Solid Waste & Recycling Magazine Apr/May 2011

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Solid Waste & Recycling Canada’s magazine on collection, hauling, processing and disposal April/May 2011 $10.00

CPMP No. 40069240

An EcoLog Group Publication

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Solid Waste & Recycling

CONTENTS April/May 2011 Volume 16, Number 2

Canada’s magazine on collection, hauling, processing & disposal

COVER STORY Recycling yesterday’s newspaper used to be a straightforward matter, but contamination levels from single-stream recycling programs are impacting fibre mills and markets, leading to shipment overseas.

by Clarissa Morawski

8 Cover art by Charles Jaffé

PAPER RECYCLING PROBLEM

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

E-WASTE: GHG REDUCTION Quantifying benefits of recycling CRT display devices.

by Jason Lim

14

EPR: E-WASTE PERSPECTIVE HP’s design for environment (DfE) program.

by Frances Edmonds

18

RECYCLING EQUIPMENT: BALERS How to choose a baler.

by Pete Mulvany

19

PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP: FARM WASTE CleanFarms studies nonorganic agricultural waste.

by Guy Crittenden

22

Editorial

4

Up Front

6

OWMA News

26

Organic Matters

28

Waste Business

32

Regulation Roundup

33

Products

35

Ad Index

37

Blog

38

NEXT EDITION Bonus Distribution: Waste Expo, Dallas, Texas Outreach programs. Slaughterhouse waste. Landfill gas extraction. Carts & containers. Compactor technology.

Space closing: May 23 ; Artwork required: May 27

Paper Recycling Problem, pg. 8

E-Waste: GHG Reduction, pg. 14

Organic Matters, pg. 28

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EDITORIAL

by Guy Crittenden “Efficiency is not the special property of either the private or public sector, absent competition.”

Cage Match: NSWMA vs. SWANA

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fight based on strongly-worded news releases erupted in March between the US-based National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) and the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), organizations that represent, respectively, the interests of private and public sector waste managers.

The NSWMA release, dated March 23, 2011, claims a study it funded shows, “Privatized waste services generate significant cost savings and lower financial risks for budget-stretched municipalities, and they are safer and more environmentally protective than their public sector counterparts.” NSWMA President and CEO Bruce Parker is quoted saying that waste services are “among the ideal services to privatize during a time when municipalities face declining revenues and severe budget shortfalls.”

According to the study (available at www.everydayenvironmentalists.org/privatization), privatizing waste offers saves costs by 20 to 40 percent because private companies have the “economies of scale” to spread investment, environmental protection and procurement costs across multiple contracts and facilities, and because “they are not hindered by governmental bureaucracies.”

NSWMA notes that cities with the highest recycling rates — including San Francisco and Seattle — have fully privatized recycling.

NSWMA states that the private sector has “more experience and financial ability to assume and manage risks in volatile commodities markets.”

“The private sector also is responsible for innovations like singlestream recycling, which have helped to double Americans’ recycling rates in the last 20 years,” NSWMA says. (For a different perspective on single-stream recycling, see the Cover Story on page 8.) The association says that solid waste services operated by local governments have an injury rate more than four times greater than their private counterparts, and that the private waste sector is “one of the fastest-growing adopters of alternative fuels and hybrid vehicle technologies to reduce emissions, and is more likely to use further energy-saving technologies, such as on-board route management software.”

Twisting the knife further, the release offers that “employees of public waste collection services are first in line for new jobs when a municipality transitions to private sector collection, because these employees already are skilled and familiar with local routes.”

SWANA couldn’t let these claims go challenged. It accuses the NSWMA of “distorting the facts and attempting to confuse the public.” SWANA says the most glaring deficiency in the NSWMA release is the lack of recognition or respect for local governments’ essential responsibility for solid waste management in their jurisdictions. This rebuke alludes to a 2007 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in support of “flow control” — which allows local governments to direct waste processing and disposal facilities of their choice.

SWANA’s Executive Director and CEO John Skinner, Ph.D., cites government’s historic role in protecting public health, adding that waste “is not a commodity like soap detergent or cable television that can be left to the whims of short-term profit and loss decisions.”

This statement harkens back to the days when government took over waste management as a matter of “sanitation” in the face of unhygienic disposal practices. One is also reminded of the corruption and organized crime that plagued unfettered private waste services, as is carefully described by Harold Crooks in his books Dirty Business and Giants of Garbage. Skinner politely skips this argument, saying that SWANA supports privatization as long as it’s supportive of local government’s public service authority.

The release quotes one SWANA board member on the problem that some private waste haulers cut services in areas because of limited housing density and long travel distances. Another board member notes that when public and private parties bid under defined terms and conditions, “the public party almost always wins, even in highly unionized utilities.”

Yet another says that “half of the [NSWMA study] references were a decade old; one was published in 1977 and others were newspaper articles and NSWMA staff papers. They certainly do not reflect the current technical literature on the subject, and do not support the overly broad generalizations in the report.”

What is one to make of all this?

There’s certainly validity in the perspectives of both organizations.

The NSWMA is correct that most innovation comes from the private sector. SWANA is correct that the public interest cannot be contracted out, and must be safeguarded by elected government.

But efficiency is not the special property of either the private or public sector; absent competition, both will become rent-seeking monopolies, prone to corruption. The public interest and the environment are likely best served by a hybrid public/private system, though from the current hodge-podge one might prefer to see emerge more government “steering” and less “rowing.” A current trend that works well is when government sets goals and creates competitive bid processes not only for waste collection but also design-build-operate contracts for facilities, such as the high-tech recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy plants that increasingly dot the landscape.

A major challenge facing both the NSWMA and SWANA (and Canadian waste-related associations) is how they will re-invent themselves if product stewardship and extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs are introduced in various jurisdictions or even nationally. What will be the role of traditional waste haulers?

Figuring this will be better accomplished via enlightened conversation, not news releases.

Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@solidwastemag.com

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Senior Solid Waste Management Professionals Join Morrison Hershfield For help with your project, contact one of our industry leaders

David A.S. Walmsley MCIP, RPP Business Development Manager

Paul Manley P.Eng., B.Sc. Vice President, International Operations

Konrad Fichtner P.Eng. Global Waste Practice Leader

Don McCallum P.Eng., M.A.Sc. Director, Environmental Services

dwalmsley@morrisonhershfield.com David brings over 30 years of experience and specialization in solid waste management and complex environmental assessments. He has managed multidisciplinary teams in the completion of some of Ontario’s largest solid waste related EA studies and undertaken technical duties on solid waste facilities, systems, planning and permitting projects. David has directed community consultation and issues facilitation programs.

kfichtner@morrisonhershfield.com Konrad’s experience in managing large, complex environmental projects is focused on waste management, environmental management and alternative energy. He is a recognized specialist in waste processing technologies, including energy-from-waste using conventional and emerging technologies and organics management. Konrad also provides engineering support on solid waste planning, permitting and implementation projects.

pmanley@morrisonhershfield.com As a Senior Engineer, Paul directs a wide range of multidisciplinary waste management and environmental assessment projects. He has a broad background of domestic and international experience in civil engineering and integrated waste management planning. Paul specializes in solid waste management projects for Canadian municipalities and for developing countries internationally.

dmccallum@morrisonhershfield.com Don brings over 20 years of experience in process design energy management and hazardous waste management.

He manages multidisciplinary teams of professionals addressing environmental challenges for public and private sector clients. Don specializes in environmental management issues and assisting clients with obtaining environmental approvals for projects including new landfills and waste energy facilities.

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Solid Waste & Recycling

UPFRONT

Canada’s magazine on collection, hauling, processing & disposal

Guy Crittenden Editor gcrittenden@solidwastemag.com Brad O’Brien Publisher bobrien@solidwastemag.com Jamie Ross Account Manager jross@solidwastemag.com Kim Collins Market Production Selina Rahaman Circulation Manager Carol Bell-Lenoury Mgr EcoLog Group Bruce Creighton President Business Information Group Contributing Editors Michael Cant, Rosalind Cooper, Maria Kelleher, Clarissa Morawski, Usman Valiante, Paul van der Werf Award-winning magazine Solid Waste & Recycling magazine is published six times a year by EcoLog Information Resources Group, a division of BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian businessto-business information services company that also publishes HazMat Management magazine and other information products. The magazine is printed in Canada.

Solid Waste & Recycling provides strategic information and perspectives on all aspects of Canadian solid waste collection, hauling, processing and disposal to waste managers,haulers, recycling coordinators, landfill and compost facility operators and other waste industry professionals.

Subscription Rates: Canada – $51.95 (add applicable taxes) per year, $82.95 (add applicable taxes) for 2 years, single copy $10.00.

USA and all other foreign – $82.95 per year US single copy US10.00 Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40069240 Information contained in this publication has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, thus Solid Waste & Recycling cannot be responsible for the absolute correctness or sufficiency of articles or editorial contained herein. Articles in this magazine are intended to convey information rather than give legal or other professional advice. Reprint and list rental services are arranged through the Publisher at (416) 510-6798.

Our magazine at Americana 2011

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n March, staff from Solid Waste & Recycling magazine attended the ninth edition of the Americana International Environmental Technology Trade Show and Conference in Montreal, Quebec.

Initiated and organized by RÉSEAU environnement, the event welcomed more than 8,000 participants at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, from every sector of the environmental industry, as well as more than 280 speakers and delegates from 50 countries. The trade show featured 360 booths occupied by 310 organizations and companies.

Editor Guy Crittenden chaired a fullday session in the conference section on Wednesday, March 23. In the morning Michael Cant of Golder Associates spoke on solid waste issues in Ontario and Newalta’s Marc Desautels made a presentation on the company’s lead recycling facility in Ville Ste-Catherine. In the afternoon, Environment Canada’s Bob Larocque and Suzanne Easton spoke about increasing enforcement of the national PCB regulations and legislation that’s moving forward to track the movement of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste. (This legislation will be the subject of an article in the next edition of the magazine.) Visit http://americana.org

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, Solid Waste & Recycling 12 Concorde Pl, Ste 800, Toronto, ON M3C 4J2 From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-800-268-7742 Fax: 416-510-5148 E-Mail: jhunter@businessinformationgroup.ca Mail to: Privacy Officer Business Information Group 12 Concorde Pl, Ste 800 Toronto, ON Canada M3C 4J2 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. © 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent.

Print edition: ISSN-1483-7714

Online edition: ISSN-1923-3388

Editor Guy Crittenden with environmental consultant Ellen Greenwood of Greenwood & Associates in Toronto, Ontario.

Editor Guy Crittenden with Americana’s environment goddess, dressed in recycled products.

Carol Bell-Lenoury (left), Event Manager for the EcoLog Group of which this publication is a part and producer of the upcoming International Sites & Spills Expo at the International Centre in Toronto, November 3-4, 2011 with Arnie Gess, Show Manager for the Solid Waste & Recycling Expo that takes place at the Palais de Congres de Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, November 9-10.

The Forest Stewardship Council logo signifies that this magazine is printed on paper from responsibly managed forests. “To earn FSC certification and the right to use the FSC label, an organization must first adapt its management and operations to conform to all applicable FSC requirements.”

For more information, visit www.fsc.org

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WASTE MANAGEMENT AND GENOMATICA

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aste Management (NYSE:WM) and Genomatica have announced a strategic joint development agreement to research and advance Genomatica’s technology and manufacturing processes to enable production of intermediate and basic chemicals from syngas made from municipal solid waste.

Under the agreement, Genomatica will create proprietary, specially-designed organisms and complete manufacturing processes to efficiently and economically convert syngas into chemical products. Biological production of chemicals would provide another potential use for any syngas produced by or for Waste Management through anaerobic digestion, gasification and landfill gas.

“Waste Management wants to maximize the value of the materials it manages,” said Tim Cesarek, managing director of Organic Growth at Waste Management. “Genomatica’s technology complements the company’s advancement of thermo-chemical conversion and fermentation technology platforms.”

This announcement follows a successful move by Genomatica to

advance the company’s first commercial product, a green Bio-BDO (1,4-butanediol), made from renewable feedstocks rather than oil or natural gas. BDO, an intermediate chemical with a $4 billion market worldwide, is used to make spandex, automotive plastics, running shoes and more. Genomatica’s platform technology could be applied to create a range of high-volume intermediate and basic chemicals, from a range of renewable feedstocks.

The joint development agreement with Genomatica complements Waste Management’s comprehensive waste services in the areas of recycling, landfill, waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy. This agreement will also help move Waste Management toward meeting three of its sustainability goals: doubling its renewable energy production and tripling the amount of recyclables processed by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste. Genomatica has raised $40 million from Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and TPG Biotech.

Visit www.genomatica.com and www.wm.com

ONEIA BREAKFAST MEETING

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ntario’s residential curbside recycling program is a good example of the way the province’s new Environment Minister, John Wilkinson, wants to encourage behavioral change.

“People put things in the blue box. They didn’t have a blue box before,” he said in his speech to the Ontario Environmental Industries Association (ONEIA) breakfast in Toronto on January 18. “Explain the problem in terms they understand. Then give them something they can do.”

Wilkinson, who took over the environment portfolio in August 2010, said that a big part of driving this change is through deliberate improvements in the curriculum used in the province’s schools, to emphasize environmental issues. Rather than have environmental issues focused in a single course or series of classes, environmental themes have been distributed throughout the entire curriculum to encourage students to see environmental stewardship as part of their entire lives.

Children then push their families to higher standards

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estlé Waters Canada and Waterfront Development Corporation Limited (WDC) have announced that the recent pilot public spaces recycling program on the Halifax waterfront resulted in a 95 per cent diversion rate for beverage containers and a combined container, paper diversion rate of 83 per cent.

Public spaces recycling captures the “last mile” of recyclables — items typically captured

of environmental practice, such as separating waste for recycling rather than landfill.

Another aspect of environmental change is through stronger environmental standards and regulations, Wilkinson said. He cited the water quality issues at Walkerton as part of the impetus for stronger regulations in the province.

Water-quality equipment makers whose products are able to meet Ontario’s standards can use this fact to demonstrate to regulators elsewhere that they offer leadingedge solutions. The same applies to other parts of the province’s environmental industries; they can also use high environmental standards as a way to push for higher performance. Rather than export resources such as water and energy, Wilkinson said, the provincial government’s goal through its Ministry of Research and Innovation to promote the export of technology and services.

(See article on recycling markets, page 38).

— Written by Carl Friesen, cfriesen@rogers.com

HALIFAX PILOT through Nova Scotia’s deposit-refund and curbside recycling programs that are abandoned by consumers in parks and other recreational spaces.

The waterfront program targeted waste, recyclables, paper and organics. The initiative aligned with Halifax Regional Municipality’s bylaw requiring four-stream waste collection.

The program deployed 15 four-stream receptacles, manufactured by Big Belly Solar,

along the Halifax Harbourwalk, from the ferry terminal to Tall Ships Quay. The eco-friendly receptacles feature a solar-powered waste compactor that reduces collection frequency by up to 80 percent according to the manufacturer, saving time, money and reducing pick-up emissions. The 15 receptacles replaced 51 standard garbage bins on the Halifax waterfront.

Visit www.my-waterfront.ca April/May 2011 www.solidwastemag.com 7

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COVER STORY

by Clarissa Morawski “AbitibiBowater has discontinued purchasing paper from most southern Ontario municipalities that have single-stream recycling facilities.”

Contamination from single-stream recycling programs causes rejection at mills, shipments to China

Newsprint on the Orient Express M any recycling programs today operate with a system that’s causing absurd side effects, including that some major newspapers are choosing virgin fibre over newsprint made from less white and bright recycled paper.

The problem is high contamination rates in fibre material recovered via single-stream recycling programs, leading to rejection from local mills and shipment to overseas markets where labor is cheap. (In single-stream recycling systems, residents commingle paper and other fibre materials with containers made from glass, plastic and metal in a single cart or bin, rather than keeping the fibre and container streams separate, i.e., “dual” or “two-stream” recycling.)

Southern Ontario illustrates the mess. Each year Ontario municipalities collect just under 500,000 tonnes of printed paper for recycling.

Newsprint, magazines, catalogues, phone books and household paper comprise more than half the total weight of all blue box recyclables collected. The volumes are significant, and are worth over $40 million in the marketplace. For years the recycled fibres were used by Ontario or Quebec paper mills to substitute for virgin material. The concept of reading the daily paper, recycling it, and getting some of the same (recovered) paper back in the next newspaper made great sense.

However, today, the vast majority of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) discarded newspaper, magazines and other printed papers are transported by rail more than 3,000 kilometres to Vancouver, and shipped in containers a further 10,000 kms to China or India. Some material is even shipped much longer distances to Asia via the Panama Canal after being trucked to New Jersey ports.

What changed?

Strong demand for old newspapers in nothing new; in the past Canadian-based companies were able to compete for the supply. Today, however, the quality of material offered to the recyclers is dramatically different than it used to be. In the last five years a fundamental shift has occurred in the way recyclables are collected and processed in many jurisdictions, and this has impacted quality.

For municipalities struggling to divert more waste with less money, single-stream collection is an attractive alternative. Municipalities have been persuaded that this easier way to recycle (wherein residents sort less) increases recyclables collection and therefore diversion (from disposal).

But the current price tag of recycling does not consider increased costs at the end of the cycle; these are borne by the recyclers of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal. The recycling industry, and particularly the paper mills, report poor quality from single-stream collection programs and new costs for equipment repair and maintenance. They must also pay for additional landfilling of contaminants and material replacement. (See article on markets, page 46.)

Their impressions are not just conjecture. A 2004 study from J. Poyry and Skumatz Economic Research Associates confirmed that while single-stream collection is indeed about $15 (range of $10-$20) per ton cheaper than separate (dual-stream) collection, processing the material costs about $10 more per ton and recyclers have to pay a further $8 ($5-$13) per ton to deal with the dirty material. In the end, single-stream systems cost about $3 ($0-$8) per ton more than their two-stream counterparts.

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COVER STORY

“Off-shore labor can clean up the recovered paper for a price with which Canadian companies simply cannot compete.”

Perhaps because many municipalities focus on the collection numbers, today there are more than 160 single-stream materials recovery facilities in the United States — more than double what existed five years ago. In Canada, most new processing facilities or retrofitted facilities are designed to accept single-stream material feedstock, despite the fact that the sale of the recycled materials depends on volatile Asian markets. More than half of curbside collection in Ontario and Quebec is done using single stream.

Of course, when the economy is in good shape processed paper sells for high prices to those Asian markets, but when the market is disrupted, low-quality material is tough to sell. Such dependence on foreign demand is risky for municipalities that require a sustainable market for

their recycling program. Beyond basic economic market conditions, other factors could impact demand from Asia, specifically, a country’s domestic capacity, increasing labor costs, fuel costs and new environmental requirements that may be added in the receiving country.

Lessons from 2008 Understanding the risk associated with foreign markets is important. In October 2008 the global economic crash drastically slowed the movement of secondary commodities, including recovered paper. Many processors with lower quality material scrambled to send their material anywhere it would be accepted. Many processors in West Coast cities that rely predominantly on Asian recycling markets sent their material to landfill until

Aerial view of AbitibiBowater’s Thorold paper mill. (See sidebar, page 13.)

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COVER STORY

the market began to right itself again. The economics of recycling were completely flipped; in some cases what is normally be a revenue stream became a cost for disposal or temporary handling and storage.

The events of 2008 created an entirely new marketplace — one that tested the new “commingled” collection system. During the downturn, recyclers were able to discriminate among suppliers, allowing them to choose high-quality feedstock over suppliers whose quality had never achieved the processors’ standards in the first place.

Shortly after the economic collapse, Roy Hathaway — head of waste regulation and business waste for the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs — explained that the quality of material would play an increasingly pivotal role in trade, with the market set to face short-term financial constraints.

“It’s going to be the low-quality end of the

spectrum which is going to be squeezed out by an economic downturn,” said Hathaway.

A downturn as severe as the one in 2008 is unlikely to occur again soon; however, diversified and sustainable recycling markets are important nonetheless. Without domestic markets, off-shore demand could soon “own” the market and eventually reduce the prices offered for recovered paper.

All about quality Since 2003, as the popularity of single-stream collection has grown, AbitibiBowater’s Thorold mill (which manufactures newsprint from 100 per cent recovered paper) reports that the contamination rate climbed from about 3.5 percent to a whopping 15 percent in 2010 (see graph on next page). This is consistent with reports from Quebec-based Kruger that contamination as high as 20 per cent. American mills report

similar findings, with the prohibitives rate (nonpaper material) doubling and outthrows (unwanted fibre like cardboard, boxboard and kraft paper) increasing by as much as 500 per cent.

Processors at recycling plants will only sort material as far as necessary in order to sell it. With a strong demand and cheap labor, Asian paper mills can further sort their incoming paper to meet the specs for production. For Canadian paper mills, poor quality waste paper no longer allows competitive manufacture of newsprint. AbitibiBowater has discontinued purchasing paper from most southern Ontario municipalities with single-stream recycling facilities, including the municipal regions of Toronto, York and Peel. Collectively, these programs account for approximately half of the recyclables collected province-wide.

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COVER STORY

Rethink waste collection.

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See us at Waste Expo booth # 3876

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COVER STORY

Abitibi’s bottom line, adding $2-$3 million/ year in costs, not including increased equipment maintenance, repair and replacement.

While the mill’s pulper is able to reject most of the contaminants, some brown paper packaging ends up being recycled, making the final product darker or “dirtier” than the virgin competition. Recycled paper is actually stronger and more opaque that virgin, but the difference in “whiteness” has compelled some newspapers to go back to purchasing 100 percent virgin paper (entirely from trees) because it is a little whiter, brighter and costs about the same.

Most Ontario-based daily newspapers use either 100 per cent virgin paper or a small percent recycled-content. One would think most readers would prefer to read a paper made from recycled fibre and not virgin tree pulp. Even the “sustainability mandate” of

the Globe and Mail states that it “encourage their suppliers to supply high-quality post-consumer recovered fibre.” (See Globe and Mail, October 2, 2010.) The newspaper supports improvements to recycling systems nationwide, adding that “about 35 percent of all paper products that enter a single-stream recycling program ends-up in landfill largely due to contamination.”

This story is compelling in that Canadians want to support the struggling manufacturing sector. But what can be done? Off-shore labor can clean up the recovered paper for a price with which Canadian companies simply cannot compete.

their recycling plants are unwilling to slow down their sorting process because that makes it more expensive.

Newspaper publishers catering to the Ontario marketplace could try to procure more recycled-content paper and decrease the amount of virgin materials used to make their product. Demand for recycled-content in newspapers could be most effectively delivered if advertisers insisted on it. These companies may be the very same ones that are stewards in the current Blue Box Program Plan that currently helps finance curbside recycling (via a law that forces all packaging and printed paper producers to help cover the costs). Greener procurement of advertisements would indirectly support local recycSolutions The best way to support local recyclers is to ling, lower costs and reduce risks to the same supply them with a quality that can be used. program to which they contribute over $90 REC-105-baler-ad-final.pdf 1 11-03-25 4:38 PM However cash-strapped municipalities and million annually.

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COVER STORY

Diversifying recycling markets and doing a better job at sorting recovered paper will deliver a higher quality recycled product and reduce the financial vulnerability of the program.

Newspaper publishers along with municipalities

would be wise to rethink what they buy and how they handle their recovered paper, and how fibre is collected in curbside programs. They should consider the downside of purchasing virgin paper and selling recovered paper to off-shore

markets only for short-term financial gain.

Clarissa Morawski is Principal of CM Consulting Inc. in Peterborough, Ontario. Contact Clarissa at clarissa@cmconsultinginc.com

“Green” Newsprint AbitibiBowater’s Thorold paper mill

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n late January I visited AbitibiBowater’s (“AbiBow”) newspaper mill in Thorold, Ontario. Standing in front of the security entrance, an icy winter wind blew in from the Welland canal that runs alongside the plant. The original mill, now just a crumbling brick wall, was built in 1913 by the Chicago Tribune for less than $200,000. When you enter the mill you realize that as far as North American paper mills go, this is one of the newest, and there’s a three-decade-old green story behind it.

Thirty years ago (1981) AbiBow introduced paper de-inking and began using 25 per cent old newsprint (ONP). Five years later, modern flotation deinking was introduced, eliminating sulphite pulp and thermo-mechanical pulp; this greatly reduced emissions. The chemical division shut down and the company ramped up recycled content to 50 per cent. Nearly ten years ago, the mill transitioned to 100 per cent recovered paper and gained the status of being Canada’s largest newsprint recycler. With two paper machines running to production capacity (~420,000 tonnes per year), and about 320 full time employees, the facility recycled most of the recovered newsprint from Ontario homes and businesses, and began importing more paper from neighboring US states.

AbiBow’s 100 per cent recycled fibre status is responsible for an annual net reduction of over 500,000 tonnes of greenhouse

gases per year (like pulling 125,000 cars off the road). It has also reduced the landfill burden and the need for virgin fibre from trees.

The company’s industrial ecology program draws methane gas from the neighboring landfill (Walker Industries). A project in the development stage uses excess heat from the generators to dry biosolids produced by the recycling operation. Dry biosolids from the plant have the potential for value-added end-markets like animal bedding.

Modern effluent treatment has virtually eliminated dirty water discharges, and freshwater consumption is down by 20 per cent over four years. Increasing from 25 per cent to 100 per cent recycling has meant a whopping reduction in energy demand of 150 per cent per tonne produced. The facility contributes almost $200 million in economic activity including taxes (payroll, ONP purchases, supplies, etc.).

But all this good news cannot undo the damage that single-stream collection systems are creating. Faced with dismal quality ONP for recycling, AbiBow’s costs have increased for bleaching, landfilling rejects, and increased material replacement. In April 2010 the mill had to idle one of its two paper machines due to lack of demand.

Despite the environmental superiority of 100 per cent recycled-content, publishers are concerned that the product it is not a white as virgin paper (for advertisers).

— Clarissa Morawski

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E - WA S T E

by Jason Lim “Using recycled materials in place of virgin materials avoids more than 90 per cent of GHG emissions from raw material acquisition and manufacturing.”

E-Waste & Climate Change Quantifying benefits of recycling CRT display devices on greenhouse gas reductions

P

roduct stewardship programs for waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) usually cite among their benefits the reduction in the huge discarded volume and management of their toxic nature. Interestingly, WEEE management studies can also be linked to another major environmental issue: climate change.

These technologies involve equivalent GHG emissions associated with fuel combustion for product manufacturing or electricity production. GHG emissions are an international environmental concern and subject to treaty agreements. Canada has spent around $1.95 billion to develop new climate programs and enhance existing ones in an effort to meet its various climate change commitments.

The link between GHG emission and solid waste management has continuously been studied by US EPA (among others). In 1998 the EPA published a report, Greenhouse Gas Emission from Selected Materials in Municipal Solid Waste encompassing life-cycle GHG emission factors for 12 materials and five waste management options. The following year, the EPA started investigating the feasibility of studying emissions at the product level.

Reasons for the growing interest in GHG impacts from WEEE include that it’s a rapidly growing waste stream (due to short product life spans) and that electronics contain recoverable materials such as precious and non-precious metals, glass and plastics. WEEE also contains hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium and mercury, and processing and recycling activities in both domestic and foreign markets pose health and environmental risks.

Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in televisions and computer monitors are one example of WEEE recognized as a disposal problem. The CRT or picture tube is a mature technology. This type of device uses high voltages to accelerate electrons toward a phosphor that is deposited on a faceplate. The decelerating electrons produce x-rays, so the CRT must also be a good x-ray absorber. Leaded glass therefore surrounds the CRT to absorb the x-rays. Lifecycle studies of monitors show that CRTs have a greater total life-cycle impact compared to LCDs. The energy related to the use and consumption phase generates the most GHGs, but next to this GHGs are also generated in the CRT and printed circuit board manufacturing due to the associated production of LPG fuel and energy use in glass manufacturing. In addition, various WEEE studies conducted in Canada present the growing volume of disposed CRT display devices.

A study conducted in 2003 on four household appliances estimates that 81,000 tons of televisions were disposed by the end of 2010 due to the increase in sales of larger and heavier televisions, particularly 23” to 29” screen sizes, which started in the 1980s and continued until the 1990s.

Also, an earlier study focused on PC products estimates 24,500 tons of CRT monitors were disposed in 2005.

It’s useful to consider the GHG emissions from the recycling of recovered materials from CRT display devices and compare them with

GHG emissions in manufacturing plastics, glass and metals using virgin materials. It’s also worthwhile to compare GHG emissions from recycling with other waste management approaches. By quantifying the impacts of GHG emissions, decision makers can measure the benefits of their actions.

In 2010, Toronto Recycling Inc. (TRI) published a study on GHG emissions and CRT recycling. The study utilized available secondary information on GHG emissions from virgin material and secondary material manufacturing, and also considered available information on second-generation products from recovered materials of CRT display devices. These include CRT glass-to-glass recycling, scrap steel, scrap copper, scrap aluminum and ground plastics.

Composition of CRT display devices In 2010, TRI recycled nearly 3,000 tons of CRT display devices.

Almost 94 per cent of the weight is made up of CRT glass, steel, copper, aluminum, plastics and lead. Based on the study, it was computed that material extraction and production from virgin sources contributes a GHG emission of 2.9 metric tonnes of carbon equivalent (MTCE) for every tonne of CRT display products manufactured. Detailed computations of GHG emissions at each product stage such as material extraction, raw material production and recycling were made. (The study on raw material extraction excludes GHG effect on reduction of forest carbon sequestration due to deforestation through forest clearing and the construction of roads which exposes remote ecosystems to transient settlers and small-scale miners.)

Combustion of CRT display devices results in emissions of CO2 and N2O equivalent to 0.10 MTCE per ton. In return, waste combustion with energy recovery in a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant results in avoided CO2 emissions at utility and metals production facilities. US EPA estimates a utility offset of 0.04 MTCE per ton of devices produced while recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous materials for recycling results in an offset 0.12 MTCE per ton. The net GHG emission from combustion is a reduction of 0.06 MTCE per ton.

Though waste combustion seems attractive as it reduces GHG emissions by offsetting GHG generation from utility and material production, discarded CRT devices, when disposed at waste-to-energy facilities, result in high concentrations of heavy metals in the ash, limiting disposal and reuse options.

US EPA has determined that there are zero landfill CH4 emissions, landfill carbon storage, or avoided utility emissions associated with landfilling inorganic materials like CRT devices. As a result, the emission factor for landfilling represents the CO2 emissions associated with collecting the waste and operating the landfill equipment. These emissions were estimated at 0.01 MTCE per ton of CRT devices landfilled. Though GHG emission contribution of landfill is not significant, the toxic nature of CRT devices prevents landfilling as a disposal alternative.

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E - WA S T E

Recycling of CRT display devices includes manual separation of large assemblies such as CRT, PCB, case/cabinet and power cord.

The cathode ray rube is broken into two glass types based on lead content. After cleaning and rinsing, the broken glass is recycled by a CRT manufacturing company and used as a raw material. The monitor case or cabinet is a compound of polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) and is recycled into another secondary plastic product. The printed circuit board, power cord and other multi-material parts are smelted to extract copper, steel, aluminum, lead and small amounts of precious metals. The recycling of the majority of materials from CRT display devices results in GHG emissions of 0.28 MTCE/ton. Using recycled materials in place of virgin materials avoids more than 90 per cent of GHG emissions from raw material acquisition and manufacturing.

materials are recycled into new products or secondary materials as compared to production using virgin materials. By far, recycling has proven benefits not only in the reduction of GHG emissions but also other environmental impacts compared to other waste management options. Recycling presents an opportunity for GHG reductions at the manufacturing stage, increased forest carbon sequestration, and avoidance of GHG generation from landfill operations. It’s worth noting that although the analysis was based on available life-cycle data, uncertainties exist in determining the emission factors considering that CRT display devices are complex composite products. It’s necessary to continuously assess the assumptions and data used as manufacturing and recycling processes change. Since most of the data were average national values, actual GHG impacts will vary depending on individual conditions.

Conclusion

Jason Lim is CEO of Toronto Recycling Inc. in Toronto, Ontario.

Contact Jason at jason@torontorecycling.com

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E - WA S T E

New Sims Recycling Facility

S

ims Recycling Solutions has opened a new 287,000 square-foot e-waste recycling plant in Mississauga, Ontario.

The new facility, which will process up to 100,000 tonnes of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) per year, consists of several advanced separation technologies including a plastics separator, an x-ray sensor and a glass cleaner.

About half of these technologies, such as the glass cleaner, were

developed by Sims Recycling, says Cindy Coutts, President of Sims Recycling Solutions Canada. The remaining technologies were supplied by other manufacturers.

General Manager Sebastien Rosner says the plant primarily processes e-waste into recycled glass. This consists of several steps.

First, e-waste is sent through a shredder. Next, the waste travels through a large magnet that removes ferrous (magnetic) materials, such as steel. Rosner says that the waste then goes through a plastics separator, followed by a metal sensor and an x-ray sensor. The metal sensor pulls out non-ferrous (non-magnetic) materials, such as aluminum and copper. The x-ray sensor separates leaded materials from unleaded materials. “At this point, all that remains in the process is glass,� he says.

The final two steps in the recycling process are the glass cleaner and the optical sorter, which separates transparent glass from non-transparent glass. Once processed, the recycled glass is sold to recycling vendors who are approved through company audits by Sims Recycling.

In addition to glass, the facility recovers iron, aluminum, copper, and plastics from e-waste (cathode ray tube computer monitors and televisions).

To view our video of the e-waste facility, visit www.solidwastemag. com/videos/play/?plid=1000402230 Written by our Web Editor Eric Laganis.

16 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2011

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EPR

by Frances Edmonds “The recycling efforts have kept 1.3 billion plastic bottles and 160 million HP ink cartridges out of landfills.”

FIELD EXPERTS

HP’s DfE Program

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P’s Design for Environment (DfE) program began in 1992 and remains important for the company. One goal is reducing the energy needed to manufacture and use HP products. HP has committed to reduce the energy consumption of products by 40 per cent by 2011, compared with 2005.

Steps include HP Auto-on/Auto-off technology that puts printers into a mode that uses less than a single watt when not in use. Another example is the HP Compaq 6005 Pro Ultra-Slim Desktop PC — the second HP business PC product that’s free of brominated flame retardant (BFR) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and one of the first AMD PCs to be BFR and PVC free. It power supply is 87per cent-efficient, meets ENERGY STAR® qualifications, and has EPEAT® registration.

A range of preinstalled software tools such as HP Power Assistant help business users track energy savings.

The second DfE priority is innovating materials to reduce the amount used in products, lessen their environmental impact, and provide value at end-of-life. The company eliminates the use of polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame-retardants where applicable, and standardizes its use of plastic resins. Molded-in colors and finishes replace paint, coatings or plating whenever possible.

A priority is increased use of pre-and postconsumer recycled materials in products and packaging, and use of fewer packaging materials overall.

Uniquely, HP recycles old cartridge plastic to make new Original HP inkjet print cartridges with the industry’s first “closedloop” recycling process. HP used 5,000 tonnes of recycled content resin this way in 2009. The recycled plastic in Original HP ink cartridges has an up to 22 per cent smaller carbon footprint than cartridges made from virgin plastic.

The recycling efforts of HP and its customers have kept the equivalent of approximately 1.3 billion plastic bottles and 160 million HP ink cartridges out of landfills.

The HP DeskJet D2600 Printer is made from 50 per cent recycled plastic material

and uses HP 60 ink cartridges, made from at least 50 per cent recycled plastic, including resin from returned HP cartridges. HP aims to use a cumulative 100 million pounds of recycled plastic in its imaging and printing products this year.

Design for recyclability and reuse are the third (but no less important) priorities in HP’s DfE program, illustrated by its recent sponsorship of the “Green 4 Good” program. When a product reaches the end of its life, it must be able to be recycled simply and effectively, or upgraded to extend its usefulness; this is built into the design. The HP Planet Partners Program allows for the recycling of HP hardware, inkjet cartridges, large-format media and batteries. To ensure that products are recyclable, the company has implemented solutions such as the ISO 11469 plastics labeling standard, minimizing the number of fasteners and tools necessary for disassembly. Materials selection also enhances recyclability. For example, HP Illumi-Lite LED displays are mercuryfree and the HP ENVY 100 e-All-in-One printer is the planet’s first PVC-free printer, making these products easier to manage at end of life. Other HP notebooks are designed with a magnesium and aluminum chassis that replaces most of its plastic, making the product easier to recycle.

HP’s DfE strategy is coordinated company-wide by an Environmental Strategies Council, which includes representatives from each global business unit and sales region, as well as from supply chain, operations and other corporate functions. This global network of product stewards works with design and development teams to incorporate environmental innovations into products.

For environmental references, please see HP’s Global Citizenship Report at www. hp.ca/environment Frances Edmonds is Director of Environmental Programs, Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. in Mississauga, Ontario.

Contact Frances at frances.edmonds@ hp.com

18 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2011

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RECYCLING EQUIPMENT

by Pete Mulvany “You also need to consider the equipment you’ll be using to move and store the bales to await pickup.”

Balers 101 Choosing the right baling equipment

I

f you’re new to the world of recycling equipment, choosing the right baler can be daunting. Detailed specifications for balers are available online, but understanding how they apply to your situation can be a challenge. Here’s some information to help you get started.

What are balers and how do they work?

A baler is a machine that compresses waste material into a bundle or bale that can be easily handled, stored and transported.

Balers use hydraulic cylinders (rams) to press a heavy duty plate (platen) onto the material to be baled inside the baler chamber. Vertical balers are the smallest and least expensive

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balers available. They are “vertical” because the ram and platen move vertically down into the chamber to form the bale. Horizontal balers are “horizontal” because the platen moves horizontally into the bale chamber.

They are larger than vertical balers and take up more floor space. There are three main types of horizontal balers: • closed-door • open-end auto-tie • two-ram In “closed-door” horizontal balers, the bale is formed against a closed door at the far end of the chamber. Closed-door balers require that bales be

tied manually. Once a full bale has been made and tied, the door can be opened and the bale removed.

In open-end auto-tie balers, each bale is made by the ram pushing against the end of the previous bale instead of against a closed door. This allows for a more continuous process. Openend balers have an automatic tie system, which places baling wire around the finished bale.

“Two-ram” balers are typically the largest, fully automated, most powerful and fastest balers. In a two-ram baler, the first cylinder compresses material against a steel wall, and the second cylinder ejects finished bales through the auto-tie system.

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20998 Pa

RECYCLING EQUIPMENT Choosing the right baler

Here are some things to consider when choosing a baler.

1. What type of material are you baling?

There are balers available for all kinds of material including paper, corrugated cardboard, all types of plastics, non-ferrous metal (metal that doesn’t contain iron) and textiles. Some balers can handle multiple types of material.

The baler specifications will generally tell

you the diameter of the hydraulic cylinder (ram) in inches. The larger the diameter, the more force the baler can exert. For example, if you’re baling cardboard, a baler with a six-inch cylinder might be sufficient. Plastics and metals require more force, so you’ll most likely need a baler with a larger cylinder and more force.

An important consideration is the size of the material that will be fed into the baler’s hopper (sometimes referred to as the “feed

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opening”). If the hopper is too small, material may jam or “bridge” (requiring operator intervention).

2. What quantity of material are you baling?

If you’re processing smaller amounts, a vertical baler may meet your needs. Vertical balers typically handle up to 4,000 pounds a day. If you’re producing more than that, you’ll need to look at horizontal balers.

Another important specification is the horsepower of the motor that powers the hydraulic pump. This has an impact on how fast the baler can “cycle” (i.e., perform one complete stroke and return to the starting position).

3. What size and weight do you want the bales to be?

This may depend on how the baled material will be stored and transported. You also need to consider the equipment you’ll be using to move and store the bales to await pickup. Conveyors, hoppers and sorters are often a necessary part of the process.

The specifications for different types of balers will include the size and weight of bales they produce. The bale weight will depend on the type of material and how densely it can be compressed. Baler specifications often use the weight of baled cardboard as a benchmark. A “mill-sized” bale for cardboard measures approximately 60 inches high by 30 inches wide by 48 inches deep and weighs about 1,000 pounds.

4. How much space do you have available in your facility?

Check the overall dimensions of the baler so you can determine whether you have room in your facility, including any material handling and storage needs. Don’t forget that your door must be large enough for the baler to fit through and that your floor must be able to support its weight!

There are a growing number of baler models available. Balers made by different manufacturers can look almost identical on paper, but in fact may have significant differences. One might focus on reducing maintenance by using superior materials for the parts that wear, another might have innovative ways to increase bale density. A third might have special mechanisms for handling oversized material. It’s important to seek out a recycling equipment expert who can help you evaluate your requirements, make sense of the options available and recommend the solution that best meets your needs, now and in the future.

Pete Mulvany is the CEO of Recycling Equipment Canada in Waterloo, Ontario. Contact Pete at pete@ recyclingequipmentcanada.com.

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“It rips materials to shreds with no big pieces left.”

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K E E P I N G I T S I M P L E . B U I L D I N G I T S T R O N G. April/May 2011 www.solidwastemag.com 21

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P R O D U C T S T E WA R D S H I P

by Guy Crittenden “The studies will wrap up and findings will be released in 2012.”

On the Farm CleanFARMS™ explores new opportunities to manage on-farm waste

I

t used to be that waste generated on farms across Canada was simply burned or accumulated in landfill sites.

But for more than 20 years, the crop protection industry, under CropLife Canada’s banner, has been helping farmers responsibly dispose of empty pesticide containers and to return obsolete or unwanted pesticides.

With those programs proven successes, CleanFARMS™ was created and is now exploring new ways to help farmers with other types of on-farm waste such as bale wrap, twine, unwanted animal health products,

among other waste products and packaging.

“We currently offer farmers across Canada access to world-renowned programs,” says Barry Friesen, General Manager of CleanFARMS. “Our programs have one of the highest recovery rates compared to other stewardship programs in Canada, even though participation is voluntary. This shows us farmers have an appetite for these types of initiatives.”

To help determine the types of programs needed, CleanFARMS is completing three studies in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan to look at the types and quantities of inorganic

waste found on farms. These studies — the first of their kind — will also determine the best option to safely and responsibly dispose of such waste and look at cutting-edge ways to divert agricultural waste from landfills.

In addition, these comprehensive studies will determine who is responsible for bringing the products into the province, the associated costs of future programs, and the kind of stewardship opportunities that exist for these materials in the future. In Ontario and Manitoba, a survey of attitudes and behaviors was also conducted to determine how

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P R O D U C T S T E WA R D S H I P

to change this pattern and provide farmers for the study in Manitoba from Manitoba with more recycling options.

Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Given that empty pesticide containers through Growing Forward, a federal-provinmake up only a small percentage of all agriculcial-territorial initiative, the Governments of tural plastics, there’s a significant opportunity Canada and Manitoba Conservation. Funding to build on current initiatives and to expand for the Saskatchewan study came from the outside of the plant science industry.

Government of Saskatchewan Ministry of To complete the studies, the organization Environment. has received grants from different government To further round out the research, organizations in each province. In Ontario, CleanFARMS has held webinars to provide funding for the study was provided by the producers, processors and distributors with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and an opportunity to discuss options for safely Rural Affairs, through the Canada-Ontario and responsibly managing on-farm waste. A Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin session for the Ontario study took place in Ecosystem, and the Canadian Animal Health January and one for the Manitoba study was Institute. received2:36 funding held 1in March. An industry consultation sesWalinga CleanFARMS VC2336 6/11/07 PM Page

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sion was also held in Saskatchewan. The studies will wrap up and findings will be released in 2012. The research collected will provide valuable insight into what types of industry stewardship programs should be developed in the future.

“We’ve had tremendous success with our empty pesticide container recycling program and our obsolete pesticide collection program.

We see an opportunity to build on our existing initiatives to develop programs to manage all on-farm waste,” says Friesen.

Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine.

Contact Guy at gcrittenden@solidwastemag. com

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Make a positive impact.

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Call2Recycle® is a free program that provides an eco-friendly way to dispose of used batteries and cell phones. It’s easy, just visit www.call2recycle.ca or call 1-877-2RECYCLE to find a convenient drop-off location near you.

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OWMA NEWS

OWMA 2011 Annual General Meeting

O

n March 2, 2011 over 150 Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) members and guests attended the OWMA annual conference and meeting in Toronto. The annual conference program contained information sessions, keynote speakers, networking opportunities and a dinner that featured the transfer of the OWMA Chairmanship from Jim Graham of TRY Recycling Inc to Mike Watt of Walker Environmental Group.

The OWMA wishes to thank each of the program speakers for providing the meeting attendees with an update on the current issues, and their impacts on the waste sector. These speakers included: Vince Sferrazza, (City of Toronto), Maria Kelleher, (Kelleher Environmental), Usman Valiante (Corporate Policy Group), Paul Evans, Assistant Deputy Minister (Ministry of the Environment), Bruce Howie (HDR Engineering), Michael Cant (Golder Associates), Brent Bolger (Brendar Environmental), Norm Lee (Region of Peel), and Doug Holyday, Deputy Mayor (City of Toronto).

Toby Barrett, MPP and PC Environment Critic once again joined as

the special luncheon speaker and shared with delegates on the Ontario PC Party’s policy perspectives on important waste management issues as well as the PC position on the current government.

The Hon. John Wilkinson, Minister of the Environment, was the special dinner speaker. His remarks shed insight into the ministry’s vision for waste management policies in Ontario and encouraged delegates to continue to provide the ministry with “what they want to see” in the ministry.

The presentations are available on the OWMA website: www.owma.org 2011-2012 Executive Committee Mike Watt — Walker Environmental Group — OWMA Chairman of the Board/President Cal Bricker — Waste Management of Canada Corporation — OWMA Secretary/Treasurer Jim Graham — TRY Recycling Inc. — OWMA Immediate Past Chairman of the Board

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www.autocartruck.com 26 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2011

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OWMA NEWS

Michael Cant — Golder Associates Ltd. Nigel Guilford — Miller Waste Systems Norm Lee — Region of Peel Adam Chamberlain — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP — Legal Counsel 2011-2012 Board of Directors Paul van der Werf — 2cg In.c Larry Freiburger — AET Group Inc. Dan Pio — BFI Canada Inc. Francis Veilleux — Bluewater Recycling Association Brent Bolger — Brendar Environmental Inc. Jake Westerhof — Canad Fibers Ltd. Jim Sales — City of Barrie George South — City of Toronto Chris Small — Clean Harbors Canada Inc. Jim McKay — HDR Engineering Brian McClintock — London Machinery Inc. Danny Ardellini — GFL Environmental Corporation Denis Goulet — Safety-Kleen Canada Inc. John Devins — Sandhill Disposal & Recycling Inc/Turtle Island Recycling Sean McCutcheon — Wasteco OWMA Staff Rob Cook — Chief Executive Officer Michele Goulding — Manager, Finance and Administration

Peter Hargreave — Director, Policy and Strategy Annie Rodgers — Administrative Assistant Sponsors of this year’s OWMA AGM AET GROUP INC. BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP COUNTRYWIDE RECYCLING INC. DAVIS LLP GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD. HDR ENGINEERING LAFLECHE ENVIRONMENTAL INC. METRO COMPACTOR SERVICE INC. MILLER WASTE SYSTEMS NEXGEN MUNICIPAL INC. ORGAWORLD CANADA LTD. R.J. BURNSIDE & ASSOCIATES LIMITED SAFETY-KLEEN CANADA INC. SICK LTD. SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING MAGAZINE TRY RECYCLING INC. WALKER ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP WASTE MANAGEMENT OF CANADA CORP. WILLMS & SHIER ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYERS LLP

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905-680-1900 www.walkerind.com April/May 2011 www.solidwastemag.com 27

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O R G A N I C M AT T E R S

by Paul van der Werf “After the shock and revulsion wore off, and we found ourselves in Canada, our approach to waste changed.”

Samsara and the Circle of Life Use of organics on a family farm

“T

he gnaw of hunger descended and with it the knowledge that food is never to be taken for granted.”

A long journey through many mostly poor countries resulted in an epiphany for JP Gural and his wife So Young, who own and operate Samsara Farms in Norfolk County, Ontario.

“We learned that garbage provides people with meagre incomes and even homes,” Gural says.

Our society has so much that we don’t allow scavenging at landfills.

“I got close to the crowd of pickers and photographed while they tore through the rubbish,” Gural says. “Unable to stand the stench, I was forced to stop photographing and retched. Somehow these people remained face first in the filth, even eating food coming from the back of the truck.”

In a question of relativism: Is it waste or is it food?

When we talk about managing organic waste we often talk about returning to our roots. The roots that we are talking about are related to food production. Many of our residential organics programs are invisible in some ways. That is, the waste is collected, is composted somewhere, and ends up being used somewhere. Most of the general public don’t know where “somewhere” is.

So Young Gural dumping leaves into garlic.

Norfolk County is somewhere. Formerly part of Ontario’s tobacco belt it is now also home to the Samsara Farms. (https://sites.google. com/site/samsarafields/) Gurals visited open dumpsites in East Timor, Thailand, Cambodia and Samsara is a small six-acre organic farm whose mission is the impleeven in the open streets of Calcutta, India. mentation of organic growing strategies as well as growing of heirloom Gural has taken a very philosophical approach to Samsara’s operation. fruits and vegetables. They focus on crop rotation and companion plant“Samsara refers to the cycle of birth-death-rebirth in Hindu and ings to maintain both soil and plant health.

Buddhist cosmology,” Gural continues. “It’s an appropriate name to A few generations ago all of our food was grown organically. connote recycling, in this case organic matter rather than souls.

Obviously this has changed drastically but, like all pendulums, there has “After the shock and revulsion wore off, and we found ourselves in been a gradual and incremental swing back to growing food this way.

Canada, our approach to waste changed. Armed with composting know“We were inspired to farm after a year-long journey through the soledge and no longer afraid to gather trash ourselves, we began gathering Pub−2009−E.jpg called developing world where we witnessed communities existing in leaves and pumpkins creating stockpiles for the spring.” garbage dumps, experienced food shortages and had a chance to meet Their farm is worked by hand with the assistance of two older model farmers and discuss some of the issues they face,” Gural says. The tractors.

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So Young Gural on snowy bags of leaves.

Growing food organically means using organic residuals to supply most if not all of required plant nutrients and organic matter.

We are often informed by simple and seemingly insignificant events from our youth about which we only develop understanding and a context when we’re older.

“As a kid, I used to rake the neighbourhood leaves and green bag them for regular trash pick-up,” Gural muses. “However at our house, my parents simply collected the leaves and put them on the flowerbeds where they decomposed.”

With the wanderlust of some kind of shaman, every fall Gural and his wife make an annual trek from the country to the city in search of organic residuals... natural fertilizers. They gather leaves, pumpkins and other wastes and cart them back to their farm to let nature work its magic.

The farm takes a low tech approach to managing the organic wastes it collects. For instance the leaves are sometimes directly applied to and incorporated. Some of the organic wastes collected are piled into heaps and turned by hand.

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O R G A N I C M AT T E R S

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They also gather other organic products such as mushroom compost and kitchen waste compost which are added to the fields. To further supply nutrients they also add fertilizers derived organically (corn gluten, seaweed, worm castings, chicken manure).

Finally a rye crop is used as a green manure on fields to help avoid disease and increase soil organic matter.

Most simply, the organic waste collected and processed turns directly into food.

They work closely with their urban customers who basically tell them what to grow. They also try to expand “people’s eating culture” by introducing them to vegetables that are not grown commercially. People purchase annual shares from the farm and receive vegetables weekly during the harvest season.

The value of seeing other parts of the world should never be underestimated. Many of us have gone through the almost rite of passage back-packing adventure and hopefully learned something along the way.

What we learn on these trips is all the more valuable when we modify our way of thinking or, better yet, if we put something into practice.

Samsara Farms is the fruit borne of travel, adventure and tribulation. As it poignantly says on the farm’s website “...We wanted to be the change we wanted to see in the world.”

Paul van der Werf is president of 2cg Inc. in London, Ontario.

Contact Paul at www.2cg.ca

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we:reach WasteExpo 2011. Reach new customers through our menu of comprehensive marketing programs. As environmentalists, you make it easy being green. And we want to make it easier for you to make some green. With over 11,000 professionals looking to grow their market share and expand their businesses—90% of them are involved with the purchase of products and services—WasteExpo is the place to be. And with expanded sponsorship and marketing programs, it’s never been easier to gain awareness and reach these buyers. Whether you’re looking for a new product or service, or launching one, WasteExpo 2011 is the perfect environment to help grow your business. For more information about WasteExpo please visit us at www.wasteexpo.com

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Sponsors:

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WA S T E B U S I N E S S

by John Nicholson “GreenMantra recently secured financing from angel investors to fund its Toronto-area demonstration facility.”

Plastic-to-Wax GreenMantra Plastics Recycling

T

he concept of converting plastics to products isn’t necessarily new.

The conversion of plastic waste into petroleum feedstock is technically viable but also costly. Contributing to the high costs is the fact that there are over seven types of waste plastics that require different processing conditions and that the process is endothermic (energyconsuming).

There are companies all over the world at various stages of commercial development. For example, Environ, a Washington, D.C. start-up, has large-scale facility that turns 10,000 tonnes of plastic at a time into oil. Also, Blest Corporation, based in Japan, recently began selling plastics-to-oil conversion systems for small-scale use at $10,000 per unit.

One of the more recent players entering the plastics recycling market is GreenMantra Recycling Technologies, which incorporated in January 2010. Based in Toronto, the company was founded by Pushkar Kumar, a metallurgical and materials engineers who also has an MBA.

Technology

Catalytic pyrolysis is the typical technology used to convert plastics to oil. A catalyst is a substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected. Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of a substance by heating that occurs spontaneously at high enough temperatures. It takes place in the absence of oxygen (so no combustion occurs).

The use of a catalyst significantly lowers the temperature required for pyrolysis. This is important since pyrolysis is an endothermic process, meaning energy needs to be put into the process. Catalysts typically used in the industry are zeolites — microporous, aluminosilicate minerals that have a porous structure.

Like other plastic-to-oil companies, GreenMantra’s technology is propriety. This is often the case since plastics-to-oil companies closely guard information on the type of catalyst used, its optimum concentration, and operating temperatures.

Although GreenMantra is a new company, Kumar has been working on the plastics conversion technology for seven years. His father, a chemical engineer, and Kumar worked together on the technology in India.

The company claims that, unlike it competitors, it can achieve 100 per cent conversion of plastics to wax. Also, the company’s focus is on producing wax instead of fuel. In North America, the wax industry is estimated to generate $2.2 billion in revenue annually. Wax is used in hundreds of products ranging from candles, polishers, car polish, cosmetics and paints.

For the past year and a half, GreenMantra has operated a plant in India with successful product sales and has proven the technical and financial feasibility in the Asian market.

Greenmantra has yet to construct a facility in Canada. The first one is planned for the Toronto area and will be built by the end of 2011. It will be constructed to process 240 tonnes of plastic waste per year.

At first the company will only process post-industrial HDPE (i.e., milk and juice jugs, detergent bottles, yoghurt and margarine tubs, and grocery bags) and LDPE (i.e., bread bags, frozen food bags, and squeezable ketchup bottles) plastics. This will ensure a relatively clean incoming stream for the company to prove its technology works.

Following the successful demonstration of the technology, the company will scale-up to a full-sized facility that will eventually be capable of handling all types of plastics wastes, including blue box waste from municipal curbside pick-up programs.

Making money

There is a long list of Canadian companies that have come and gone trying to make money recycling on waste stream or the other. Their downfall is often the result of poorly forecasting the price they can charge for their product.

In the Case of GreenMantra, the wax it will produce is currently a commodity in short supply. Wax is typically produced by oil refineries but with the crude oil currently priced at $100 per barrel refineries are more focused on producing fuel. This has resulted in a lower supply of wax and a rise in price.

Kumar claims that his company’s process to convert plastic into wax has to potential to be as much as to 50 per cent cheaper than conventional wax manufacturing.

GreenMantra recently cleared one major hurdle to becoming a viable commercial enterprise: It managed to secure financing from angel investors to fund its Toronto-area demonstration facility.

It may not be too long before Kumar’s technology is utilized in other parts of the world. GreenMantra has granted a royalty-based license to a developer to establish operations in Europe. It remains to be seen if Kumar can make his company a major player in the North American wax market while helping solve the continent’s plastic recycling problems.

For a perspective on why local added-value processing of recycled plastic is important, please read my business partner James Sbrolla’s “Blog” article on page 38.

John Nicholson, M.Sc., P.Eng., is a consultant based in Toronto, Ontario. Contact John at john.nicholson@ebccanada.com

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R E G U L AT I O N R O U N D U P

by Rosalind Cooper “Consumers in B.C. will be able to drop off their small appliances for recycling at collection points in the province.”

Waste Initiatives across Canada B.C. small appliance program

As of July 1, 2011, consumers in British Columbia will be able to drop off their small appliances for recycling at established collection points in the province. These collection depots will be listed and available online by July 1, 2011. Appliances eligible for drop-off include everything from coffee makers to vacuum cleaners, hair curlers, irons, clocks and more.

The program will be operated by the non-profit Canadian Electrical Stewardship Association (CESA) and will be funded by environmental handling fees remitted to CESA by its members which are, generally, the product producers (the manufacturer, distributor or brand-owner) and in some cases the importer, broker or retailer who sells the product directly to a consumer (e.g., via catalogue or the internet).

There can be voluntary remitters under the program. These parties volunteer to report, such as a retailer on behalf of a manufacturer. Where a company’s customers have all agreed to be voluntary remitters and to undertake the reporting obligations, the manufacturer does not need to report, but should inform CESA of which companies are reporting on the manufacturer’s behalf. CESA has also requested that companies that

believe that they are not obliged to report and remit fees advise CESA of this and the basis for the decision.

Members can join CESA by completing an online registration and has CESA requested that members do so by April 1, 2011. Members must file reports on the quantity of their products sold on a monthly basis through the reporting system. The reports and the environmental handling fees are due by the end of the month following the reporting period. Fees are subject to HST. Member fee obligations will start on August 1, 2011, with the first report and fee remittance being due by the end of September of 2011.

Fluorescent lamp program update

The Recycling Council of Ontario established a program for the recycling of mercury-containing lamps. The program is called “Take Back the Light” and is the first such stewardship program in Canada designed for the industrial, commercial and institutional sector. The first target established under the program was to capture and recycle more than two million lamps. That objective was achieved six months ahead of the scheduled date.

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Canada + 800 414-8314 solutions@golder.com www.golder.com April/May 2011 www.solidwastemag.com 33

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R E G U L AT I O N R O U N D U P

On May 31, 2010, customers began returning their fluorescent light bulbs, fluorescent tubes and incandescent bulbs to Canadian Tire stores across Ontario. This service was provided by Canadian Tire at no cost to residents and small businesses. The limit on the number of units that can be recycled in this manner at one time is 24 compact fluorescent lamps or 16 linear fluorescent tubes.

At least 80 per cent of each bulb collected through the program is recycled by Aevitas Inc. in Ayr, Ontario, whose plant has been approved by the Ministry of the Environment as a fluorescent lamp reclamation facility. The components of the bulbs (glass, metal, phosphorus and mercury) are recovered and used in new products.

Saskatchewan grain bag recycling

On March 24, 2011, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Agriculture announced that the provincial and federal governments were joining with the Provincial Council of Agriculture Development and Diversification Boards (PCAB) to launch a one-year pilot project to recycle grain bags.

The program will be operational by July of 2011; be six main collection depots will be set up, with multiple drop-off points in each region.

Bags will be shipped to Calgary for recycling. At the end of the year it will be determined whether the program will continue or whether the grain bags will become the responsibility of manufacturers and producers.

Canada’s ONLY trade event serving the waste, recycling and public works markets

Quebec funds organics diversion

The Government of Quebec has announced that it will spend $71.6 million by 2015 on a waste management program for diverting organic waste from landfill sites. This is in addition to the existing $650 million in federal, provincial and municipal subsidies for composting and biogas plants in Quebec.

Currently, Quebec produces 13 million tonnes of residential waste each year and the province is determined to reduce the quantity going to landfill from 810 kilograms per person in 2008 to 700 kilograms by 2015.

One of the major ways in which this will be accomplished is by eliminating organic waste going to landfill sites by 2020. The first step, however, is to ensure that the composting and biogas plants are operational by 2014 to accept such wastes.

In addition to the focus on organic waste, the plan calls for the recycling of 70 per cent of paper, carton, plastic, glass and metal waste and 80 per cent of concrete, brick, and asphalt by 2015. Further, by year-end, the province will have regulations in place for returning batteries, electronic products and light bulbs to the point of purchase.

Rosalind Cooper, LL.B., is a partner with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, with offices across Canada. Ms. Cooper is based in Toronto, Ontario. Contact Rosalind at rcooper@tor.fasken.com

November 9 - 10, 2011 Palais des congrès de Montréal Montreal, QC Canada

• Strong showing of leading companies • Diverse and qualified group of key buyers • Numerous networking opportunities • An informative symposium program • Top-notch showcase of new products • Insightful waste sector facility tours

Register Today! www.cwre.ca/ADS1 For more information on this exciting industry event, please contact Arnie Gess Call: +1.403.589.4832 Email: arnie.gess@cwre.ca Visit: www.cwre.ca 03/11SWR

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PRODUCTS

The Ecopaver 400

Driving recycling forwards on our roads

C

anada has nearly 900,000 kilometres of road — enough to circle the globe 22 times (according to Transport Canada, 2010). Although roads and highways may not always top of the agenda when it comes to recycling discussions, what they’re made from is an issue that cannot be ignored due to its sheer scale and demand.

The viability of asphalt as an environmentally sound material is clear. Asphalt is one of the most recycled materials in North America and is unique in the volume that is recycled globally as well as its renewability. It’s comprised of approximately 95 percent aggregates (stone, sand and gravel) and about five percent asphalt cement. When asphalt pavement is reused in a new asphalt mix, the old asphalt cement is rejuvenated so that it becomes an active part of the glue that holds the new road together, just like the old aggregate becomes part of the aggregate content of the new mix.

These singular properties make asphalt a uniquely renewable material. Today, road engineers, government agencies and contractors regard old asphalt as an asset, not waste, and the trend to recycling and re-use continues to gain momentum as a result.

One Canadian company very much leading the way in asphalt road recycling is B.C.based Ecopave Systems. Over the past three decades, the company has worked hard to develop its technology to ensure that it’s one of the most efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly options on the market — not only compared to conventional paving companies but also direct competitors. In fact, the company pioneered the two-stage, hot-inplace asphalt recycling business.

In early 2010, Ecopave launched its innovative Ecopaver 400 — a cutting-edge asphalt recycling system that takes asphalt from existing roads and highways in need of repair and uses it without shipping the asphalt to be refined off site. The recycling process completes up to four kilometers a day.

There are multiple benefits to this recycling system. Environmentally, there’s an ap-

proximate 50 per cent reduction of hydrocarbon emissions. The process minimizes the use of new non-renewable asphalt cement and greatly reduces the transportation and storage of materials, as well as reduces traffic congestion and vehicle idle times.

In economic terms, Ecopave’s system reduces costs 30-60 per cent compared to conventional mill and fill methods, minimizes delay times during construction projects and minimizes disruption to local businesses.

It also eliminates the costs associated with disposal and storage of conventional milled asphalt and the HIPAR life-cycle equals the conventional mill and fill method, so quality isn’t compromised.

A further benefit is that modifications of existing pavement can be made to meet current specifications and the recycling replaces pavement to its original elevations so there is no need to treat turn lanes or less worn travel areas.

The machine is equipped with a powerful emissions control system, specifically designed to capture and cleanse any noxious

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gases or oil fumed smoke produced from the milling and heating of the pavement. The process reduces hydrocarbon emissions by 50 per cent compared with traditional mill and fills methods. It’s virtually smoke free and has one of the most advanced and effective collection and incineration systems on the road today.

The Ecopaver recycles 100 per cent of the existing asphalt, and requires only an additional 20 per cent virgin asphalt to the road.

This means 80 per cent of the transport trucks used for conventional paving to carry virgin asphalt from the plant to the site are no longer needed. The patented system (sometimes referred to as a “train”) consists of a pre-heater, two self-propelled heater/miller units and a pug mill. Following the train are a conventional paver and rollers.

The Ecopaver 400 (and earlier versions called the Pyropaver 300E) system is being used in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea.

For more information, visit www.ecopavesystems.com

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PRODUCTS

Eriez CleanStream

The new Eriez CleanStream™ process combines the power of Eriez P-Rex Drum and new Shred1 Separator to immediately increase recyclers’ profitability. The P-Rex Drum improves ferrous recovery by one to two percent while the Shred1 Separator produces a low

copper content #1 Shred (<.20 per cent) — a premium deliverable to the steel industry.

In the CleanStream Process, materials first pass through Eriez innovative Permanent Rare Earth Drum Magnet, or P-Rex, to recover all potential ferrous material. P-Rex’s powerful permanent magnetic circuit, designed using sophisticated modeling techniques, is up to 40 percent stronger than an electro drum, requires no “operating” power and is capable of moving large spherical objects at twice the distance.

Current electromagnetic drum technology simply is not capable of sustaining a deep enough magnet field to attract much of the heavy spheres referred to as meatballs and knuckles.

Next, materials go on to the Shred1 Separator, which uses “ballistics” to automatic-

Une Société de TransForce A TransForce Company

Composting

ally separate high-grade, iron rich ferrous from mixed metals and waste. It utilizes a high speed conveyor belt and subjects the material to forces that push different materials into different trajectories. The result is that the smallest and purest items are pulled from the natural trajectory of the larger and less pure ferrous and ferrous composite items such as meatballs, tires, etc.

These more pure ferrous items report to the #1 Shred chute and move to the stacking conveyor.

Material not collected into the #1 Shred chute goes to one of two other collection chutes. The second fraction is larger sized ferrous items and lower grade ferrous including meatballs and wiring harnesses, as well as some waste. This stream represents the remaining ten to 20 to 30 percent of the original stream and proceeds to the hand picking stations. Since the CleanStream process has reduced the volume, the hand picking stations can be equipped with slower and narrower belts and now require fewer picking personnel, saving time and money. The third stream represents the non-value wastes. According to Eriez, the bulk of this material is shredded steel belted rubber tires.

Visit www.eriez.com

BioReactor Landfill Waste Water Treatment Facility Soil Remediation Facility 17125 Lafleche Road Moose Creek ON 613-538-2776 • www.laflecheenvironmental.com

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Waste vehicle weigh scales

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• Private & Public Sectors • Waste diversion planning • Residential, IC&I and • Recycling, MHSW, C&D waste streams Composting, MBT, E-Waste • Waste auditing Paul van der Werf, M.Sc. | 519-645-7733 | 877-801-7733 | 2cg.ca Mary Little | 905-372-4994

Inc.

Waste Management Consulting Services

Mettler Toledo has announced the release of the VTC221 and VTS231 vehicle scales for weighing applications in the waste industry. The VTC221 (concrete deck) and the VTS231 (steel deck) are the latest editions to the Mettler Toledo vehicle scale portfolio.

With concentrated load capacities (CLC) of 100,000 lbs, Gross Load Cell Capacity of over 800,000 lbs, and real world life cycle testing of over two million load cycles, these scales have been designed, tested, built and proven to meet the demanding needs of the waste industry. In addition, these scales incorporate the newly released Powercell PDX load cell network.

Visit www.mt.com

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Advertisers’ Index Company

Page #

April/May 2011

Company

Page #

AET Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Molok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Al-Jon MFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Morrison Hershfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

AMRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Norseman Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Battery Broker Environmental Services Inc. The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Ontario Waste Management Assoc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Borden Ladner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Paradigm Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Bridgestone Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Cole Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Curotto Can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Canadian Waste & Recycling Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Environmental Business Consultants (J. Nicholson) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Eriez Magnetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Geoware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Ginove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Golder Assoc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Paul Van der Werf (2CG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Protainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Recycling Equipment Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Rehrig Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Schuyler Rubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Sheehan Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Trux Route Management Systems Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Integrated Municipal Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Van Dyk Baler Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Lafleche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Walinga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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Laurin Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Waste Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Liebherr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Mack Truck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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Ontario Waste Management Association

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OWMA has a primary mission to support a strong and viable waste service industry and to ensure that OWMA member companies are recognized as industry leaders.

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by James Sbrolla “We must create added-value products in Canada and support a sustainable local market for recycled commodities.”

Missed Opportunities It’s time to match market development with the blue box’s changing contents

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lue box curbside recycling programs are about 30 years old now.

Widely embraced by the public, the blue box was a game changer that increased people’s awareness of environmental issues and gave them a convenient way to do something positive. But today the beloved blue box is the catalyst for an economic issue about which many people are oblivious.

While it’s been part of the daily routine for a generation of consumers, and curbside recycling programs exist in most North American communities, the eventual fate of the materials collected via the blue box and the prices paid for those commodities is largely unknown to the residents who dutifully sorting their waste each week.

The issue of concern relates to missed opportunities to create “valueadded” products and local markets from recycled materials, rather than simply ship them as raw materials to developing countries, as is increasingly occurring. (See Cover Story on recycled paper exports, page 8.) As the mix of materials placed in the blue box changes, and especially as plastic packaging increases, new end-uses for those materials is critical for the program’s future success.

Blue box programs typically cover a wide range of materials, including newspapers, cardboard, plastic and metal beverage containers, detergent bottles, food cans and a host of other packaging types. Even packaging once considered “unrecyclable” (like juice boxes) is accepted in many programs and successfully recycled. (For consumers, acceptance in the blue box is perhaps the main measure of a package’s environmentally friendliness, regardless of its overall environmental or carbon “footprint.”)

The visible components of the system for residents/consumers relate to the collection side, where municipalities arrange for the pick-up of materials via a system that’s municipally owned and operated, or in which collection is contracted out. Residents normally don’t see the inside of transfer stations or material recovery facilities (MRFs). And they certainly don’t see the places to which the sorted and baled materials are shipped, usually at the direction of brokers.

The blue box is often referred to as a “basket of goods” in which money earned from the sale of higher-value recovered materials like aluminum cans offsets losses from the sale of less valuable materials.

(We must remember that, in the end, even a commodity that sells for very little may still be worth recycling if it avoids disposal fees at a landfill or incinerator, and preserves valuable landfill space.) Programs have worked best in the case of easy-to-recycle items like fibre, used beverage containers and soap bottles. However, the mix of what’s placed in blue box bins and carts is changing, in ways that may make the programs more costly. The use of certain kinds of plastic is increasing,

while printed newspaper (for instance) is going down. The future mix of materials may not bode well for blue box economics.

One organization that recognizes and is concerned about these risks is Stewardship Ontario (SO), the industry funding organization (IFO) that represents the various stakeholders who fund the province’s blue box program.

“We’ve been talking about these trends with municipalities, waste management companies and entrepreneurs,” says SO’s Vice President Lyle Clarke. “We’re trying to get everyone to recognize that successfully recycling plastic packaging is critical to the future success of the blue box.”

Clarke says that recycling this material is both practical and economical, if managed correctly, and that SO has invested millions of dollars in innovative new processes that are today turning once hard-to-recycle plastics into new consumer products.

“We’ve barely touched the business opportunities that recycling has to offer,” says Clarke.

Demand (and prices) for polymers of all kinds is rising, and will remain high as long as oil prices stay up. You’d think high prices for recycled plastic would be a godsend for the blue box; unfortunately, offshore buyers are scooping up as much of the material as they can get their hands on and domestic producers are experiencing difficulty securing supply — at any price. Municipalities that pressured Stewardship Ontario to create markets for plastics shrug their shoulders and claim they’re simply selling to the highest bidder.

This short-term thinking could prevent a sustainable new industry from developing. Offshore buyers aren’t stupid; they see the value in this material and are no doubt using it in consumer products that eventually get shipped back here. Ironically, ratepayers and companies that fund the blue box locally are inadvertently subsidizing the raw material costs of foreign competitors.

Is that what we want?

A tremendous opportunity is being missed to create wealth and jobs locally when we export materials and jobs to the developing world.

Instead, we must create added-value products in Canada and support a sustainable local market for recycled commodities. Recycling is not about “garbage men”; instead, it’s a knowledge-based industry that will help drive the green economy, if we pay attention.

James Sbrolla is Chairman of Environmental Business Consultants and Entrepreneur in Residence in the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Business Accelerator Program.

Contact James at james.sbrolla@ebccanada.com

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LEED RIM

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Energy creation. Recycling programs. Closed-loop solutions.

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These are just a few of the innovations we’re delivering for customers and communities alike. We live in a world where things can no longer go to waste.

That’s why Waste Management is ensuring that we get the most from our existing resources. It’s good for business and the environment.

For more information visit us at wm.com.

©2011 Waste Management, Inc.

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