November 2004 Newsletter
Organics Collection on the Horizon
Stopping Junk Mail before It Arrives
City Helps Businesses to "Go Blue"
Metro Businesses Recycling Requirements
Become a Master of Recycling!
Question of the Month
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Organics Collection on the Horizon
Metro plans expansion of waste diversion
by Lori Stole
A change is coming to the Portland Metro area's waste management programs. Waste planners have been looking at ways to increase recovery of materials from the waste stream, almost 40% of which is organic material (26.3% pre and post consumer food waste, 6% food contaminated papers and 5.6% yard debris). Most of the yard debris has already been diverted from landfill disposal via curbside collection programs, which send the material to one of 8 local composting facilities. The composting of food however is a more complicated issue. Food waste is wet, smelly and can attract undesirable critters. These issues don't total up to much of a problem for single household, backyard composters but do add complexity to a large scale collection system for such materials as well as siting and operation of a large scale facility. Other areas of the country have pioneered successful food waste collection, including communities in both Washington State and in the San Francisco Bay Area, often starting with pilot scale commercial collection and progressing to residential curbside collection.
Metro is preparing to sign a contract for composting of all commercially derived organic materials (food and soiled paper) with Cedar Grove Composting, Inc., a composting operation near Seattle. Organic material from the Metro region will be trucked to that facility, starting this winter and the finished compost well be returned. When volumes are sufficient (10,000 tons per year) Cedar Grove has committed to make good-faith efforts to build a local facility. Does this new program mean you should expect to be setting your household food waste out on the curb anytime soon? No! The program is designed to capture food waste from large business generators like grocers and restaurants and will start on a voluntary basis just in the City of Portland. Businesses outside of the City could choose to participate if they provide for their own transportation to Metro Central Transfer Station. Other jurisdictions in the region will follow Portland's lead, but probably not before a comfortably long observation period. The program may be introduced as a residential opportunity in the future.
Much study has gone into predicting the impacts of such a program locally. Overall recovery rate should of course increase, and a useful resource is being diverted from the landfill. Composted organic material is an important element in maintaining the health of our soils and reducing the chemical load and negative impacts caused from synthetic soil amendments.
A recent study examining the impacts of implementing food waste collection at the residential level indicates cost increases to customers, which could possibly be offset by shifts such as moving to every other week garbage collection. To whatever extent yard debris and food would be commingled into one cart, the local yard debris composting businesses could lose business and probably jobs. On the other hand, a new food waste system would create some new jobs. The extra distance traveled to transport the organic material to a processor comes with related environmental concerns such as extra fuel use (although as trash, this material is currently transported 150 miles to Arlington for disposal). Obviously, it's important to consider how these impacts balance with materials recovery gains and decreases in methane production in landfills - a serious concern. Regulations for composting facilities were drafted in 1997 by a DEQ-led work group in response to odor and water quality problems and were subsequently adopted. Commercial composting is relatively new, and now a new DEQ work group is currently revising these rules and permit requirements for composting facilities, evaluating such issues as water quality, leachate, operating pad, feedstock, and management.
Their goal is to protect human health and the environment while also promoting composting. Operations that only handle green feedstock, (largely yard debris, wood, vegetative food waste) are considered to be low-risk for these issues and are thus minimally regulated). Those handling non-green feedstock (such as animal parts and municipal solid waste which could support human pathogens) are of higher concern.
The metro area currently has one commercial composter of vegetative food waste, Nature's Needs, located in North Plains. Theirs has been a long and difficult road to licensing, amidst odor and other complaints. They are also examining to what extent any new regulations should apply to wood/yard debris composting operations.
If you would like to learn more about the Metro food waste composting project contact Jennifer Erickson, ericksonj@metro.dst.or.usericksonj@metro.dst.or.us. For information about the City of Portland's collection program plans, contact Judy Crockett, jcrockett@ci.portland.or.usjcrockett@ci.portland.or.us.
Stopping Junk Mail before It Arrives
Direct mail to former employees a costly burden
Most of us are frustrated by the amount of direct mail we receive. A recent survey notes that direct mail can make up a third of Fortune 500 companies' total mail volume. The EcoLogical Mail Coalition solves the problem of what to do with catalogs, brochures, and direct mail sent to former employees years after they have moved on.
The problem and its costs
When an employee leaves a business, governmental agency, or nonprofit organization, he or she may still receive direct advertising mail. Company mailrooms and secretaries are stuck with the task of getting rid of the incoming materials. This takes up valuable time and resources. Staff time is spent receiving, separating, sorting and disposing of direct mail pieces received for former employees. Companies also need to pay for disposing or recycling of those direct mail pieces.
Marketers do not know when employees leave and do not want to miss out on potential sales; they may continue mailing to former employees for years. And many marketers and publishers sell customer and subscriber lists to other marketers, compounding the problem and multiplying the amount of undeliverable mail your business receives.
The EcoLogical Mail Coalition web site includes a cost calculator with which businesses and other organizations can request an estimate of the cost burden of junk mail to former employees. The Coalition notes the following cost to a typical Fortune 500 company with 20,000 employees.
Number of Former Employees Still Receiving Mail: 17,500
Additional Pieces of Undeliverable Mail Received: 945,000
Person-hours Wasted Sorting and Disposing of Undeliverable Mail: 5,400
Annual Cost to Company: $91,378
Tons of Waste Created: 177
Number of Trees Consumed: 4,253.
Direct mail to former employees also taxes the environment. Direct marketers print and ship unnecessary advertising that ends up in the waste stream. According to the Coalition, as much as 300 pounds of solid waste is generated annually for every 20 former employees receiving direct mail.
How it works
The EcoLogical Mail Coalition acts as an independent "clearinghouse", maintaining a national, industry-wide database of outdated contact information (i.e., former employees). Businesses go online to submit former employee information to the Coalition's database of outdated contacts. Marketers then compare their mailing lists to the Coalition's database, and flag matching records for removal.
Businesses benefit because they report former employees once yet eliminate mail from being sent by hundreds of marketers. Marketers benefit from a single, electronic match process through which they can identify thousands of former employees from thousands of companies; not only do they save money by not sending undeliverable mail, they eliminate the costly processing of manual updates they've traditionally received from individual businesses. The environment benefits because solid waste is eliminated and trees are not consumed since it prevents undeliverable direct mail pieces from being created initially.
Who is the Coalition?
The EcoLogical Mail Coalition was launched in September 2003 with Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, MCI and Tyson Foods Inc. as charter members. Today businesses, agencies, and nonprofits of all types and sizes have joined the Coalition, which has already compiled a database of more than 500,000 former employees.
For more information, go to www.ecologicalmail.org.
City Helps Businesses to "Go Blue"
New program promotes waste prevention in local businesses
Portland's Office of Sustainable Development (OSD) recently launched a new program to assist and recognize local businesses and organizations that go beyond Portland's recycling mandates. The "BlueWorks" project provides businesses with free, customized recycling and waste prevention guidance. Companies meeting or exceeding rigorous waste prevention and recycling standards will qualify for recognition as a Portland BlueWorks Business.
Eligibility as a Portland BlueWorks Business is determined with the following criteria:
• Appoint a recycling coordinator or "green team."
• Engage in at least six activities to prevent waste, such as printing double sided or using durable dishware
• Purchase paper with a minimum 30% recycled-content, as well as four additional recycled-content items
• Establish a purchasing policy for recycled-content products
For those companies needing some extra help in becoming a BlueWorks Business, OSD offers free, full-service site visits to get recycling programs in the right track. Oregon Health & Science University became one of the first organizations to become a BlueWorks Business. Utilizing recommendations from the OSD Waste Evaluation Team, OHSU expanded their current recycling program to include more materials such as plastics and styrofoam.
"Go Blue" and "BlueWorks" are references to the blue plastic recycling bins available to all Portland-area businesses. The program will be promoted in local media and on the OSD web site. For more information, go to www.sustainableportland.org or call Stephanie Swanson at OSD at (503) 823-7109.
Source: OSD press release
Metro Businesses Recycling Requirements
November 12 meeting is final in series
At the recommendation of a stakeholder work group, Metro Council is considering making recycling mandatory for all businesses. Metro is asking businesses to attend a breakfast forum to discuss the proposed recycling requirements and suggest alternative approaches.
The first gathering was held at the North Clackamas Chamber of Commerce on October 20. A second, final meeting is scheduled for November 12 at the Washington County Chambers of Commerce Partnership at Kingstad Conference Center, 15450 SW Millikan Way in Beaverton. To RSVP, call Metro at (503) 797-1650 or e-mail recycle@metro.dst.or.us.
Despite high participation by households in curbside recycling, business recycling efforts continue to lag. Almost half the region's garbage is generated by businesses, and most of the still recyclable material comes from three business sectors: offices, the food service industry and construction and demolition. For example, 25 percent of the garbage thrown away- more than 120,000 tons annually- is paper that is fully recyclable. This results in a significant loss of natural resources. In order for the region to meet the waste reduction goal of 62 percent set by the state, the region must recover more than 200,000 tons from these sectors.
In 2003, Metro Council convened a work group of stakeholders to recommend strategies to increase recycling. After reviewing current education efforts and other strategies for increasing recycling, the work group recommended that Metro Council pursue mandatory recycling supported by expanded education and outreach programs. Prior to making any decision about mandatory requirements, the Metro Council wants to hear from local businesses. Input gathered at the breakfast forums will help guide Metro Council's decision in adopting the requirements and new programs.
Businesses that are unable to attend may fill out an online survey and submit their comments at www.metro-region.org/bizrecycling.
Source: Metro press release
Applications will soon be available for the winter Master Recycler course that will be held at Metro during January and February. For more information call (503) 823-7530 or e-mail masterrecycler@ci.portland.or.us.
The holiday season is around the corner. Americans will once again participate in a period of heavy consumption and waste generation. What steps are you taking to reduce holiday-related waste in your family?
Share your ideas by e-mailing responses to info@recyclingadvocates.org or call us at (503) 777-0909 and leave a message by November 20.
If you are looking for alternatives this year, try visiting www.newdream.org, or Buy Nothing Day. In addition, you can always give Recycling Advocates memberships to friends and family members.
RA member shares ideas...
In response to October's Question of the Month, RA Member Cheryl Peterson wrote in to us about what she is doing to reduce packaging waste at lunch: "I try to take my lunch every day, and while it's a pain to have to make it every night, and carry it on the bus the next day, the benefits of better nutrition, calorie control, cost savings, and waste prevention make it well worthwhile for me. "I carry a semi-insulated nylon bag that has a rigid interior box, which can be removed to save space or weight, and it comes with a freezable gel pack. I bring a cloth napkin, my own utensils, and washable/microwavable containers. I try to buy yogurt and other foods in the larger size and portion them myself. I try to reuse sandwich bags as long as possible, especially since I tend to carry the same foods in them and can just give them a rinse every day. I also use a neat product called a Wrap-N-Mat that I got through the Solutions catalog, a division of Norm Thompson (a local green company). It is a foldable plastic and fabric mat that seals with Velcro and also provides a place mat as I eat."
Do you have a question you would like us to publish? E-mail us your question at info@recyclingadvocates.org