WasteCap of Lincoln’s Recycling E-Newsletter
January 2003
Happy New Year from WasteCap
Staff! Haven’t made
your New Year’s resolutions for your business yet? WasteCap can help!
This month’s E-newsletter focuses on some things you can do to help make
your business recycling program more efficient.
Mark your calendars!
WasteCap of Lincoln has already announced several of its events for next
year – for listing of topics and dates, check out this month’s
newsletter!
Check out our website at
www.wastecaplnk.org
for WasteCap’s 2003 Calendar of Events along with all our recent
publications and press releases.
What’s New
for January 2003:
(Click on a headline
below to jump to the topic and use your browser's BACK button to return
to this index)
¨
WasteCap’s New Member Summary
¨
WasteCap Receives Funding from NDEQ
¨
“Business Recycling 101: Train &
Maintain” Planned for February 12th
¨
Upcoming Events for WasteCap of Lincoln
¨
Request for Annual Volume Reports &
WasteCap Evaluation
¨
Retrofit Recycling Pick-Up Dates
¨
Markets Corner
¨
Research Assistance: Partners in
Pollution Prevention (P3) Intern Program
¨
Recycled Content Purchasing
¨
Toner Cartridge Recycling Options
¨
How to Stop Unwanted Junk Mail
WasteCap’s New Member Summary
With the establishment of a new, three-tired
membership structure to better serve our members, 2002 proved to be an
exciting year for WasteCap of Lincoln. Opening our membership to
service providers and vendor recruitment for the P2 Training & Vendor
Show helped boost our membership numbers last year. In 2002, WasteCap
added the following 12 members:
·
CP Recovery
·
Electronic Recyclers
·
Environmental Compliance Enterprises
·
Firstar Fiber
·
Gabilan Manufacturing
·
Li-Cor, Inc.
·
Lincoln Plating
·
Midland Recycling
·
Recycling Enterprises
·
Retrofit Recycling
·
Roberts Recycling
·
Shred All
Thanks again to all of the businesses who have
continued to support WasteCap of Lincoln. We look forward to working
with all of you in 2003 – thank you for the successful year!
WasteCap of Lincoln Receives Funding from
NDEQ
WasteCap of Lincoln
received grant funding of nearly $49,000 from the Nebraska Department of
Environmental Quality’s (NDEQ) Litter Reduction and Recycling Grant
Program. Altogether, the state received 50 eligible applications
requesting more than $1.6 million for recycling and litter reduction
projects. Over $1.2 million was awarded for 46 projects throughout
Nebraska.
The
funds awarded to WasteCap of Lincoln will be used for a minimum of three
training sessions and two talk and tours. The training sessions will
focus on waste reduction and recycling issues including buy recycled,
electronics, and measuring and tracking waste reduction potential.
Because last year’s “Nebraska Recycling & Pollution Prevention Training
& Vendor Show” received positive feedback and had a high level of
participation, a second vendor show may also be planned for this
upcoming year.
Due
to the high success of the initial Talk & Tour at the University of
Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium last year, WasteCap of Lincoln asked for
funding to host additional similar events. These activities will assist
businesses in learning innovative strategies for waste reduction,
recycling and pollution prevention. Each tour host will explain the
processes used to reduce waste and strategies that the company has
implemented for successful diversion and recycling. This information
will assist other businesses in developing programs of their own,
thereby reducing waste and saving money.
The
grant award also allows for WasteCap of Lincoln to begin statewide
expansion. WasteCap of Lincoln will begin working with service
providers to create agreements for businesses outside the Lincoln area.
Initially, one pilot city will be chosen to test the applicability of
the WasteCap model in other communities. WasteCap of Lincoln intends to
partner with several other environmental service organizations in order
to make this huge undertaking a success.
WasteCap of Lincoln, a partnership of the City of Lincoln and the
Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, assists area businesses in developing waste
reduction, recycling and pollution prevention programs. Last year,
WasteCap’s member businesses saved nearly $300,000 in landfill and
recycling fees by participating in the programs offered. For more
information on how you business can benefit from WasteCap of Lincoln,
contact Carrie Hakenkamp, director at (402) 472-0888 or visit their
website at
www.wastecaplnk.org.
“Business Recycling 101: Train &
Maintain” Planned for February 12th
WasteCap of Lincoln is hosting
“Business Recycling 101: Train & Maintain” highlighting basic
techniques for business recycling programs. Sponsors for the event
include The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), Midland
Recycling, and the Lancaster County Extension Office. The training
session is planned for
Wednesday, February 12, 2003 from 8:30 a.m. till 12 Noon at the
Lancaster County Extension Office in Lincoln, Nebraska.
This event will assist local businesses
to not only begin a successful waste reduction and recycling program,
but also to maintain their program that is already in place. The
training course materials include a CD complete with commodity-specific
recycling information as well as customizable Power Point presentations
that can be catered to meet the needs of your individual business. With
spreadsheets complete with calculated formulas, these presentations will
not only keep your employees informed of your business’ current
recycling efforts but also help lay out specific goals in the future for
added commodities and/or improved diversion rates. The topics, shown
below, highlight some of the most important and easily diverted wastes
at local businesses.
Learn about how
to recycle and divert waste from the following areas:
·
Computers & Electronic
Equipment
·
Fiber Products
·
Fluids
·
Fluorescent Tubes &
Lighting Waste
The cost of the training session is $39 per person
for non-members and $25 per person for WasteCap of Lincoln members. The
training fee includes a continental breakfast and learning packet
complete with a customizable interactive CD and training manual. For
more information, call WasteCap of Lincoln at (402) 472-0888 or visit
their website at
www.wastecaplnk.org.
Upcoming Events for WasteCap of Lincoln –
Mark Your Calendars!
The following is a list of the events and
trainings scheduled by WasteCap thus far for the 2003 calendar. Mark
down the dates now into your calendar – we’ll be sending more
information and formal invitations soon! Click
here to see a
full list of our 2003 events.
“Business Recycling 101”
– February 12th from 8:30 am to 12 noon at the Lancaster Co.
Extension Office
This training session will not only help
you, as a business representative, train your employees how to recycle,
but also how to maintain your current recycling program. Those
attending the training will receive a packet containing a customizable
interactive CD and a training manual. Topics will include how and why
businesses should recycle electronics, fiber, fluids (oil, solvents,
etc.), and fluorescent light tubes.
Latsch’s “Buy Recycled” Training
– March 19th from 8:30 am to 11 am at the Scottish Rite
Temple
Latsch’s will host and
sponsor this half-day training session to assist local businesses in
purchasing recycled-content office supplies. Attendees will receive
WasteCap’s guide entitled “Buy Recycled: Train the Trainer Program.”
Computer & Electronic Equipment
Collection – April 11th
from 10 am to 4 pm at State Fair Park
Held in conjunction with the
Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department’s CESQG Hazardous Waste
Collection, this grant-funded collection will offer businesses the
opportunity to recycle old electronic equipment at a reduced fee.
Request for Annual Volume Reports &
WasteCap Evaluation
All WasteCap of Lincoln members should
have already received the “2002 Annual Volume Report” and
“2002 WasteCap/INFORM Evaluation” last week in the mail. New to the
volume report is the request for total refuse volume estimation. This
information is extremely important in determining you business’ specific
recycling rate as well as for benchmarking future programs at your
business.
Please take a few moments to complete
these surveys. Your responses are used to evaluate the effectiveness of
the memoranda utilized by INFORM members, and to measure the amounts of
material that are diverted from the landfill each year. By combining
amounts reported by all other members for each material, a total annual
volume will be compiled. This total will allow us to compare recycling
efforts to past years, and gauge the recycling progress of the WasteCap
members as a whole.
We would like to have all volume reports
and surveys returned by January 31st in order to
compile the necessary information for the 2002 Annual Report. Thank you
for your cooperation!
Retrofit Recycling Pick-Up Dates
Reminder that WasteCap of
Lincoln members do receive discounted fluorescent lamp, ballast,
electronic and battery recycling services through Retrofit Recycling
(800-274-1309) and Environmental Compliance Enterprises (466-2268).
Please let us know if you need an updated price sheet.
January:
29th
& 30th
February:
10th
& 11th
24th
& 25th
Markets Corner
|
|
November |
December |
January |
|
OCC |
60 |
50 |
50 |
|
CPO |
40 |
50 |
50 |
|
Mag |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
News |
10 |
20 |
20 |
|
SOP |
25 |
25 |
25 |
Reminder that INFORM Members using
Midland Recycling are paid $20 under the reported price for loose
cardboard (OCC) and $5 under the reported price for baled cardboard in
bales weighing over 1,000 pounds.
Material abbreviations:
OCC- Old Corrugated Cardboard
CPO- Computer Print Out
Mag- Old
Magazines
News- Old Newspaper
SOP– Sorted Office Paper
Research
Assistance: Partners in Pollution Prevention (P3) Intern Program
The Partners in Pollution Prevention
(P3) Program has been providing summer technical assistance to
businesses since 1997. The program places undergraduate student interns
in industrial facilities to help companies identify, evaluate, and
implement pollution prevention projects. Up to seven P3 interns will be
assigned to companies during the summer of 2003.
This unique program, sponsored by the
Nebraska Dept. of Environmental Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Region VII, and UNL’s Cooperative Extension Division and College
of Engineering & Technology, helps give Nebraska businesses fresh
perspectives and new ideas in P2 methods. Through the ten-week program,
businesses can expect to receive short-term expertise in P2 that may
improve efficiency, save money, reduce pollution and waste, and/or
reduce regulatory compliance burden.
Between 1997 and 2001, the P3 Intern Program
assisted 246 businesses, showed a potential cost savings of $2.9
million, and diverted 21.5 million pounds of solid waste annually.
Visit their website to learn more about
Potential Cost Savings & Waste Reduction Impacts
from the Program.
In order to be eligible to receive an
intern, businesses must be located in Nebraska, committed to reducing or
eliminating pollution and waste through pollution prevention methods,
willing to pay a portion of the cost of the intern (typically around
$2,000), committed to providing day-to-day supervision of the intern,
and able to provide a desk, phone, computer, and internet access.
If you would like more information about or are
interested in participating in the Partners in Pollution Prevention (P3)
Intern Program, visit their
website or
contact
Bruce Dvorak
directly.
Recycled Content
Purchasing
Before you order that next box of copy
paper, think about what type of company you are supporting. Recently,
several of the large office supply companies have been accused of not
being as environmentally friendly as they could be. As a result of the
pressure of the media and concerned customers, these same companies have
been “greening-up” their supplies.
Late last year, Staples made the decision to phase
out products made with wood from endangered forests. In addition to
that long-awaited change, the 1,400 stores nationwide have tripled the
recycled content in paper (from 10% to 30%). Visit their
website to learn
more about their new, more environmentally conscious policies.
Office Depot, the only office supply company
larger than Staples, made an announcement earlier this month concerning
its recycled content purchasing policies. In addition to offering 1,700
recycled products and requiring suppliers to certify that no logging
took place in old-growth forests, Office Depot has now hired a
consulting firm to aid its largest customers with their recycled content
procurement. You can read more about Office Depot’s environmental
policies by viewing their
Code of Ethics.
Latsch's Inc. has been serving the office product
needs of businesses in Lincoln, NE and the surrounding area for over 85
years. They are known for their high quality products, competitive
prices, and excellent customer service. Latsch’s makes every attempt to
stock products with recycled content. An added bonus is the agreement
with Latsch’s, which provides recycled content purchasing tracking free
of charge to WasteCap members. Visit their
website to learn
more about their products and free delivery service.
Toner Cartridge Recycling Options
Every business uses them, but do we ever
think what happens to them once they’re empty? If your business does
not already recycle “empties”, adding toner cartridges to your recycling
program is incredibly simple. The following organizations will help you
recycle toner cartridges free of charge.
The Optimist Club in Lincoln provides
pick-up service at your business as often as needed. They use the money
generated from recycling the toner cartridges to fund youth projects in
Lincoln. Contact Earl Visser at (402) 466-8421 for more information.
ECCO Recycles,
out of Kent, Washington, will provide your business with all the
materials necessary for collecting and sending your empty inkjet and
laser cartridges. Your business can either be paid directly for the
empties (view their
buyback list), or the revenue generated
can be donated to a charity or school of your choice.
Three
local businesses not only offer a collection service for used toner
cartridges, but also sell high quality remanufactured toner cartridges.
For more information, contact
Bob Cottrell at Full Circle Image,
Steve Breinig at Media Recovery (484-8200), and
Mike Decker at Latsch’s.
How to Stop Unwanted Junk Mail
It is a never-ending battle to get rid
of all that junk mail that piles up in you mailbox. Everyone has the
same problem, but how do you stop it? Check out this website for some
common sense ideas for before and after you have received the “pile.”
http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/recycle/graphics/BusinessNewsletter/Winter2002/Page4JunkMail.pdf