Recycling Scraps
September 7, 2011

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Keep America Beautiful Announces Recycle Bowl, America Recycles Day Registration

RECYCLE-BOWL
Are you looking for a fun and creative way to increase school recycling participation in your community? Keep America Beautiful is announcing the launch of “Recycle-Bowl,” the first comprehensive nationwide recycling competition for elementary, middle and high-school students.

Open to all schools and classrooms, registration for the recycling competition and benchmarking program is now open on the Recycle-Bowl website at http://recycle-bowl.org. The competition runs from October 17 through November 12. Participating schools will track and report how much recyclable material they collect for a chance to win prizes. At the close of the four-week competition, the school in each state that collects the most recyclable material per capita will win $1,000. A national champion will then be chosen from among the statewide winners to receive an additional grand prize of $2,500.

The inaugural Recycle-Bowl is being sponsored by Nestlé Waters North America.

AMERICA RECYCLES DAY
It’s official – registration for America Recycles Day 2011 is now open.  One of the biggest barriers to recycling for individuals is knowing what is recycled in their community.  On America Recycles Day, local event organizers like you overcome this barrier by hosting events that inform millions of people on what is recycled in their community.  
Please consider organizing an America Recycles Day event  -- on or around November 15.

Keep America Beautiful has created materials for event organizers to promote recycling awareness, commitment and action in your community.  In addition to a downloadable “Go-to-Guide” to make it easy for you to organize a local event to get the word out, also available are free America Recycles Day banners, bookmarks, buttons, pencils, pledge cards and posters on a first-registered, first serve basis.

To set up an account and register your America Recycles Day 2011 event go to: http://events.kab.org
After setting up your account, hit the register button and you will be taken to the registration site:  http://events.kab.org/events/ard/register/. Registration with America Recycles Day automatically registers your event or organization in New Mexico Recycling Awareness Month.

Thank you for your efforts to engage your community and increase recycling.

Key Recycle-Bowl key dates:
October 10 – Registration closes
October 17 – November 12 – Competition is held
December 16 – Reports due

Key America Recycles Day key dates
August 15 - Registration Opens for ARD promotional items, event planning materials available online
September 30 – Shipment of ARD promotional items begins

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Rural Recycling Update

Photo: English Bird, Tim Gray (NMED), Dwight McDonough (EVSWA) and Adrianne Luetjens (EVSWA) at Torrance County's new baler

Photo: Truth or Consequences New Baler

Torrance County has recently completed their recycling center under the "hub" rural recycling project funded through NMRC's Department of Energy American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant. The shiny new horizontal baler is already making bales of recyclables and is housed at the Estancia Valley Solid Waste Authority's (EVSWA) landfill. Torrance will soon have their spoke collection equipment delivered and will move forward with recycling collection of cardboard, mixed paper, plastic #1 bottles, plastic #2 bottles, aluminum and tin cans at most of their drop-off locations. Torrance County will host a formal opening event on October 28th with Congressman Martin Heinrich.

Truth or Consequences, using funding from New Mexico Environment Department's (NMED) ARRA grant project, also recently installed their baler in an existing building at their Recycling Center.

Other recycling "hubs" are busy getting their recycling underway as well. The City of Deming has poured their foundation and is expecting to install their baler in the next couple of weeks. The building will then be put into place. Otero County hopes to break ground soon and is busy preparing the site at their facility. The "spoke" grant awardees are all in the process of procuring their collection equipment.

NMED ARRA funded projects are moving along as well. Gallup's "balers and trailers" grant will see the installation of the baler at the Red Rocks Landfill in Thoreau in the next few weeks and Raton is in the process of procuring their equipment with hopes to be up and running by November.

U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce (Photo above) joined Deming Mayor Andres Silva, Public Works Director Lawrence Brookey, the Deming Chamber of Commerce, Keep Luna County Beautiful, the NM Environment Department: Solid Waste Bureau and the NM Recycling Coalition to mark construction of the recycling processing facility scheduled to open in fall of 2011. Additionally, the project will fund collection containers at several convenient locations around Deming.

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Customized Recycling Outreach Brochures Available

NMRC is able to produce & print customized, color recycling outreach brochures for eligible communities through its Department of Energy American Recovery & Reinvestment Act grant. To see if your community is eligble, confirm that they're on the eligible community list by clicking here. If you are representing an eligble community and would like free outreach brochures, please fill out the brochure request form (.pdf). There is funding for approximately 20 communities to receive 500 brochures. These are available on a first-come-first-served basis.

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Recycling Brings Benefits to Kirtland Airforce Base

Recycling paper, plastic and other materials is "green" in more ways than one, according to the solid waste program manager at Kirtland Air Force Base.

Katrina Wheelock said that Team Kirtland has multiple incentives to recycle: beyond the environmental benefits, recycling saves money and generates funds that support base programs.

"The less trash we throw away, the less we pay for trash removal. We run a 'qualified' recycling program, which means that we can accept revenue from the material we sell. We are directed to use that to support the recycling program, which must support itself. Once it runs in the black, up to 50 percent of the remaining funds can be used for other types of environmental projects. If no projects request funding, the rest of the money goes to morale, welfare and recreation. In the past, we've bought some gym equipment for the base."

After a recent visual audit of 250 dumpsters on Kirtland AFB, Wheelock found that there's room for improvement.

"Basewide, about 30 percent of what we're throwing away is recyclable," she said.
The business side of recycling depends on whether a cost-effective market exists for a given material, she said. Additionally, people should be aware that the material they drop off for recycling re-enters a production process.

"Fundamentally, we need to change the way we think about what we're putting in these bins. It's not that we're putting trash in a different place - it's that we are collecting a resource to be used somewhere else," Wheelock said.

She said the Air Force has a goal for bases to reach a rate of recycling 40 percent of non-hazardous solid waste by 2010 and 50 percent by 2015. "Non-hazardous solid waste" is material that would normally be put into a dumpster, which excludes industrial and construction items.

"For the Fiscal 2011 third quarter, the first quarter under the new integrated solid waste management and recycling contract, our recycling rate was just over 40 percent for the first time. We finally hit the 2010 goal, which is terribly exciting for me. Since FY08, we tend to hover in the low-30s," Wheelock said.

Currently, the Kirtland AFB recycling program accepts aluminum cans, mixed paper (newspapers, magazines, phone books, file folders, envelopes and junk mail), white paper, shredded paper, cardboard, and plastic bottles labeled "1" and "2." Other types of rigid plastic, such as toys and kiddie pools, glass and foam packing material are not yet accepted, but may be in the future.

The curbside recycling pickup schedule is Monday: East Side; Wednesday: Central and outlying areas; Friday: West Side. In general, the East Side covers buildings east of Pennsylvania; the West Side is for sites west of San Mateo; and Central/outlying is between San Mateo and Pennsylvania, plus anything downrange. There are some exceptions - for example, Hangars 1000 through 1002 are west of San Mateo but are picked up with the Central route on Wednesdays, and pick up at the commissary's offices is on Mondays, even though they are west of Pennsylvania.

"We encourage folks to get in touch with us to verify pickup day if they're not sure," Wheelock said.

"We want people to recycle. However, it's important to pay attention to how the bins are labeled. It's less of a problem in the office curbside than at the drop-off location at the commissary, because that's an unstaffed location. It's clear that people mean well. It's not like the stuff is trash - it's different types of plastic that we can't take," she said.

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San Juan County Hopes Recycling Trend will Spread

From Farmington Daily News - AZTEC — Officials are optimistic that growing infrastructure and incentives will spread Farmington's recycling habits into the rest of the county. A 14,000-square-foot recycling center at the county landfill, expected to be completed by May 2012, could pave the way to curbside recycling for county residents outside Farmington city limits, said Greg Freitag, the district manager of collection for Waste Management.

The amount of materials recycled at the Farmington Recycling Facility increased when the city started offering curbside and single-stream recycling services.

"In California, you have to recycle darn near everything — they have recycle police," said Rusty Smith, San Juan County's solid waste manager. "I'm glad we're not to that point, but I'd like to see people start to recycle."

The Farmington facility, which is almost 20 years old, is the only recycling center in San Juan County. It can't process any more materials than it already does, which is why curbside recycling services are not offered outside Farmington city limits, Freitag said.

In the past four years, Farmington recycled an average of 6 million pounds of materials per year, according to Waste Management statistics. San Juan County started a recycling initiative in July 2009. The program consists of a recycling container at two of county's 11 transfer stations — Kirtland and Lee Acres — that each hold 30 square feet of materials.

Those recycling containers netted about 1,000 cubic yards of waste in 2010. Though it was not officially weighed, that amount of recyclables likely weighed 70,000 to 80,000 pounds, Smith said.

Once the new recycling center is opened, Aztec, Bloomfield and the county can work toward expanding curbside recycling. The end result could be to triple the amount of recycled materials countywide, said Shote Forrester, the Waste Management district manager of materials after collection.

The recycling center in Durango, Colo., recycled about 7 million pounds of materials per year over the last three years, said Dale Cogswell, the solid waste manager for Durango. The Durango facility is the only recycling center in La Plata County, which has a population of 51,000 people. There are 130,000 residents of San Juan County.

There are signs that once given an incentive, county residents will start to recycle. In recent weeks, more county residents started recycling at the transfer stations, Smith said.

The increase in recycling came in July when the county started charging $1 per bag of trash dropped off at transfer stations, Smith said. Recycling still is free. "Now we're pulling one container a week out of there," Smith said. "It has just about doubled our recycling."

The county soon will add a recycling container at the Blanco and Cedar Hill transfer stations, Smith said.

The county pays $5 for every cubic yard of waste it deposits at the landfill. The recycling containers cost between $4,000 and $6,000. The county expects the containers to pay for themselves within a year, Smith said.

"Every 30 yards we pull out of there is 30 yards that doesn't go to the landfill," Smith said.

Waste Management and the county will continue to operate several stations where people can drop off recyclable materials without going to the landfill, Forrester said. "The amount of volume we'll be able to recycle will increase a lot," Forrester said. Recycling "could take off in the county."

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Senate Resolution Reinforcing the Importance of Recycling to the US Economy is Gaining Support

NRC Helps Develop and Gains Support for Senate Resolution Reinforcing the Importance of Recycling to the US Economy

Senate Resolution 251 was introduced in the US Senate by Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The resolution, which has been referred to the Environment & Public Works Committee, expresses support for improvement in the collection, processing and use of recyclable materials throughout the US and reinforces the importance of recycling to the US economy. It also highlights the environmental benefits of recycling. Along with others, the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) helped provide language in the resolution shortly before it was finalized.   NMRC is an official supporter of the Resolution.

Senators Carper and Snowe were joined in the introduction of this bill by 12 bipartisan cosponsors, including Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Robert Casey (D-PA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). 

To see the full Resolution visit Senate Resolution 251 PDF Download

The Resolution was supported by the following Recycling Roundtable members:
Paper Recycling Coalition (PRC)
Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
Steel Recycling Institute (SRI)
National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA)
The Aluminum Association
American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI)
National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR)

Other organizations supporting the resolution include:
National Recycling Coalition (NRC)
Recycling Organizations of North America
Environmental Paper Network (EPN)
Container Recycling Institute
International Bottled Water Association
Keep America Beautiful 

State Recycling Organizations supporting the Resolution include:
Illinois Recycling Association
Virginia Recycling Association 
Iowa Recycling Association
The Kansas Organization of Recyclers
Colorado Association for Recycling and the 
Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania
State of Texas Alliance for Recycling 
Indiana Recycling Coalition
Michigan Recycling Coalition
Oklahoma Recycling Association
Association of Ohio Recyclers
Association of New Jersey Recyclers
Tennessee Recycling Coalition
Association of Oregon Recyclers
Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin
Carolina Recycling Association
New Mexico Recycling Coalition
Recycle Hawai`i
New York State Association of Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling
Missouri Recycling Association
Maryland Recycling Network
Nebraska State Recycling Association
Recycling Association of Minnesota 
Washington State Recycling Association

The NRC is asking members of state recycling organizations to contact their Senators to ask them to co-sponsor the resolution. You can use this link to find your Senators:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

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City of Albuquerque Launches Electronic Recycling Month

For the month of September 2011 the City of Albuquerque's Solid Waste Department is collaborating with Intel, KOAT Channel 7 and Natural Evolution to inspire rsidents to recycle their old electronics. Bring your electronic products that you no longer use to the City's Eagle Rock Convenience Center free-of-charge during the month of September 2011. 

General Public: can bring e-waste recyclable's seven days a week to Eagle Rock Convenience Center. The City is expecting an overwhelming response to the FREE promotion and encourages individuals to take advantage of this great deal during the week and avoid the weekend crowds.

Business/ Institutions (ie. APS, Kirtland and or Small Businesses): can also take advantage of this e-waste collection offer. Albuquerque will be accepting e-waste from businesses/ Institutions Monday - Friday by appointment only. Appointments can be scheduled by calling 311.

Learn more at http://www.cabq.gov/solidwaste/recycling/electronic-waste-e-waste

Where To Recycle E-Waste - You can recycle your e-waste at our Eagle Rock Convenience Center.

Accepted E-Waste Includes the following:

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Register Today for Climate Masters in Santa Fe

The New Mexico Environment Department is offering another FREE Climate Masters class in Santa Fe. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about climate change and how to reduce your carbon footprint, then please visit their website for more information:  http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/aqb/NewMexicoClimateMasters/ .

The classes  begin on Tuesday September 13 in Santa Fe  and continue through November 22, from 9:30m – 12:00 in the Stewart Udall Building.

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Hazardous Waste Buried at WIPP

From Waste & Recycling News - Disposal operations in Panel 5 of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground repository in New Mexico are complete, according to the Department of Energy.

WIPP is designed to safely isolate defense-related transuranuic waste from people and the environment. Waste stored at transuranic waste sites around the country is shipped to WIPP and permanently disposed in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface. WIPP is located 26 miles outside of Carlsbad, N.M.

With disposal operations now complete, WIPP underground now has the equivalent of about four football fields stacked 13-feet high with the waste. Operations personnel will now isolate the area from the rest of the WIPP underground by constructing a brick wall.

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Paper Use to Decline Up to 21% by 2015

From Waste & Recycling News - Paper use by the magazine, newspaper, book and other publishing sectors will fall by 12% to 21% by 2015 compared with 2010 levels, according to a report released by RISI, which provides information to the paper industry.

The report, ôThe Impact of Media Tablets on Publication Paper Markets,ö found that tablet device sales will reach 195 million units by 2015 and contribute to the decline in paper usage.

"Many graphic paper producers make their living selling paper to the publishing industry. Those companies will be greatly affected by media tablets," John Maine, RISI´s VP-world graphic paper, said in a statement. "Significant demand impacts could come as soon as 2012."

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Sea Change: Recycling Ocean Trash Into Influential Art

From Waste Age - It’s grown increasingly difficult to ignore stories about the oceanic gyres, five massive churning currents filled with trash that is regularly deposited on the world’s beaches. But Angela Haseltine Pozzi, an artist and educator for more than 30 years, has found an inspiring way to confront this epidemic: turn this washed up material into art depicting the very wildlife threatened by the mess.

Pozzi moved to the coast of southern Oregon seeking solace after bereavement from a death in her family was compounded by the death of her husband following a long illness. And while she says she found peace, she also became disturbed by the large amounts of plastic she found washed ashore during walks on the beach. “I decided to do something bigger than myself and try to save the ocean that had always healed me,” she says.

Through the Artula Institute for Arts Education, a Bandon, Ore.-based 501c3 nonprofit Pozzi operates, she founded “Washed Ashore,” an ongoing, traveling exhibit of large sculptures made from trash washed up on the shores of the Pacific. The exhibit debuted in August of 2010. Pozzi leads the effort but gets help from countless volunteers who help collect the trash, sort and clean it, and assemble it into deceptively beautiful pieces. The exhibit includes everything from plastic-feathered seabirds to massive jellyfish comprised primarily of water bottles, and sea turtles and harbor seals tangled in netting. The exhibit currently includes 16 pieces, but is constantly growing.

About 98 percent of the material collected is plastic, and almost all of it gets used. Pozzi says some materials are cut up into more usable pieces, especially larger items like bleach and detergent bottles. But, she adds, “as much as possible I try to use [the materials] as they are so that people can see the garbage and see the things that are washing up. And when I alter it too much, people don’t see that and just see it as an art supply.”

The chief mission of “Washed Ashore,” says Pozzi, is to raise awareness. In service of that mission, she has taken her artworks to many locales and accepts commissions from organizations looking to draw attention to the issue in other regions. She also encourages educators and volunteers to come learn how to run similar projects in their areas.

“Plastics are getting in the food chain and that’s really scary stuff,” says Pozzi. “We need to stop thinking about plastics being used for everything. We need to be selective and careful and really move toward more biodegradable products that are safe for humans and animals and the ocean and the world.”

Those interested in donating to, volunteering with or commissioning works from the Washed Ashore project should visit http://artula.org or www.washedashore.org.

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Sign Up Now for the 2011 Recycling and Composting Facility Operator Certification Courses

The NMRC and the New Mexico State Environment Department: Solid Waste Bureau will host two recycling courses and two composting courses in 2011. These courses provide an in-depth look at the science, safety, administration and operations of both recycling and composting operations.

Recycling Facility Operators Certification Courses

*December 6-8, Santa Fe register   Held at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center with a tour of the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station

 

Compost Facility Operators Certification Courses

*October 4-6, Albuquerque register  

Held at the Fire Academy with a tour of Soilutions & the Soil Amendment Facility.

Our maximum class size is 35 students so please remember to register as early as possible to be assured a seat in the course.

Learn more and sign up today at http://www.recyclenewmexico.com/cert_classes.htm

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New Mexico Centennial Project & Recycle Runway

Imagine walking into a beautifully furnished room, only to discover that everything in that room had previously been thrown into the trash! Nancy Judd from Recycled RunwayI was recently awarded a public art grant from New Mexico Arts to create an installation called “Consumption”. Judd will collaborate with artist Nicole Morris to create this exhibition which will be on display March 30-May 4, 2012 in an exhibition space located on the Santa Fe Plaza.

The duo is working with the City and County of Santa Fe to reclaim usable items that are brought to the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station (BuRRT) for disposal. In the process of gathering the furnishings for the installation, they will execute a multi-season waste characterization study to determine what types of waste items delivered to the transfer station can be reused. BuRRT will use this information to plan a potential re-use center at the facility.

The exhibition will also encourage viewers to consider how over-consumption is affecting individual and planetary health.This installation is an opportunity for Recycle Runway to explore new ways of encouraging people to think about waste, consumerism and our impact on the environment.

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Colorado Based Company Recycles by "Repurposing" Materials

Industrial Conveyor Belt Repurposed into Gym Matts

Traditional recycling involves government agencies, re-manufacturing, mass participation, and a lot of energy.  At Repurposed Materials has found an incredible niche in non-traditional recycling. The company gives products a new life without actually changing them at all.  They are actively engaged with both industry and consumers; diverting good materials from the landfill and making them available for our customers to creatively repurpose at an affordable price. They transform billboard signs into tarps or even slip-and-slide play equipment, used street clean brushes into back-scratching posts for livestock, conveyor belts into floor mats, livestock trailer liners and more.

The company wants to be a resource for things that you come across that are not candidates for recycling but can actually have a repurposed use into a different industry.  In less than a year, they have developed a network of close to 15,000 people in just about every type of industry.

Browse through the products and, who knows, it might spark you to have the next HUGE IDEA of how to use some discarded item for the benefit of both you and the planet. To learn more visit http://repurposedmaterialsinc.com/

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NRC & RONA Announce Plans for Formal Collaboration

From Resource Recycling - Leaders of the Recycling Organizations of North America (RONA) and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) have announced plans to move forward with formal cooperative efforts. Both have agreed that collaboration is essential if recycling is to move forward in North America. Leaders of the two organizations met on August 15 prior to the Resource Recycling Conference in Indianapolis, and followed that meeting with a public forum the next day to discuss these next steps and other ideas with current and potential members.

Beyond the collaborative approach, the organizations hope to better understand each other, determine steps to move this industry/movement forward, find common ground, identify needs, respond to feedback and requests from ROs. The groups also hope to foster and enhance formal cooperation among the state, provincial and regional recycling organizations and other local, state, national and international organizations.

"We want to create an organization that is continental in scope, that is all-inclusive and yet culturally, geographically and demographically diverse" the two groups concluded. To this end, NRC and RONA have committed to creating a steering committee made up of members of both boards and a Recycling Organization representative. This Steering Committee will be tasked with defining how to complement each other's efforts, define roles and responsibilities, determine structure, and fulfill effective member services.

Issues that will be ironed out by the steering committee include the future of an annual recycling conference, and deciding how each will continue to honor individual contracts and programs. RONA has existing relationships with sponsors of discount programs such as with Rubbermaid, it has advanced work with RONA U on designing new bins for on-campus use and developing best practices and creating zero waste principles for campuses.

Additionally, RONA is currently engaged in a contractual grant relationship with the U.S Department of Labor and with colleges throughout North America to create standards for certification for the recycling industry. NRC's scholarship program and affiliated state organization agreements are obligations pushing programs forward. NRC also intends to continue its monthly webinar series and the NRC E-News.

Mark Lichtenstein, President of NRC, is confident that the cooperative agreement will bring positive results and foster a collaborative, rather than competitive, environment. "This plan maps out a strategy that will assure a complementary, rather than redundant, relationship between RONA and NRC, enabling us to once again move recycling forward."

Marjorie Griek, Chair of RONA, echoed that sentiment. "We sense a real synergism coming from this partnership that will enhance the stature of sustainable resource management across North America."

For more information:

Mark Lichtenstein, President, NRC, malichte@me.com, (315) 591-8561
Marjorie Griek, President, RONA, mgriek@cafr.org, (720) 839-9531

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Earthships Take Off in New Mexico Desert

From The Huffington Post - Natural disasters like Hurricane Irene, which left millions without electricity and caused billions of dollars in damage, always remind us of two things: the fragility of our infrastructure and the tremendous potency of nature.

It's enough to make some of us wonder: What if we could be immune to such disturbances? What if gale-force winds, falling trees and torrential downpours were powerless against the conveniences we take for granted?

Well, as it turns out, one group of tight-knit environmentalists can tell you precisely what it's like. The Greater World Earthship Community, led by visionary Michael Reynolds (pictured at left), acted on the reality of infrastructural vulnerability more than 20 years ago when its founding members moved completely "off the grid," to live in self-sustaining homes built of scavenged material and known as "earthships."

"A house is a shelter box that nuclear power plants and sewage systems come in and out of," Reynolds says of the the places most of us call home. "[The earthship] is a machine that does all that; it's an independent cellular vessel."

As it has since its inception, the earthship community, situated in the New Mexico desert, continues to stand as a shining city on a hill of self-sufficiency, a paradigm of sustainable living that, as fuel costs rise, Mother Nature rages, and economies falter, more and more are looking to as a model for the future.

"We're seeing a swell in interest again," said Kirsten Jacobsen, education director of Earthship Biotecture, a company Reynolds founded that builds and teaches the design of earthships. "Over the past year or so, traffic on the website has been growing exponentially. There's more people that want to buy these homes."

The Greater World Earthship Community, situated 10 miles outside Taos, N.M., in the sun-scorched desert, boasts members of all ages and includes more than 100 earthships. Sixty of the ships are permanently occupied, while the remainder are rented to open-minded tourists.

In addition to homes clustered at the community site, at least a hundred more dot Taos' perimeter, reflecting the community's 40-year influence. Beyond their concentration in New Mexico, earthships are scattered across the globe, with Reynolds, who says interest in earthships is reaching a "crescendo," putting the total number on Earth at about 1,000.

The earthship, Reynolds says, "is really a machine to take the place of housing and infrastructure for the future" built to "sail on the seas of tomorrow."

Partially hollowed into the ground, the structures are built largely from refuse such as tires, beer cans and bottles. They cost, on average, $200 per square foot. (Earthship Biotecture's cheapest design, dubbed the "Survival Model," costs $10,000).

The recycled materials do less to hinder aesthetics than you'd think: Variegated glass bottle ends nestle into mud walls to create rainbow-colored designs, while three sides of floor-to-ceiling glass flood the homes with natural light.

Earthships' unconventional materials are not their most impressive trait, however. That honor goes to their self-sustainable power and recycling systems, which render the homes completely independent.

Solar heat drawn through windows and cool air emanating from earthen walls interact to maintain comfortable room temperatures year-round, while rooftop solar panels and wind turbines harvest power from natural sources and store it in batteries. The homes also catch rain and snowmelt for cooking and sanitation, which treatment cells later recycle.

Reynolds says that members of the community, like other earthship owners around the world, "share a belief that we need to find a better way for ourselves." But, he adds, political orientations are not as uniform as you might think.

"Everybody is trying to save their own ass," he says. "There's no Sufi dancing or anything like that."

According to Reynolds, who serves on the board that governs the community, more than half of its members work at Earthship Biotecture, while others have online jobs –- yes, the community has WiFi –- or make the trek to Taos for work there.

Beyond saving themselves from dependence on what they see as paper-thin macro-systems, earthship owners also save something else: money.

Community members report spending no more than $100 in energy costs per year, mostly to pay for propane used for cooking.

But perhaps the greatest draw of earthships, members say, is the sense of community that the structures stir inside their owners.

"It was like moving into some kind of living organism," muses Ron Sciarrillo, who subcontracts for Reynolds' company but also builds earthships independently. "[We] go back to the way it used to be. It's more like hunters and gatherers."

Sciarrillo is an active member of the community's "commando team," a group that descends on parts of the world ravaged by natural disasters in order to pitch the earthship.

The team traveled to Haiti shortly after the country's devastating earthquake to show Haitians an alternative to corrugated-metal shacks. Currently, the commandos are trying to raise $60,000 so that hey can return to Haiti to build more "easily replicable" features of the earthship.

Future projects for Earthship Biotecture include constructing an eight-room school in Sierra Leone, a monastery in Prague and, possibly, a housing project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

But whatever future endeavors Reynolds and his team undertake, one goal will remain paramount to them: finding ways to make earthships even more efficient and accessible.

"This vessel has to continue to be tailored and streamlined to make it into the uncertain seas of the future," he says.

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Curtailing E-Waste Begins with Designers

From Waste & Recycling News - When Obama administration officials announced the recommendations in the long-awaited report on electronic waste management, electronic giants Sprint Nextel Corp. and Dell Inc. were on hand to reaffirm their commitment to designing "greener" products.

As part of the national strategy to manage e-waste, the report said sustainable electronics should include more recycled materials, fewer hazardous and virgin materials, and the items should be built in a way for maximum recycling recovery.

Green product design is rarely far from the mind of Darren Beck, manager of corporate responsibility for Sprint. He said the company has begun to look at the lifecycle of its products, from construction to recycling.

"Once you take steps to remove the hazardous waste materials from the product´s design phase," Beck said, "what you´re left with isn´t an e-waste problem, but a waste problem."

Sprint has begun doing that, with four phones it calls eco-friendly, including a smartphone based on the Android operating system, called the Samsung Replenish.

"We´ve done right by taking a lot of the hazardous materials out of the product," Beck said.

Gone are the toxic brominated flame retardants, the toxic metal beryllium, intentionally added polyvinyl chloride and phthalates, he said. For the Replenish, 82% of its weight is made from recyclable materials and 34% of its plastic case is made from post-consumer recyclable materials.

"We would like to get to the point where none of our phones contain any type of hazardous materials and they are easily upgradable," Beck said. "We would love for them to be fully and easily recyclable."

Dell, meanwhile, takes its designers to recycling companies so that they can better understand what happens when their products are broken down, said Mike Watson, director of corporate compliance for the company´s take-back policy. The designers get to watch the items being deconstructed and learn how the components will go toward additional uses.

The designers leave those sessions with a better understanding of what makes a material easy to recycle and what doesn´t.

"It drives a different sense of awareness and visibility into our end-of-life [electronics] from the very beginning of the process," Watson said.

Watson and two other colleagues from the Dell environmental affairs team completed a white paper on design for recycling. They are also surveying their recyclers about what types of parts would be good inside computers so recyclers can more easily break them down.

"We might ask them about one material over another, or if we should include clips versus screws on certain products," he said. "We try to look at all the things that impact the end-of-life and the demanufacturing of our products."

Still, customer feedback is important, too, and recycling doesn´t necessarily drive the design process.

One example of that is painted plastic, which is often found on the outside of laptops and various other products.

"The consumers like it, but recyclers absolutely hate it," Watson said.

Both Sprint and Dell have extensive take-back programs and recycling goals for the future. Sprint wants to recycle nine out of every 10 phones it sells by 2017; the company´s rate in 2010 was 34%.

Dell officials said the company diverted more than 150 million pounds of end-of-life electronics from landfills last year, a 16% increase over the previous year. Dell is about two-thirds of the way toward its goal of recycling 1 billion pounds of e-waste by 2014.

The companies, along with Sony, have agreed to share recycling data with the U.S. EPA and require its recycling facilities to account for each device. The data, according to the EPA, includes the total amount of used electronics collected in each state, the amount recycled and the amount of each company collects from businesses, institutions and consumers.

Making that data easier to collect begins at the design stage.

"Manufacturers only respond to the requests they receive," Sprint´s Beck said. "They are able to respond to greener requests as they come in. The key has been, up until recently, they haven´t had a significant demand for that to happen."

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Global Packaging Market to Hit Nearly $135 Million

From Resource Recycling - Rising demand from retailers, chemical manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies is expected to propel the global packaging market to $135 billion this year, according to new research from Visiongain.

The Industrial & Bulk Packaging Report 2011-2021, says that this growth comes despite higher production costs and weak demand in the U.S., Europe, Japan and other developed countries. Instead, strong growth projections in India, China, the Middle East and Latin America are overcompensating for sluggish demand elsewhere. Additionally manufacturing increases in these areas, coupled with rising demand for fresh produce and redesigned, lightweight packaging in developed markets are also cited as evidence for growth in 2011 and the coming decade.

For the full report, click here.

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Gap Inc Using Less Packaging, Recycling More

Clothing manufacturer Gap Inc.´s use of more efficient containers and redesigned packaging eliminated 57,000 tons of cardboard and 63 million yards of plastic bands per year from its U.S. operations, according to the company´s fifth sustainability report.

"For nearly 20 years, we´ve worked to address some of the major challenges facing our industry and to operate our business in line with our value to do what´s right," Gap Chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy said in a statement. "While we´re not perfect, we´re proud of the progress made."

The company also encouraged customers to donate their worn or damaged jeans, which were then given to Cotton Inc. to recycle the material into housing insulation for communities in need. Last year, the company said, 360,000 pairs of jeans were dropped off at various North American stores and donated to nearly 700 homes in underserved communities and to special housing projects.

Gap Inc's corporate office out of Albuquerque has been a member of NMRC since 2010.

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What Does Sustainable Packaging Mean?

From Resource Recycling - The Sustainable Packaging Coalition has recently revised its Definition of Sustainable Packaging to better reflect current trends in packaging.

The SPC, which is a project of the green business-oriented nonprofit organization GreenBlue, originally produced the guidelines in 2005 to form a common understanding of the term "sustainable packaging" and a framework for improving how consumer goods are encased.

One of the more notable changes was a revision to the criteria for what makes packaging sustainable to focus more on the lifecycle of the materials. Specifically, the language describing sustainable packaging was changed from "is made from materials healthy for all probable end-of-life scenarios" to "is made from materials healthy throughout the life cycle."

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2011 E-Scrap Conference Scheduled for October 5-6

The 2011 E-Scrap Conference will be held October 5-6 at the Omni Championsgate in Orlando, Florida. For more information, visit www.e-scrapconference.com, or click the banner below.

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Recycling Brochure Available Online

Download NMRC's new Recycling Brochure with general information on how and why to recycle in New Mexico at Recycling Brochure

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Generation of OCC has been average for the last few months, but demand has not been very strong as of late. A big drop in price was expected this month, but the OBM reported just a $5 drop for this grade. However, expect price to drop further in the months to come, and also expect recyclers in our area to reduce OCC price between $5 and $15 per Ton in September. Price for ONP remains unchanged, but SOP took a big hit with the OBM dropping its price $20 per ton. Expect price to drop a bit more because of excessive supply and low demand from paper mills in our region. Demand for plastics has been up and down a little for the last 4 or 5 months. Do not expect big changes on most grades.

Please note that the following prices reflect what recyclers in our region are paying for recyclable materials for the month of August. Prices may differ due to presentation, transportation costs, or the amounts of materials being picked-up or delivered. The higher price usually applies to full or partial loads of baled material which require no further processing or reloading.

* 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 2011

Sean Gillespie, GreenPaso Services; Gordon West, Santa Clara Woodworks; Brian Gutierrez, Mr. G's Recycling; Joe McFarlin, EnviroEd, Inc; David Thomas, Rocking V Waterservices Corp; Jo Fanelli, Atlas Pumping Co., Inc.; Daniel Roemer, HaulRite of Four Corners, Inc; Betsy Windisch, McKinley Citizens Recycling Committee; Tara Chisum, Angel Fire Sustainability Committee; David Wentling, GrowRaton!; Connie Grove, Deming Public Schools; Michael Carpenter, Placitas Recycling Assoc.; Brian Gibson, Action Container Solutions; Sandy Blalock, NM Certified Automotive Recyclers Assoc & NM Metal Recyclers Assoc.; Jill Ybarra; Chris Sawyer & Mark Anderson, Philmont Scout Ranch; Devin Whittington, Waste Management; Lisa Merrill, Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency

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Regional Round Up

Rio Rancho - Toss No Mas Community Cleanup - Saturday, September 24 Do something good for Rio Rancho! Help us preserve the beauty of our community by participating in the fall community cleanup. This statewide cleanup is aimed at raising public awareness of the impact litter has on our city and on New Mexico. KRRB is coordinating a Rio Rancho cleanup and is looking for volunteers to help remove litter from our roadsides from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon. Volunteers will be provided t-shirts, trash bags, gloves, goodie bags and prizes! Call 896-8389 to register to volunteer!

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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

Equipment Mechanic Job in Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency is looking for an equipment mechanic to work at their Caja del Rio Landfill and the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station in Santa Fe. See the full job posting at http://www.sfswma.org/employment.html

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Recycling Tidbits

U.S. EPA Seeks Input on Municipal Solid Waste
The U.S. EPA is seeking input regarding the efficacy and scope of the municipal solid waste characterization report called, "Municipal Solid Waste in the United States," as part of a broader discussion about sustainable materials management.   More»

Distracted Drivers May Play Role in Fatalities
On-the-job fatalities among trash and recycling collectors spiked 30% last year, an increase called troubling and disappointing by a trade group representing private companies in the sector.   More»

Ford Recycling Tires & Soybean Oil
Ford announced a new plan to recycle old tires and soybean oil to make seals and gaskets for its current models.  More»

Waste & Recycling News Wants to Know: What have you found in the trash?
We've heard rumors that one driver found $20,000 worth of gold a few years ago. Imagine what that would be worth now.   More»

Hawaii's Hi-5 Recycling Effort Shows 76% Diversion Rate
Thanks to its HI-5 recycling program, people in Hawaii recycled more than 686 million containers from July 1, 2010 to June 30, or about 76% of all beverage containers sold, according to the Hawaii State Department of Health.   More»

Feds: Garbage Trucks Must Cut Fuel Use, Emissions
Garbage trucks will be required to cut fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by about 10% before the end of the decade, according to new federal rules.   More»

Apple Offers Free Recycling, Reuse of iPads, iPhones
Apple updated its free reuse and recycling program this week to include iPads and iPhones.   More»

More Applause for Recycling Resolution
Two trade organizations are expressing support for a U.S. Senate resolution in support of the recycling industry. More>>

MIT Researchers Examine Flight of E-Waste
When researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied trash and where it ended up in 2009, one particular waste stream stood out to them: electronic waste.  More»

Recycling Effort Pits Neighbor Against Neighbor
Like many communities, Brooklyn Park, Minn., saw a jump in recycling after it switched to single-stream collection.   More»

Fire Hits El Paso Recycling Facility - Again
At least 20 fire trucks and 60 firefighters responded Monday night to a blaze at the Newell Recycling Co. facility in El Paso, Texas, the El Paso Times reported.   More»

Nevada Youth an Ambassador for Recycling
What began as a sixth-grade science project has grown into something more for 12-year-old Lucas Shaw.   More»

LEED Milestone - 10,000th Certified Commercial Building
There are 10,000 commercial buildings certified as being green through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program of the U.S. Green Building Council.   More»

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Calendar

The NMRC board meets 5 times a year and members are always welcome to attend the meetings. We welcome your input and are always looking for new board members for our September election. We have also started offering a call-in option to board meetings. If you wish to attend any of the meetings, please RSVP ahead of time to english@recyclenewmexico.com.

• September 14, 9 AM - 1 PM: NMRC Board Meeting, Moriarty.

• November 3-4, 11:30 AM start on the 3rd, ending 1 PM on the 4th: NMRC Board Retreat, Sevilleta.

All these meetings are posted online at www.recyclenewmexico.com/calendar.htm

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2011 Recycling and Composting Facility Operator Certification

Recycling Facility Operators Certification Courses

*December 6-8, Santa Fe register   Held at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center with a tour of the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station

Compost Facility Operators Certification Courses

*October 4-6, Albuquerque register  

Held at the Fire Academy with a tour of Soilutions & the Soil Amendment Facility.

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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

English Bird, Executive Director

New Mexico Recycling Coalition

PO Box 24364, Santa Fe, NM 87502

english@recyclenewmexico.com

(505) 983-4470