Category Archives: Recycling

SC votes against out-of-state waste

COLUMBIA, SC — In the final hours of this year’s Senate budget debate, senators cast a unanimous vote against out-of-state waste.

Amendment No. 155 to the massive budget bill is not yet a reality. Its fate lies with the House and Senate conference committee members who will be appointed to hash out the differences between the budgets passed by their respective bodies. But there is no uncertainty about its message to national waste corporations: If you profit from burying New York’s or North Carolina’s garbage in South Carolina, you will pay a price.

That is music to our ears.

We also like Sen. Gerald Malloy’s suggestion that the revenues collected would be used for “environmental mitigation programs” and for “compensation to local residents” for damage related to landfill operations.

 

Sonoco’s Team Green

HARTSVILLE, S.C., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Sonoco Recycling, LLC, a unit of Sonoco (NYSE: SON) and one of the largest packaging recyclers in North America, today announced that Sonoco CorrFlex’s Rural Hall, N.C., facility has successfully diverted over 95 percent of its waste to landfill. The plant is the second CorrFlex facility to receive a silver-tier Star Award.

In September 2011, employees at Sonoco CorrFlex’s Rural Hall, N.C., fulfillment facility formed Team Green, focused on achieving landfill-free status in two years. Since the plant is a fulfillment facility, its materials mix frequently changes based on the current customer and project. One of the major challenges for the team was staying on top of the flux of materials and determining the best outlet for each. To better understand their current program, the team began tracking landfill and recycling tonnage. Dumpster contents were monitored, assessing those areas that needed work to reduce the plant’s landfill tonnage. Common recycling areas were set up in production and office areas, and employees were encouraged to bring in their recyclables from home.  Rest

 

Staples and Gazelle

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. and BOSTON, Nov. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — With new electronic gadgets high on holiday wish lists this season, Staples is working with Gazelle to launch an electronics trade-in program. The Staples Tech Trade-In program makes it easy for small business and consumers to trade in eligible used electronics and receive a Staples eGift card for use at any Staples store nationwide. Gazelle is the nation’s leading consumer electronics reCommerce™ service.

Through the program, Staples will accept the trade-in of used electronics from more than 20 product categories regardless of where they were purchased. Eligible items that do not have trade-in value can still be sent to Gazelle for free recycling or brought to the nearest Staples store for recycling. This new service offering supports Staples’ industry leading commitment to providing easy electronics recycling solutions to customers.   Rest

Green Crowdsourcing

EDF is the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund that looks for solutions to environmental problems. The partnership between InnoCentive and EDF is based on the premise that “we is smarter than me,” and their first initiative together has produced a clever solution to an old agricultural problem. Using InnoCentive’s Internet platform, the two companies challenged the public to find ways to battle agricultural nitrate pollution.

The winner, Patrick Fuller, a PhD student in chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University, has won $5,000 for his contribution. He presented a report on the benefits of recycling nitrogen-rich water to grow algae as fertilizer, which when implemented will cut down on fertilizer run-off and algae-filled dead zones.  Rest

America Recycles Day

“American Recycles Day” (ARD) should really be “America Recycles Every Day” but then we wouldn’t have a special day to celebrate the cause.  Do you need ARD materials for your upcoming community event or office program or are you thinking about doing an ARD event but you are not sure where to begin?  Visit the ARD Toolkit pages for ideas on ARD events and pledge drives.  If you’re looking for ARD promotional material but not sure where to turn, visit the ARD store to order your ARD buttons, pencils and prizes for your ARD event participants.