Ssn fall '16 final

Volume 13, Issue 3

Fall 2016

Security Shredding News Serving the Security Shredding & Records Storage Markets

Visit us online at www.SecurityShreddingNews.com

ATTENTION: READERS !

Are you looking for Products, Equipment or Services for your business? If so, please check out these leading companies advertised in this issue:

Collection & Storage Containers Bomac Carts – pg 7

Equipment Financing TransLease Inc – pg 2

Lock & Locking Systems Lock America Intl. – pg 3

Mobile Truck Shredders Alpine Shredders Ltd – pg 9 Shred-Tech Limited – pg 5 Vecoplan, LLC – pg 7

Moving Floor System Keith Manufacturing – pg 12

Stationary Shredders & Grinders Shred-Tech Limited – pg 5 Vecoplan, LLC – pg 7

Trade Associations NAID (National Association of Information Destruction) – pg 8 RIOS™ (Certified Electronics Recycler) – pg 11

Recovered Office Paper Markets Strong During Third Quarter

U

By Ken McEntee

PRSRT STD U.S. Postage

PAID

Mentor, OH Permit No. 2

.S. exports of deinking grade scrap paper, including Sorted Office Paper (SOP) and Sorted White Ledger (SWL) were strong through July, topping comparable 2015 exports by 30 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The improvement in export demand offset low domestic usage, but recovered paper traders in September said a strong tissue business was bringing up demand and prices.

“I can’t believe how many mills are out there looking for office paper,” said a broker in Chicago. “Tissue mills are running strong and they are paying premiums for paper from the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping.”

Traders said demand from Mexican mills had also improved over the summer, helping to boost prices.

A September survey of mill buyers and suppliers showed a U.S. national average SOP mill price of $173.75 per ton (FOB, seller’s dock), the highest September average since 2011 when the average was $262.50 per ton.

That year, the average price tumbled $120 down to $140 per ton by the end of the year.

The September 2016 price was up about $12 per ton compared to the same time last year, and was up about $30 per ton compared to the beginning of the year.

Over the past five years, SOP trended slightly downward during the fourth quarter, with the slide of 2011 being the exception.

Most traders said they anticipate prices to remain strong through October and possibly into November.

“Generation from document destruction services should be stable, and I expect mill demand from India and China to remain

strong,” according to another Midwest broker.

“I think there is a lot more demand than generation in the market right now.”

Through July, exports accounted for about 20 percent of U.S. deinking grade sales, up from about 16 percent last year. Mexico, the largest export market for deinking grades, started the year slowly, taking in about 16,000 short tons during the first two months, according to Commerce data. However, Mexican mills imported more than 100,000 tons between May through July.

With the SOP supply falling short toward the end of the summer, domestic and overseas mills were taking in more Sorted White (SWL) and Manifold White Ledger (MWL), pushing prices up for that grade, dealers said.

“Three months ago we had white ledger coming out of our ears,” said the broker in Chicago. “It’s hot now because of the shortage of office waste. Coated Book Stock (CBS) also is being pulled up by the office waste demand.

Continued on page 3

Inside This Issue

4

Think Tank: Certification for Paper Recyclers

7

HHS Fines Care New England for Outdated Business Agreement

8

Europe Recycled Paper Market – Ups & Downs

9

HHS Steps Up HIPAA Enforcement

10 Advertiser News

tlee@transleaseinc.com 2 Security Shredding News Fall 2016

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Security Shredding News

Recovered Office Paper Markets Strong During Third Quarter Continued from page 1

PUBLICATION STAFF Publisher / Editor Rick Downing

Contributing Editors / Writers Ken McEntee Rachel H. Pollack Sandy Woodthorpe

Production / Layout Barb Fontanelle Christine Pavelka

Advertising Sales Rick Downing

Subscription / Circulation Donna Downing

Editorial, Circulation & Advertising Office 6075 Hopkins Road Mentor, OH 44060 Ph: 440-257-6453 Fax: 440-257-6459 Email: downassoc2@oh.rr.com www.securityshreddingnews.com

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Printed on Post-Consumer Recycled Paper

Some mills, however, prefer not to use Coated Book because they don’t want the clay in their system.”

Still, the price of CBS generally is aligned closely with SOP. On the export market, deinking grade prices haven’t seen the heavy ramp up seen in the U.S. market from January to July – at least not according to Commerce trade data. According to Commerce Department averages, the average FAS price for all deinking grades in July was $213 per ton, compared to $210 in January.

Ocean shipping rates remained extremely low, which finally led to the demise of a major container line.

South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping Co. filed for bankruptcy in September, creating havoc at ports around the world as vessels, reportedly holding $14 billion worth of cargo, were denied entry or unable to load.

Recovered paper exporters, however, reported few problems beyond some minor inconveniences.

An exporter in the Southeastern U.S. said he had some outbound containers backed up at the port of Wilmington, N.C. when a Hanjin vessel was shut out of the port.

Wilmington, an exporter in Florida, said, presented a unique situation.

“At a port like Savannah, where Wal-Mart and Kmart have big warehouses, all the ship lines are going in, so it isn’t a major disruption when Hanjin isn’t there,” he said. “At Wilmington, Hanjin was the only line going through there, so it was a problem.”

On the West Coast, an exporter who ships out of Long Beach said he had some Cosco containers on Hanjin vessels that were anchored outside the port.

“We haven’t been using Hanjin lately, but all of the lines are sharing vessels now, so all of the major carriers are affiliated with Hanjin in one way or another,” he said. “I had a lot of Cosco containers on the Hanjin ships, but I wasn’t very worried about it. We had to pay to get our empties off and for the transportation in and out of the port, but we didn’t have any demurrage charges.”

According to another Southern California exporter, “We haven’t had any Hanjin-related shipping problems yet, but it’s too early to tell if there might be later on. Secondary affects are hard to predict with any accuracy.”

Generally, though, the people who were doing the worrying were retailers who were concerned about getting merchandise to their shelves in time for early holiday shopping.

Overall, said Niels Erich, spokesman for the westbound segment of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA), the overall impact of the Hanjin bankruptcy on recovered paper exporters “should be minor.”

“Hanjin has not been a major player in the wastepaper market, fluctuating within a 3 to 5 percent market share for the commodity,” Erich said. “We’ve heard relatively little discussion about stranded westbound cargo, and nothing specific about wastepaper. Given the overall slowing factory demand for wastepaper used in export packaging, I doubt the volumes stuck in transit are very significant.”

Erich said TSA’s 15 member lines are looking to implement a two stage general rate increase (GRI) to take effect on October 1 and November 1.

“For October 1, most lines are looking at around $300 per FEU (Forty-foot Equivalent Unit) across the board, with some fine tuning by commodity,” Erich said. “In the case of wastepaper, however, I’d imagine lines will be looking for the full GRI or close to it, as rates have been so low recently that some lines have considered exiting the segment to focus on repositioning empty equipment.”

He said the November 1 GRI is set at $100 per FEU. “It should be noted, by the way, that lines first notified the trade of these scheduled increases in early August, pre-dating any of the Hanjin news,” Erich said.

Recovered paper exporters are generally sympathetic to the container lines’ financial issues.

“They are bleeding,” said an exporter in the Northwest U.S. “If they can’t get reasonable rates there are going to be more bankruptcies.”

However, few, if any, exporters expect the full rate increases to stick.

“They never do,” said the Southern California exporter. “They are one of the few industries that can sit down and talk every month and set prices, but even so, it doesn’t mean anything when they make rate announcements. They sit down at a table and everybody agrees, and before they even reach the elevator they are undercutting each other. This time around I think rates will go up, but not as much as they want. They see what happened to Hanjin and they don’t want it to happen to them.”

Over the past 15 years, he said, he has paid as much as $700 to move a container from Long Beach to China, and around $1,200 to ship from New York to China. That rate, he said, is now around $200.

The author is editor and publisher of The Paper Stock Report (www.recycle.cc), which tracks the North American market for recovered paper.

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Security Shredding News Fall 2016

3

Security Shredding News

Think Tank

By Rachel H. Pollack

W

hat would convince paper recyclers to certify their operations?

That’s easy, says Johnny Gold, president of The Gold Group Recycling Consultants (Swampscott, Mass.). “If it could ease shipping and reduce rejections, both domestically and internationally; if mills would see it as a sign of quality when choosing suppliers; if it would result in [recyclers] securing a few more dollars per ton; if it would ensure their safe operations; and if it would work as a marketing tool to help them sell their product in good times and bad,” it would be an easy sell, he says. That’s a tall—and unrealistic—set of expectations, however.

The certifications available to recovered paper processing facilities are designed to ensure a company has systems in place to track and improve quality, ensure environmental compliance, and improve safety and health outcomes. They address elements a business can control or anticipate. They can’t guarantee high prices, smooth shipping, or material accepted with open arms.

A few recyclers that historically have specialized in recovered fiber have looked at the costs and benefits of certification and taken the plunge. Each of the certified companies interviewed for this article had a specific set of reasons for seeking certification. Some of these reasons—and their results—might resonate with other paper processors looking at improving their operations and preparing for this sector’s future.

Diverse Goals

A

llan Co. certified its headquarters and affiliated processing facility in Baldwin Park, Calif., to the Recycling Industry Operating Standard™, or RIOS™, primarily to ease the renewal of its license for exporting scrap to China.

Exports are about 70 percent of the company’s business, and China is its largest consuming country, says CEO Jason Young. “We’re self-inspected, and [RIOS] helps you maintain your self-inspection permit,” he explains. The facility handles paper, plastic, ferrous and nonferrous metal, electronics, and glass. ISRI developed RIOS, an integrated quality, environmental, health, and safety management system standard, for the recycling industry by combining elements of the ISO 9001 quality standard, ISO 14001 environmental compliance standard, and OHSAS 18001 standard for occupational health and safety management. It’s now managed by the Global Recycling Standards Organization (Washington, D.C.).

Certification also was something Allan Co.’s customers were starting to look for, Young says. It’s an assurance to suppliers who must conduct downstream due diligence for their own certification requirements, explains Kara Bouton, real estate manager for Allan Co., who led its RIOS certification process. “Buying materials from companies that have ISO certification, we can say, ‘We are meeting these standards that are in line with yours,’” she says.

For Far West Recycling (Portland, Ore.), diversification was its goal. Even though paper recycling is still 65 percent of its business—down from 98 percent in 2000—it’s rapidly expanding its metals and electronics processing operations.

It went through the process of R2/RIOS certification for its Southeast Portland location, which handles those two commodity types. In electronics recycling, “a lot of companies need to know you’re certified in order to do business with you,” says Operations Manager Vinod Singh. This certification combines RIOS with the Responsible Recycling Practices for Use in Accredited Certification Programs, or R2, a standard that ISRI helped develop and that Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (Boulder, Colo.) administers. The effort was worthwhile, says CEO Keith Ristau. “We have started to get a lot more material since we were certified.

Volume is probably up in electronics and certain metals 25 to 30 percent.”

4 Security Shredding News Fall 2016

Certification for Paper Recyclers

Three recyclers of paper—plus other commodities—with facilities that have achieved RIOS, R2/RIOS, and ISO 9001 certification talk about their reasons for pursuing it, the time and costs involved, and whether the results justified their investment.

Another reason Far West chose to get certified is “to walk the walk, shore up our practices, polish everything up,” Singh says. Especially when it comes to handling electronics focus materials, R2/RIOS is “a method to show we are doing the right thing.”

RIOS and R2/RIOS are not the only certifications available to paper recyclers.

In 2009, when RIOS was just getting started, Great Lakes Recycling (Roseville, Mich.) achieved ISO 9001 certification of what was then its flagship facility in Roseville, says Sandy Rosen, GLR’s CEO. “We were seeking improved quality; to eliminate rejections, downgrades, and errors in paperwork; and [to implement] a whole system of step-by-step instructions of how to deal with everything,” Rosen says. The company recently sold that facility, which handled paper and metal scrap.

It also has achieved R2 certification of a facility that processes electronics.

Put It in Writing

T

he greatest benefit—but also the greatest challenge—of certification was documenting operating procedures, these companies say. “We are a family-run company, and we have a lot of people with knowledge who have worked here for a lot of years,” says Young, who’s in the third generation of family leadership of the 52-year-old company. In most cases, he says, a process employees follow to do their jobs, something they had developed through the years, “wasn’t written anywhere. It was all in someone’s mind, or on their desk.”

When the company had to document those processes and procedures, “none of it was impossible,” but it “had to be put together and formalized correctly,” he says.

Some parts were easier than others, Bouton says. Because it operates in California, Allan Co.’s environmental compliance requirements were already quite high.

The company could use existing documentation there and in its health and safety operations to meet the certification requirements.

Documentation “took time, energy, and a lot of effort, but it also was a good process,” Young says. “You look at every part of your business, see what its strengths and weaknesses are. You look at certain processes and ask, ‘Why were we doing it that way?’ We did a lot of soul-searching.” In the end, the company did not change much about how it operates, he says, but “we definitely looked at everything aggressively.”

Far West Recycling says its experience was similar. “Our philosophy is to do things the right way, which is what RIOS is all about, [so there were] not many things we weren’t already doing—we just needed to document them,” Ristau says.

“That was nice to discover,” he adds.

“We were probably 80 percent or so of the way there” already, Singh estimates, and the certification process “helped us find weaknesses” in existing systems and correct them. Looking at Far West’s safety program, for example, “we were doing essentially everything we needed to do,” but perhaps we “needed to use a [different] form or verbalize it differently.”

Another example Ristau and Singh recall is that the company did not have a shutdown plan for situations such as bankruptcy. “You have to have a plan for it. How would you pay people, get rid of all your equipment? We never thought about that,” Ristau says. Such a plan is “part of knowing we are able to handle our material responsibly,” Singh points out. (It’s not just an academic exercise: An R2/ RIOS-certified facility shut down its Portland operation last year.)

One benefit of this documentation, Singh says, is that “from top to bottom, everybody has a better understanding of practices and procedures. It avoids shortcutting [and] ensures people are following the right processes, from receiving

Continued on next page

Security Shredding News Continued from previous page to shipping. It provides improved clarity for everybody on what we’re supposed to be doing.”

Unlike RIOS and R2/RIOS, ISO 9001 certification addresses only quality, not environmental compliance or safety, but its implementation is similar. GLR had to come up with standard operating procedures for the facility it certified, and Rosen believes the process was beneficial. “We had the people doing the jobs write the SOPs and assigned them the corrective action when something went wrong.

It gave them ownership of the process, and we got pretty good compliance,” he says. “There’s no question that getting organized and having everything systematic led to better results.”

The corrective-action process the facility implemented as part of its certification did not entirely eliminate quality issues, Rosen says. “If the procedure says, before putting a bale on the truck, the driver walks around the bale [and inspects it], theoretically we would never have a bale with a visible defect. But at the end of the day, the guy’s in a hurry,” and those steps get skipped, he says. Still, “for the most part, people followed it.”

Also, in his experience, at times the SOPs “removed some common sense” from the operation, Rosen says. When written correctly, they’re “designed to be followed to the letter,” he explains, but the risk is that people will follow them so rigidly that they don’t think at all. So, theoretically, if you had an accident and your procedures didn’t specify “call 911,” that call wouldn’t be made. “We’ve never experienced anything that extreme,” Rosen says, but “there have been many occasions where a little common sense would have brought a better result” than strictly following the SOP. Even so, the company “took the theory/philosophy [of ISO 9001] and applied it to all the facilities” the company then owned, Rosen says.

Both Far West and Great Lakes Recycling say they stopped pursuing certification and later restarted. For GLR, the 2008 recession was the cause of the delay; Far West moved and consolidated part of its operations when a lease expired. The company waited until the move was complete to finish, Ristau says, then it had trouble scheduling the audit.

Views differ on whether to seek assistance from consultants. Far West used Perry Johnson Consulting (Southfield, Mich.) to manage the project with the part-time participation of Singh and two other employees. Singh estimates it was about 20 percent of his work for the 18-month period. “I suggest getting a consultant,” he says.

“It helps to have someone familiar with the process, what to do, how you need to put the plan in place, what you need to improve.” GRSO and SERI offer “great programs, a lot of support, webinars, [and other] resources to do it yourself, but if you’re not a certification expert, if it’s not your job, it’s very helpful to have [a consultant].”

Allan Co., in contrast, did all the work in house. “We were encouraged by a lot of people to use a consultant,” Bouton says, but by doing it themselves, “we understood 100 percent what we were doing; we embraced it.” She does not think the process would have received the same buy-in if it had come across as criticism from someone outside the organization.

Bouton says she coordinated a group of about eight employees, one from each part of the company, who met twice a month for nearly a year. Each department documented its own procedures and then brought the documentation back to the group to review it. She estimates she spent six to eight hours a week on the project.

Essential to its success “was the commitment by the leaders in the organization to come together and commit the time to talk about the issues,” she says. Certification “requires companywide buy-in” because one change to an operational procedure can affect many different people and departments. Without that buy-in, she says, “we couldn’t have gotten it done.”

The most intensely time-consuming aspect of certification was the initial audit, Bouton says. It consisted of two on-site visits, two and four days each, and one off-

“...there have been many occasions where a little common sense would have brought a better result.”

Time and Money

R

ecyclers often cite the costs and time commitment required for certification as a barrier. Allan Co. says its RIOS certification process took about one year; Far West Recycling’s R2/RIOS certification took closer to 18 months.

Continued on page 6

www.shred-tech.com

Security Shredding News Fall 2016

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Security Shredding News

Think Tank Continued from page 5

ken@recycle.cc

www.recycle.cc

site review of paperwork and changes the company made to meet the requirements.

Maintaining certification, in contrast, requires minimal time and effort, these companies say. Singh estimates he spends perhaps an hour a month on it. Similarly, Bouton says maintenance requires “some more review of logs and meetings, but in general it hasn’t added a lot of extra time to our daily operations.” Annual audits to renew the certification have taken three days each, she says; after the third year, the company must undergo a full recertification like its initial one. Allan Co. has received its second full certification and plans to keep going, Young says.

One challenge Far West and Allan Co. both identified was communication with the auditing bodies. “Even though we were doing a lot of the right processes,” Singh says, part of the difficulty was “understanding the right certification-speak, if I didn’t understand the question, or translating some of the terminology” into language that made sense for their operations. If the auditing firms have not certified many recycling facilities, they might not understand some of the unique aspects of the recycling industry, Young says. For example, “customers in our business are on both sides”—they’re suppliers and buyers, he explains. “The customers that we buy from, [the auditors] wanted to call them vendors. They’re not vendors, they’re our customers. We have vendors, too—they sell us equipment,” not scrap.

What did the whole thing cost? The annual cost of membership in RIOS or R2/RIOS is $1,250 for ISRI members, $4,200 for nonmembers; add to that a copy of the standard ($125) as well as the cost of getting audited by a certification body.

These companies estimate their total costs were between $10,000 and $20,000 (GLR), roughly $25,000 (Far West), or “tens of thousands” (Allan Co.).

Making the Certification Decision

T

hese recyclers say certification has helped them in ways beyond their initial goals. “It has helped us as a marketing tool when we’re trying to get customers,” Bouton says. And in the community, “when we go to present ourselves, recycling is not always loved. It helps us to say, ‘Hey, we’ve worked hard to meet these standards.’”

Certification also helps with training and communications with employees, she says, especially the environment, health, and safety aspects. EHS was “in our training already, but this is an added layer that reinforces that.” Singh agrees.

“The fact that people know there’s a system [creates] more responsibility, higher expectations,” he says.

That doesn’t mean certification is right for everyone. If someone asked him whether to do it, “I would ask them what they want it for,” Young says. “What is leading you to do this? For us it was a good process; I don’t know if it would be for everybody.” Rosen says he found the process of codifying the company’s policies and procedures more beneficial than the credential itself. But GLR has changed significantly over the past four or five years, he points out. It no longer owns materials recovery facilities, and it now handles more metal than paper. “You need to have the operation at a cruising altitude” to make certification worthwhile, he says. “In the next year or two, we might find ourselves at that cruising altitude and make that a priority for the management team.

“Personally, I’d love to see our people move toward RIOS [certification] at the metals facilities,” Rosen says, but he’s not going to force it on them. “You’ve got to have buy-in.”

Far West Recycling plans to certify more of its facilities in the future. “We want to have the best operations we can have—the safest, the most efficient. We want to do everything we can to be high performers,” Singh says. “Good practices spread quickly” from one facility to another, he says. “There will be a learning curve, definitely, but as far as being able to duplicate the standards, it should be easy to take what we’ve learned and move it over” to another facility. He believes R2/RIOS will help Far West manage and expand its operations properly. “Continual growth is the goal.”

Rachel H. Pollack is editor-in-chief of Scrap. This article originally appeared in Scrap magazine’s September/October 2016 issue. Reprinted with permission.

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6 Security Shredding News Fall 2016

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For more information, contact Rick Downing at 440-257-6453.

In the News Nursing Home HIPAA Violations Highlight Business Associate Risks: Stolen Smartphone Leads to $650,000 Fine

W

ashington, D.C. – According to a Health and Human Services news release, Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (CHCS) agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule after the theft of a CHCS mobile device compromised the protected health information (PHI) of 412 nursing home residents.

The smartphone was not password protected, and the EPHI was unencrypted. The EPHI included social security numbers, diagnostic and treatment information, medical procedures, medications, and the names of family members and legal guardians, reports.

CHCS provided management and information technology services as a business associate to six skilled nursing facilities. The settlement includes a monetary payment of $650,000 and a corrective action plan.

“Business associates must implement the protections of the HIPAA Security Rule for the electronic protected health information they create, receive, maintain, or transmit from covered entities,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Director Jocelyn Samuels. “This includes an enterprise-wide risk analysis and corresponding risk management plan, which are the cornerstones of the HIPAA Security Rule.”

Security & Storage News page,after 4C receiving OCR Shredding initiated its investigation on April- 1/2 17, 2014, notification that CHCS had experienced a breach of PHI involving the theft of a CHCS-issued employee iPhone. At the time of the incident, CHCS had no policies addressing the removal of mobile devices containing PHI from its facility or what to do in the event of a security incident; OCR also determined that CHCS had no risk analysis or risk management plan.

The

HHS Fines Care New England for Outdated Business Agreement

W

ashington, D.C. – The importance of reviewing and updating, as necessary, business associate agreements between HIPAA-covered entities was highlighted in a case just decided by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

In September, OCR reached a settlement agreement with Care New England Health System (CNE), which followed an investigation of a 2012 breach involving PHI of more than 14,000 individuals. CNE has agreed to pay a $400,000 fine. The healthcare system also will develop a corrective action plan to address potential HIPPA violations on behalf of its affiliated business associates, which include subsidiaries that operate as HIPAA-covered entities.

According to an HHS news release, Woman & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (WIH), a covered entity member of CNE, notified OCR of the loss of unencrypted backup tapes containing the ultrasound studies. The tapes held patient names, birthdates, physical exam dates, physician names, and, in some instances Social Security Numbers.

CNE provides centralized corporate support including technical support and information security for WIH’s information systems. WIH provided OCR with a business associate agreement with Care New England Health System effective March 15, 2005, that was not updated until August 28, 2015, as a result of OCR’s investigation, and therefore, did not incorporate revisions required under the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule.

OCR’s investigation found the following: ››

From September 23, 2014 until August 28, 2015, WIH disclosed protected health information (PHI) and allowed its business associate, CNE, to create, receive, maintain, or transmit PHI on its behalf, without obtaining satisfactory assurances as required under HIPAA.

››

WIH failed to renew or modify its existing written business associate agreement with CNE to include the applicable implementation specifications required by the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.

From September 23, 2014 until August 28, 2015, WIH impermissibly disclosed the PHI of at least 14,004 individuals to its business associate when WIH provided CNE with access to PHI without obtaining satisfactory assurances, in the form of a written business associate agreement, that CNE would appropriately safeguard the PHI. WIH previously agreed to a $150,000 settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in 2014, and the OCR determined the violations have been addressed. ››

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In the News New Jersey Recycling Dilemma: Old TVs

D

ecreased demand for cathode ray tubes (CRTs) from computer monitors and television sets is a troublesome (and costly) dilemma affecting many recycling centers in New Jersey, NJ105.com reports.

In the space of just three years the value of CRTs has plummeted, resulting in old TVs and monitors piling up in recycling centers. In New Jersey, the combination of oversupply and e-waste “take back” logistics problems has moved the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to begin contacting manufacturers about the violations.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Bureau of Recycling and Hazardous Waste Management at the state DEP, says the state’s Electronic Waste Management Act passed five years ago requires the manufacturers of televisions, computers and other products to reclaim and recycle those electronic products at the end of their life-cycle. But the “take-back” program has run into problems. Mainly, manufacturers have reshuffled who they’re working with to make sure their older electronics are picked up and properly recycled, and this has caused scheduling and other problems at certain recycling centers.

Electronic devices covered by New Jersey’s recycling law include televisions, computer monitors, desk top computers, laptops, and any derivation of computer or screen.

The law does not cover microwaves and DVD players; however, many municipal locations accept those devices.

The DEP spokesperson says that more than 90 percent of manufacturers are complying with the law and recycling their old components.

Europe Recycled Paper Market – Ups & Downs

A

t summer’s end, raw fiber prices increased across Europe while mixed paper prices suffered, due to lagging Asian demand, according to an EUWID-Recycling.com article.

Companies reporting to EUWID noted normal paper recovery volume for September. The prices for mixed paper and old corrugated containers were just a few pounds cheaper or holding at August prices. Higher cargo rates and the bankruptcy of South Korean shipping firm Hanjin are seen as weighing down prices for bulk grades of paper, a situation expected to continue through October.

Meanwhile, a Phys.org article reporting on the September conference of the EU REFFIBRE project, notes that the increasing demand for biofuel is driving up raw fiber prices and the more expensive raw material is forcing paper recycling companies to innovate.

The EU REFFIBRE project was created to gather information about new processes, raw material input and product innovations and combine that with other parameters to provide paper makers with predictive data. The aim is to help recyclers improve their operational efficiencies and lead to new industry standards.

Europe paper fiber is recycled about 3.5 times per year; the world-wide average is 2.4 times. The recycling rate in Europe reached 71.7 percent in 2012.

Dumped Army Personnel Records Contain PHI

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ountain, CO – In a rural area near the Fort Carson Army base, television reporters discovered hundreds of personnel documents containing names, social security numbers, and even detailed medical exams, according to a KOAA.com report.

The news crew was working on an unrelated story when they spotted a pile of trash with official-looking files stamped for destruction. The documents, dated between 2009 and 2013, held disciplinary information about sexual assaults, hate crimes, drug dealing and other alleged illegal acts committed by soldiers while they were stationed at the Army base. The reporters contacted the Army base, which sent out three Special Agents from the Criminal Investigation Division, or CID. A public statement released by the Fort Carson Public Affairs office said: “On September 14th, Army records containing personally identifiable information and personal health information were discovered in a field in Fountain.

All known records involved in this incident have been recovered and secured by military police investigators and the investigation remains ongoing.

Fort Carson and the 4th Infantry Division take this loss very seriously. Military Police Investigators have identified a suspect in this case and all indications are that this is an isolated incident. Fort Carson officials are making every effort to contact personnel affected by this loss. The records pertain to legal actions in the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team between the years of 2008 and 2014 and were scheduled for destruction.

www.naidconf.org

Taya Kyle

Keynote Speaker Wife of the late Chris Kyle of American Sniper fame.

Kirk Nahra, Esq. Renown HIPAA Compliance Attorney PRESENTS:

Annual Conference & Expo

Tropicana Las Vegas Conference Center

March 22-24, 2017

What HHS Audits Mean for Secure Destruction Services

Dawn Connelly, Esq. Industry Veteran, Leadership Coach PRESENTS:

Register before Dec. 31 for the best rate.

Conference room rate $99 per night.

8 Security Shredding News Fall 2016

The Secret to Explosive Growth in Your Business

In the News Wisconsin Deal: Waste Management Acquires Paper Recycler

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ilwaukee, WI – In a move to expand its high-volume recycling business, Waste Management of Wisconsin, Inc. has acquired rolling stock, contracts and equipment from Milwaukee-based Pioneer Industries, reports Biztimes.com.

Pioneer Industries, which specializes in recycling cardboard, paper and other commodities for commercial customers in southeastern Wisconsin, will be relocated to Waste Management Milwaukee’s recycling hub.

The acquisition complements Waste Management’s recycling plants in Janesville, Madison, Menasha and Milwaukee, according to a company spokesperson. Those operations collect and process a full range of recyclables for commercial customers, including industrial plastics, medical wrap and off-spec products, in addition to traditional recyclables such as cardboard and paper. Waste Management then sells the material through its brokerage service in Glendale, WI. The Waste Management spokesperson says that the acquisition opens up opportunities for recycling more products to new and viable markets.

The Responsibilities of a BA Under the HIPAA Laws

HHS Steps Up HIPAA Enforcement

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ashington, D.C. – As the Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) winds up Phase 2 desk audits of selected HIPAA covered entities and begins audits of covered business associates, observers see a spike in enforcement, writes David Slaughter, JD, Senior Legal Editor for HR.BLR.com.

Most recently, HHS fined Advocate Health Care $5.55 million for three breaches including a desktop computer theft affecting a million patients’ protected health information (PHI). The sharp increase in monetary penalties and comprehensive evaluations shows that OCR is adamant about the security of medical records.

Significantly, the agency is delving into systemic compliance problems.

Reporting on the September National HIPAA Summit in Washington, D.C., the HR.BLR.com article discusses the closer scrutiny of policies, practices, training and risk management, as well a recent United States Supreme Court decision and FTC ruling on “injury” claims resulting from PHI breaches.

There’s greater attention to business agreements, too. For example, in the $650,000 settlement with Catholic Health Care Services (CHCS), OCR investigators found that a contracted company had no risk management plan in place to cover removal of mobile devices.

In all, the government has investigated and prosecuted 40 cases – more than half of which started with the covered entity’s breach report. The majority of cases ended with monetary HIPAA settlements. Two cases involved legal penalties.

OCR also has announced a new level of scrutiny for the smaller breaches that do not meet HIPAA’s “major” threshold of 500 individuals’ PHI.

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Lexology.com article prepared by the law firm, Bryan Cave, LLC, lists the following provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, and implementing regulations (“HIPAA Laws”) that apply to business associates (BA) of covered entities (CE).

In particular business associates must comply with: ›› All of HIPAA Security Rule (45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C) and the Breach Notification Rule (45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart D) and Section 164.502. ›› Rule 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart E (depending on the activities being performed by the BA for a CE). ›› Rule 45 C.F.R. Part 160 applies to a BA (refraining from intimidation or retaliation for a person reporting HIPAA non-compliance to the OCR or the entity (160.316)).

Pertinent Definitions are set forth in 45 C.F.R. 160.103, 160.202, 164.103, 164.304, 164.402, and 164.501.

Many business associate agreements will also require a BA to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule administrative requirements set forth in 45 C.F.R. 164.530.

Definitions: ›› A “business associate” (“BA”) is a person or entity that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information on behalf of a covered entity. ›› A “covered entity” (“CE”) is a health plan, health care clearinghouse, or a health care provider who transmits PHI electronically for any transactions covered under the HIPAA Laws. ›› “Protected health information” (“PHI”) is any individually identifiable information received by a covered entity and relates to: the past, present, or future physical or mental health of an individual; the provision of health care to an individual; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual. ›› “Payment” means the activities undertaken by a health plan to obtain premiums or to determine or fulfill its responsibility for coverage and provision of benefits under the health plan, or of a health care provider or health plan to obtain or provide reimbursement for the provision of health care. Payment includes determining eligibility and related underwriting activities. ›› “Underwriting purposes” include enrollment and other activities related to the creation, renewal, or replacement of a contract of health insurance or health benefits. Thus, merely obtaining the name and demographic information of an individual who would like to pursue enrollment with a health plan would not constitute a “payment” activity and such information is not PHI. The lists of HIPAA regulations and definitions were prepared by attorney, Sheryl Feutz-Harter, who practices with Bryan Cave LLC’s Life Sciences and Healthcare Client Service Group. Ms. Feutz-Harter specializes in employee health law and HIPAA compliance.

Security Shredding News Fall 2016

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Advertiser News Wife of late American Sniper Chris Robert Korkos Joins Vecoplan, Kyle to keynote MWMA 2017 LLC as National Sales Manager – Mobile Division hoenix, AZ – The Medical Waste Management Association (MWMA) recently

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announced that Taya Kyle, widow of slain American Sniper Chris Kyle, will be the keynote at its first annual conference in March.

“The MWMA Board of Directors is delighted to host Mrs. Kyle,” says MWMA President Rob Marshall of Medsharps in San Antonio, TX. “Taya and her late husband represent the dedication to service and commitment to family and community we expect of all MWMA members.”

Chris Kyle was a United States Navy SEAL veteran and sniper. He served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat, including the Silver Star Medal, four Bronze Star Medals, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and numerous other unit and personal awards. In 2013, Kyle was killed at a gun range by a fellow ex-marine struggling with PTSD who he was trying to help.

MWMA 2017 Conference and Expo will be held alongside the annual conference of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). The event will be held at the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Resort, March 22-24, 2017.

MWMA also announces that leading privacy and regulatory attorney Kirk Nahra will be included among the event’s headlining speakers. Mr. Nahra is widely regarded as a leading authority on HIPAA regulations and will discuss the overlap between medical waste disposal and confidentiality requirements.

Luke James Joins Vecoplan, LLC

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ecoplan LLC, recently welcomed Luke James as their newest Sales Manager.

The primary responsibility of Luke’s new position is sales and business development of Shred Trucks for the Document Destruction and Paper Recycling industries. He will also act as a liaison between customers and Vecoplan’s R&D engineering team, in their ongoing Shred Truck innovations and improvements program. As innovations are implemented, James will collaborate with Vecoplan’s marketing department to introduce these advances to the marketplace.

Prior to joining Vecoplan, Mr. James was a Senior Technical Recruiter with Synerfac Technical Staffing in High Point, NC. While earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University Luke worked two summer internships at Vecoplan in both manufacturing and marketing.

November 9 – 10, 2016 International Centre, Toronto, ON

2 Events in 1 Find thousands of products and services covering the entire industry from recycling and compost to equipment and software.

Join us at Canada’s only trade event serving the waste, recycling and public works markets!

Register today for free admission with this link: www.cwre.ca/ADS13 For more information: www.cwre.ca www.municipalexpo.ca

Co-located with

10 Security Shredding News Fall 2016

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obert (Bob) Korkos has been named National Sales Manager - Mobile Division at Vecoplan, LLC. Responsible for managing sales of Vecoplan’s full line of Shred Trucks, Korkos begins his tenure by overseeing the launch of Vecoplan’s new MST Series, which employ AXO dual shaft, pierce & tear shredders on both full sized (33,000 GVW) and non-CDL (26,000 GVW) truck chassis. Other responsibilities of his new position include working with Vecoplan R&D in the development of technologies aimed at the constant improvement of Vecoplan shred truck performance and with the marketing department to introduce these innovations to the marketplace.

Korkos brings over 30 years of industrial equipment and fleet management experience to his new position, with the last 14 years in the Secure Document & Data Destruction Industry. Prior to joining Vecoplan, he started, managed and then sold 2 secure shredding companies.

Shred-Tech Announces Acquisition of Axo Shredders

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ambridge, Ontario – Shred-Tech Corp® is pleased to announce the acquisition of AXO Shredders. Established in 2000, AXO Shredders manufactures mobile, stationary shredders and recycling systems; with operations in the UK, USA and Thailand serving hundreds of customers.

“The combined Shred-Tech/AXO Group of Companies enhances our resources and organizational infrastructure in the high growth markets of the UK/Europe, Australasia, and Japan enabling us to provide superior service and support to our customers in those regions” commented Shred-Tech President and CEO, Rob Glass.

“The addition of AXO’s products in North America will help to round out Shred-Tech’s already substantive product offerings while Shred-Tech’s North American service infrastructure will ensure AXO’s customers, both past and present, are well supported with local parts availability and trained factory technicians” Glass stated.

www.certifymerecycling.org info@certifymerecycling.org

Security Shredding News Fall 2016 11

www.youtube.com/user/KeithMfgCo

www.keithwalkingfloor.com