to easing environmental, economic and religious tensions while improving public health - is to address the unending, and unequal, growth of the human population.  And the one proven way to reduce fertility rates is to empower young women by educating them.

High fertility rates in areas of the developing world that can least cope put tremendous pressure on freshwater and sanitation needs and fuel economic and religious tensions.  In response, these countries ramp up their energy production via the only means available to them based on their resources - means that tend to either pollute the environment or contribute to global warming.

For instance, India, Somalia and Sudan have large positive birth rates.  The latter two countries struggle to provide adequate food and water resources, and India increased its energy consumption by almost 50 percent between 1992 and 2001.  (In contrast, Japan, France and Russia have negative birth rates, and the U.S. is slightly positive.)  Indeed, a United Nations study published in August reported that Asia currently does not have the means to feed the extra 1.5 billion expected to live on that continent by 2050.

Empirical work indicating that providing schooling for women and girls will address these problems includes study after study showing that educated women have fewer children, are wealthier and are less likely to accept fundamentalist extremism.  If we want a safer world, we should consider the utility of spending dollars on educating young people as an alternative to troops and weapons.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan today the Taliban have created thousands of madrassas, where children from poor families with no access to education can receive food and what passes for learning (but what is in fact quite the opposite).  At the same time, they restrict access to education for women.  In Gaza vulnerable young people are recruited early on to religious extremist training camps.  I am not anive enough to believe that building schools and providing access to safe and secure environments for learning will alone solve our problems - we will need to create economic opportunities as well.

Moreover, in paternalistic societies where women have few rights, effecting change will be an uphill battle.  For example, the government we are now supporting with troops and infrastructure in Afghanistan has recently passed legislation that food can be withheld from women who do not have sex with their husband and that women cannot go out of the house without their husband's permission.  In countries of this sort that now receive significant support from us, we need to make the empowerment of women a higher priority.  As difficult and slow as the process might be, the education of women in such countries is a necessary first step to giving them the opportunity and motivation to begin to control their own destiny.

The long-term goal of reducing poverty, religious fundamentalism and overpopulation will be impossible to reach until we free women around the world from the enslavement of ignorance.  More fundamental is the fact that education is a basic human right that has been systematically denied too many women for too long.

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White Pages May Go Way of Rotary-Dialed Phone

Excerpt From the New York Times by Patrick McGeehan

The digital age may claim another victim. The residential White Pages, those inches-thick tomes of fine-print telephone listings that may be most useful as doorstops, could stop landing with a thud on doorsteps across New York later this year.

Verizon, the dominant local phone company in the state, asked regulators on Friday to allow it to end the annual delivery of millions of White Pages to all of its customers in New York. The company estimates that it would save nearly 5,000 tons of paper by ending the automatic distribution of the books.

Only about one of every nine households uses the hard-copy listings anymore, according to Verizon, which cited a 2008 Gallup survey. Most have switched to looking up numbers online or calling directory assistance. The phone book for many people, it seems, has gone from indispensable tool to unavoidable nuisance.

Verizon hopes that regulators will waive the requirement that it deliver White Pages to all New Yorkers before the end of the year, said John Bonomo, a company spokesman. He said he did not know how many copies of the White Pages were distributed annually, but said the total was in the millions in New York City alone.

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National Average Gate Rate Reaches $43/Ton

The analysis of the year long Chartwell survey of gate rates now completed, Chartwell has determined that the nation average gate rate climbed to $43 per ton in 2009. This change is $1 per ton higher than the previous year. As with most years, the change came about because of gate rate changes in some states more than others.

An inherent factor in the national gate rate change is that changes at individual facilities are often time not done on an annual basis, but rather every two or three years. Consequently, despite the recession, price increases needed to be implemented at some facilities. There were also noted some downward movement in gate rates at some individual landfills, this price adjustment resulted in the landfill's gate rate to be more consistent with the local market conditions.
  
Given the extensive efforts underway to explore new options for solid waste management, the Chartwell Solid Waste Digest will be entirely focused this year on providing state market reports on historic gate rate trends and observations from it ongoing 2010 survey. In all, the Chartwell will be issuing 50 state gate rate reports and 10 briefs on its observations from the ongoing survey efforts. The entire set of state reports will be completed by October. For further information, please contact Arlette Barnhiser at 952-831-2473

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Recycling Commodity Prices

Price for OCC and deinking grades went down due to reduced demand from paper mills. Price for OCC went down between $5 and $15 per Ton. The OBM did not show changes in the price for SOP or White Ledger but in reality, price for both of them went down between $ 5 and $10 per Ton. Price for Newspaper and Mixed paper remained the same.   
Price for PET and aluminum cans went down a few cents while price for milk jugs went up a couple cents.

Please note that prices differ due to different circumstances like presentation and amounts being picked-up or delivered.

* Only accepting 100 pounds plus of PET #1

Please note that this is a sample of what is being offered in New Mexico for certain commodities. Purchase prices for OCC and Paper are subject to change based on market fluctuations as reflected in the Southwest Region of the Official Board Markets’ Yellow Sheet. Prices vary according to presentation and quantity. These prices are for partial loads. Full truckloads of any of the materials would be paid at a greater price depending on the pick-up location and destination of the material.

Other resources:

http://www.amm.com/recman/recdata/reccomp.htm for national average commodity prices

http://www.wastenews.com/secondaryfiber/  

http://www.packaging-online.com/

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Recycling Scraps Sponsored By Dex

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Welcome to New Members 2010

Tom Rico, City of Roswell; Richard Kerner, 7UP/RC Bottling; Karen Temple Beamish, Albuquerque Academy; Terry Tadano, Socorro Area Chamber of Commerce; Dennis Gallegos, Waste Management Farmington; Hiram Muse; Michael Alexander, Recycle Away; Dwight McDonough, Estancia Valley Solid Waste Authority; Evelena McGahey; Sylvia Hewett Schneider, City of Carlsbad; Bill Radosevich, NM Waste Servivces; Wilson Laughter, Navajo Nation; Susan Flores, Keep Tularosa Beautiful; Rob Vezina, Toter; Joseph Godfrey, Recycle Taos; Dave Holtman, Western Metals Recycling; Vicki Andrews, Road Runner Waste Service, Inc.

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Regional Round Up

TUCUMCARI: The NM Department of Transportation is laying 28 miles of rubberized asphalt roadway in the Tucumcari area. The asphalt is 18% rubberized material derived from recycled tires.

CONSERVATION VOTERS OF NM (CVNM) unveils a new website, NMGreenGov.org, summarizing the conservation records of all the candidates in the race for New Mexico's next Governor and Lt. Governor.

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Grants, Loans and Jobs

State Loans

NMED Constructions Programs Bureau offers low-interest loans for solid waste projects: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/cpb/rip.html

RAID Tire Grant Cycle now open for FY2011. Applications due June 18, 2010. Learn more at http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swb/index.htm

Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Authority Job Listing

The position of Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station site manager is open until filled. Click here to read job description.

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Recycling Tidbits

Ziplock Teams with TerraCycle to Recycle Bags, Containers

Plastic bag and container maker Ziploc has teamed with TerraCycle to increase recycling of its products.   More»

Thermo Fluids Acquires Used Oil Collection Service in Arizona

City and County of Denver Initiate Nation's First Large-Scale Bicycle Sharing Program
Riders can sign up on the Bcycle Denver web site to use the 400 bikes under a system of membership and usage fees. B-cycle bike-share program makes Denver a roll model, Denver Post, April 8, 2010. 

Colorado Climate Project
The Colorado General Assembly passed significant legislation related to clean energy and efficient use of water during its nearly completed 2010 session. The effect of these bills is to implement some of the recommendations made in October 2007 by the Climate Action Panel (CAP) convened by RMCO during the first stage of our Colorado Climate Project and also some provisions of Governor Ritter’s Colorado Climate Action Plan announced in November 2007.

AbitibiBowater to Emerge from Bankruptcy this Fall

AbitibiBowater Inc. now expects to emerge from bankruptcy court protection this fall.   More»

Best Buy Joins EPA's Appliance Disposal Program
Electronics retailer Best Buy has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Responsible Appliance Disposal program.   More»

New Organization Focuses on Cradle-to-Cradle Principles

A new non-profit organization founded on cradle-to-cradle principles has been launched in California.   More»

Coca-Cola Co.'s "PlantBottle" Hits Store Shelves

A number of markets were announced, including news that the PlantBottle, a new PET bottle made from 30% plant-based materials, will be the "primary beverage product package" used at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Global launch plans for the bottle include Denmark and select U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. According to the company, the plant-based source will not affect recyclability of the product. "The great thing about the new bottle is it's still PET — just PET made partially from plants," said Lisa Manley, director of Sustainability Communications for The Coca-Cola Company.

Energy-Efficiency Building Equals Savings

A new study finds that investment in energy-efficient building and other non-transportation sectors can reap $130 billion in annual savings, reduce the nation's energy consumption by 23% by 2020, and net 1.1 gigatons in annual greenhouse gas reductions.

The report, "Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy" by McKinsey & Company, confirms the enormous economic and environmental opportunity of green building and the equally vast cost of inaction, said Jason Hartke, director of advocacy and public policy for U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which sponsored the study along with 11 other organizations from the government, non-governmental, and private sectors including the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, Exelon Corp., the Natural Resources Defense Council and PG&E Corp.

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Calendar

June 22-23, NM Recycling Conference, www.recyclenewmexico.com/conference10.htm

September 14, 9 AM - 1 PM, Moriarty

November 4-5, Retreat at Sevilleta Research Station, 1 PM to 1 PM

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2010 Recycling and Composting Facility Operator Certification Class Schedule

To register, please go to www.recyclenewmexico.com/cert_classes.htm

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If you have questions about any of the above information or have articles for future Recycling Scraps, please e-mail or call me.

English Bird, Executive Director

New Mexico Recycling Coalition

PO Box 24364, Santa Fe, NM 87502

english@recyclenewmexico.com

(505) 983-4470