New Mexico Recycling Coalition

Every November is NM Recycling Awareness Month (NMRAM), held in conjunction with the national America Recycles Day event on November 15. We encourage communities, youth groups, schools, businesses and other organizations to plan a recycling outreach event sometime in the month of November.

Make the 33% by 2012 Commitment: Submit a resolution to your city council, county commission, business or organization asking them to make the 33% recycling rate commitment. NMRC can help draft resolution language and assist in the process. more

Giveaways and Resources Available: Shopping bags (provided by NMED) will be supplied as event give-aways as well as recycled-content rulers provided by Dex. Educational materials are available for teachers and youth outreach activities.

Online Pledge to Recycle: You can direct people to take the pledge to recycle at any time to www.americarecyclesday.org

November Recycling Drive and Events Listing: Let us know the specifics of your November recycling drive or event so we can post online! Send to sarah@recyclenewmexico.com

Thank you to our NMRAM Sponsors: New Mexico Environment Department: Solid Waste Bureau, Dex, Intel Corporation, SBM Site Services, Waste Management, Sandia National Laboratories, Keep NM Beautiful, Whole Foods, NM Public Education Department

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Register now for the upcoming Recycling and Compost certification courses before the classes start to fill up. Greg Baker is back in the hot seat for the Composting Course with a tour of the Albuquerque Soil Amendments Facility and the Recycling Course will include a field visit to the Santa Fe MRF.

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New Lifetime Member Highlight - RecycleNet Corporation

NMRC is excited to welcome this new member and to work with them to advance recycling in New Mexico!

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Each year, NMRC selects a city/region to assist during NM Recycling Awareness Month (NMRAM) to increase recycling via education and outreach. The partnership aims to bring the following assistance in 2008 to Santa Fe: jumpstart on event recycling, business recycling toolkit and outreach, school education and our big campaign for November will be called "Get Caught Recycling in Santa Fe". The November campaign will randomly select households, business owners, county and city drop-off participants and reward them with local business prizes and gift certificates.

NMRC is working in partnership with the City of Santa Fe Solid Waste Department, Santa Fe County, Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency, Keep Santa Fe Beautiful, Waste Management and the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce as we have developed the planning and implementation of the program.

Event recycling for Santa Fe started in late July at Spanish Market and has taken place almost every weekend since then. The first event piloted three different collection containers to evaluate the greatest success and ease of use. The ClearStream containers were the standout winners and the City went ahead and purchased 100 more for all future events. The City has tracked their recycling rates for all events thus far, reporting a 16% rate for the Spanish Market event, a 10% rate at a small arts and crafts fair and a whopping 20% rate for Indian Market. The targeted recyclables are plastic bottles #1 and #2, aluminum cans and cardboard.

Lessons learned are critical for sustained success. What has been found thus far is that staff and volunteers must monitor all the containers throughout the day and even pull out recyclable bottles, cans and cardboard and place in correct container. Maintaining the image of a clean recycling container with only recycled goods inside of it is critical. And on the flip side, it is important to make sure there are not too many recyclables in the trash. The mantra that Santa Fe has followed is to always place a recycling container next to every single trash container. They have also found that the "Recycle Santa Fe" T-shirts (see in in first photo below) are a hit and in the future will sell the shirts. Many attendees have complimented the Solid Waste Department staff in bringing recycling to the downtown events.

NMRC is also working with the City of Santa Fe council to introduce a resolution for the city to adopt a 33% recycling rate by 2012 goal. This complements NMRC's overarching goal to see the state hit 33% within the next 5 years. The national average is 32% and thus we would like to catch up. Upcoming editions of Scraps will detail the Business Recycling Toolkit that we develop and then the "Get Caught Recycling in Santa Fe" campaign.

From left to right: Vivian Martinez and Bill DeGrande with the City of Santa Fe Solid Waste Department on our pilot weekend of Spanish Market. Note the snazzy T-shirts. During the pilot we evaluated the 96-gallon beige collection carts with a slotted top and signage, the soda-pop recycling container (in the middle photo) and the ClearStream (in the right-hand photo).

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The New Mexico Recycling Coalition (NMRC) managed a US Department of Agriculture Forest Service Collaborative Forest Restoration Program grant from August 2005 to July 2008. The project increased awareness about the value of mulch and compost as a forest waste by-product and its application for erosion control and soil protection. Awareness regarding the value of mulch increased via numerous outreach and education efforts, including workshops, presentations, one-on-one consultations and demonstration projects. The project’s target audience consisted of forest managers and personnel, tribes, forest thinning contractors, CFRP recipients, public land management agencies and forestry students and youth working in Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) projects. The New Mexico Forest Industry Alliance (NMFIA) will continue providing technical outreach to interested parties moving forward.

Education and outreach activities included 23 classroom and hands-on workshops across the state, one-on-one consultations, youth outreach, presentations and conferences, web-based outreach and the production of collateral materials. Additionally, NMRC conducted scientific studies monitoring soil moisture and temperature in both bare-earth and mulched areas.

The grant reached its primary objective of increasing awareness of the beneficial uses for slash produced by thinning for CFRP recipients, tribes and others involved in public-land thinning projects. This is documented in the final survey results, as 96.8% of all respondents answered yes to the question, “After exposure to this project, do you feel that forest slash can be utilized to produce a value added product?”

The NMRC teamed up with several partners to demonstrate erosion control treatments through the utilization of woody biomass. NMRC’s relationships with these partners include on-site consultation, data monitoring and other educational and outreach support. The demonstration sites range from riparian river systems to mixed conifer forests and include the following:

* Mescalero Apache Tribe – Due to a strong monsoon season in the southern part of New Mexico during the summer of 2006, the Mescalero Apache Tribal land experienced significant erosion, including washed out utility lines and high volumes of sediment transport. The Tribe contacted NMRC regarding installations of erosion control hardscapes and mulch. NMED:Solid Waste Bureau's Greg Baker and Soilution’s Jim Brooks visited the area to assess the damage and develop a plan of action. The following summer in June of 2007 a team applied an erosion control installation that included earth moving, berms and swales, filter socks and wood chip mulch.

* Jemez Girl Scout Camp – NMRC participated in the NM Forestry Camp in June of 2007 by conducting a workshop for camp counselors on erosion control and mulch utilization.

* Santa Fe River – The Center for Service Learning Project – During the 2006/2007 school year NMRC conducted twelve site visits to the Center for Service Learning project. These visits included trips with middle school aged students from The Santa Fe Girls’ School. This demonstration project is an ongoing educational opportunity as pupils assisted in setting up monitoring sites. The area has been successfully chipped and the mulch has been applied to the monitoring plots. Mulch was applied to the entire landscape in the spring of 2008. An educational sign outlining the restoration, mulch and educational components of the project has been developed that will be installed in summer of 2008. NMRC provided funding assistance for chipping of the woody biomass.

* Carlito Springs: Bernalillo County Open Space – Carlito Springs is the source of our most continuous monitoring data, as it was the first of our sites with complete monitoring equipment installed. Monitoring devices that record precipitation, soil moisture and temperature have been providing information since March of 2007. Carlito Springs will also host a sign that explains the project and erosion control treatments.

* Santa Fe County Fire Department – The Santa Fe County Fire Department received a CFRP grant to thin the 40 acres of Santa Fe City and County lands. NMRC worked with the Arroyo Hondo Fire Department and Santa Fe Partners for Forest Restoration to host a targeted erosion control and mulch utilization workshop for contractors conducting the forest thinning in Santa Fe City and County. NMRC technically assisted SF County Fire Dept to develop signs to install within the area to educate hikers on the erosion control process and mulch applications.

* Santa Domingo Pueblo – Santo Domingo Pueblo is a successful CFRP grant recipient for the 2007 grant cycle. NMRC provided consultation to Santo Domingo in the creation of a bosque thinning project. NMRC and NMED:SWB representatives met with the Pueblo and conducted site visits in order to assist the Pueblo with details of their grant application and continued to provide compost expertise as their project got underway. NMRC has developed a sign that describes the compost process and will be installed the summer of 2008 at the site.

* City of Las Vegas – To gather monitoring data on the effects of wood mulch in a ponderosa pine ecosystem, NMRC worked with Ralph Barela and the City of Las Vegas to gain approvals to install a monitoring site on forested city land.

* NM Department of Transportation – To gather data on the effects of composted wood mulch in a roadside environment, NMRC worked with NMDOT engineers to install a system along Highway 14.

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On August 22-23, the big annual e-waste collection event for Albuquerque and surrounding areas brought in almost 250,000 tons of electronic scrap.

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Western Climate Change Poll

An August poll done by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research in six interior western states showed a nearly even division among westerners about whether or not climate change is real. Source: Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. www.rockymountainclimate.org

	AZ	CO	NV	NM	UT	WY	Dems	Repubs
Is climate change a scientifically established reality, or still unproven and subject to debate?
Scientific reality	54%	47%	48%	48%	45%	35%	74%	25%
Unproven/subject to debate	43%	47%	44%	44%	50%	53%	20%	70%
In the West, will the benefits of taking action on climate change be worth the costs, or not?
Worth the costs	52%	51%	57%	57%	45%	41%	72%	30%
Not worth the costs	32%	35%	26%	30%	41%	41%	14%	54%
In the West, will addressing climate change create jobs through new energy & agricultural technologies, or lose jobs by increasing regulations and business costs ?
Increase jobs	61%	52%	56%	55%	45%	46%	68%	40%
Lose jobs	17%	26%	25%	31%	32%	24%	9%	38%

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Thermostat Recycling Information

You can find out where and how to recycle mercury-containing thermostats online with the Thermostat Recycling Corporation. http://www.nema.org/gov/ehs/trc/

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Michael Grandjean, GranCor Enterprises; Gib Waide, Bernalillo County; Sheli Keyes, Robert Cohen Sports Surfacing; Amanda Skarsgard and Harold Harrison, Northwind Inc; Peter Wood; Vivian Martinez, City of Santa Fe; Tracy Blackburn; Novella Trujillo, Albuquerque Convention Center and Visitor Bureau; Joe Ramirez, City of Tucumcari; Charles Greenwood, GreenPlanet Recycling; Tom Heck; Alex Aragon; Arlene Clemena, Steven Adams, Taylor Roehl, & Rusty Hiers - Jaynes Corporation; Darin Sand, Goodman Realty Group; Greg Hawrylyshyn & Tim Coughenour, Gerald Martin; Carol Wight, NM Restaurant Association; Hyatt Regency Albuquerque; Bill Greenhalgh, Lockwood Construction; Danford Wadsworth, Hopi Solid Waste Management; Lisa Lee, South Central Solid Waste Authority; Sally Padilla, Santa Fe SW Management Agency; Elizabeth Alongi; Liz Foster, Modulus Design; Sally Rutledge, Beautiful Spaces; Daniel Abram, Village of Tijeras; Kristy Moyer, Build Green New Mexico; Michael and Ed Lingnau, Ed's Recycling Center; Carol Chavez, USFS Sandia Ranger Station; Sharon Marks, High Mountain Homes; Carlsbad SWCD; Patrick Jenkins, Holloman AFB; Dennis Davis, Star Construction; Steven Schwartz, Albuquerque Marriott; Doug McLeod, Catalyst Paper; Johnny Pena, City of Albuquerque; Paul Roszel, RecycleNet; Kariann Sokulsky and Richard Backer, Freeport-McMoRan Chino Mines Co.; Gary Estepp, ResourceAD

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*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.

Clean Stainless Steel…………………$0.48-$0.68/lb (down $0.12 per lb)

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Albuquerque: A downtown action committee is working to set-up convenient recycling for the downtown businesses, complete with a fenced drop-off and potentially an option for pick-up service.

Santa Fe: The City of Santa Fe Council is considering two resolutions. One deals with creating a Pay-As-You-Throw residential plan for trash, cutting commercial recycling charges in half and increasing the cost of on-demand large item pick-up. The other resolution submitted by NMRC sets a goal for Santa Fe to reach 33% by 2012 and outlines big picture steps the city needs to take to reach that.

Truth or Consequences: A local activist group called the Bountiful Alliance Recycling Project has begun monthly recycling drives in T or C to collect a wide range of materials. Volunteers have also worked hard to chronicle current recycling opportunities in the city.

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The recently announced partnership between the U.S. division of LG Electronics and Waste Management subsidiary WM Recycle America LLC is expected to expand to all 50 states in the coming weeks. LG made the announcement at an electronics policy luncheon during the Democratic National Convention.

The LG-WM program covers LG-, Zenith- and GoldStar-branded of televisions, monitors, and audio and video equipment, including video cassette players and DVD players. LG-branded appliances, mobile phones and other handled devices, also are accepted free-of-charge at participating locations. Waste Management currently has 160 electronic recycling collection centers throughout the U.S. and will have one in every state by the end of 2008.

Locate the nearest recycling center to you or call 1-877-439-2795. At this point there are NO locations in New Mexico.

If you would like to mail your LG, Goldstar or Zenith brand consumer electronics product to us for no-fee recycling, please send it to the closest WM Recycle America eCycling center below:

Mailing Locations

1800 Broadway NE	Minneapolis	MN	55413
3730 East 48th Street	Denver	CO	80216
5519 NW 4th St	Oklahoma City	OK	73127
203 Tremont Street	Springfield	MA	01107

Stop Junk Mail

According to some estimates, junk mail’s carbon footprint equals 9 million cars, businessgreen.com, August 8, 2008. Find out how to reduce your junk mail volume at eHow’s How to get off junk mail lists and the Direct Marketing Association’s website.

Creative things to do with junk mail: http://proquo.com/resources/top_10_creative_responses_to_junk_mail/

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**September 20-24, National Recycling Coalition Congress, Pittsburgh, PA. www.nrc-recycle.org

**November 6-7, NMRC Board Retreat, Sevilleta, Starts at 10 AM on the 6th and ends at 3 PM on the 7th. RSVP to english@recyclenewmexico.com

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Recycling and Composting Facility Operator Certification Class Schedule for 2008

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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.