Through their cooperation with Alpine Waste and Recycling, the Denver metropolitan area has diverted approximately 2.5 tons of political yard signs from landfills this election season. The program, which began in 2007, was created to prevent an estimated more than 100,000 yard signs form piling up in local landfills, never to break down. The program is campaigned through Alpine Waste and Recycling’s recycling division Altogether Recycling.

Because the majority of political yard signs are made from corrugate plastic or HDPE plastic film, they are easily recycled, through a process similar to that of any recyclable plastic product. The plastic material is fed through some sort of size reduction machine, most commonly a granulator or shredder, to get it down to a small, uniform size that is ready to be molded into new plastic products. In the case of these recycled yard signs, they were reused in the form of plastic pellets, used to make products such as lawn chairs, trash cans and other heavy plastic items.

“Though the market for this product is relatively small compared with other materials that we process at Altogether, we determined that our municipal partners shared our enthusiasm for keeping the yard signs out of the landfill and made our efforts worthwhile,” Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling for Alpine, said in a statement, according to Waste & Recycling News.

This recycling initiative was paired with a public education campaign designed to increase public awareness for recycling by informing residents of the new carton recycling program. Under this change nearly all household containers are now available for collection. The percentage of American households with access to carton recycling programs has more than doubled in the past four years, making San Diego another stop along the path to full-nation coverage.

Recycling this waste, which falls into the category of paper products, reduces the environmental impact on trees to create new paper products and saves valuable space in landfills for items that cannot be recycled. Recycled paper products produce 73% less air pollution than those made from raw materials and each ton recycled saves 4000 kW of electricity that would be spent creating paper products using new material. 90% of paper pulp in existence today is made out of wood and paper production accounts for 35% of felled trees. Currently, recyclable paper products make up around 35% of municipal solid waste sent to landfills. Most often, recycled paper and paper products is used to produce molded pulp used in packaging, but can also be recycled into a variety of new paper products.

Most commonly, once this material is collected curbside it will be transferred to a recycling center to be processed, along with a variety of other curbside pickup material, such as plastic, aluminum and glass. The cardboard containers will be separated from the other recyclable materials and collected with other similar paper and cardboard materials to be processed and prepared for reuse. These paper products will be shredded down with a shredder specialized for this material, such as the Gruendler Model 36-2 Paper Shredder.

This model is specialized for cardboard, paper and paper product shredding. A shredder works by using three methods to reduce material to a smaller size: shearing, tearing and fracturing. Shearing is the actual cutting of the material. The cutting edges work against one another to slice the material, so the sharper the blades are, the more efficient the machine operates. Tearing involves pulling the material with such force that it rips apart. This technique works best on soft materials, such as papers and cardboard. Fracturing happens when hard or brittle materials are broken or shattered and usually occurs when cutters are not sharp or are loose. All three techniques work together to reduce the size of the material while the shredder is operating, however, shearing is the most efficient technique, making blade maintenance an important aspect of shredder upkeep. This paper shredder mainly uses shearing and tearing to reduce the paper products into strips because soft, flexible paper products do not fracture the way hard, rigid material does.

Gruendler Model 36-2 Paper Shredder

Gruendler Model 36-2 Paper Shredder

Aside from the increase in revenue and market value of WEEE recycling, this change to increased e-waste recycling is prominently displayed through two trends. One is in the recent move of electronic companies and recycling companies acquiring independent electronics recycling companies. The second is the increase in citizen awareness that old electronic devices can and should be recycled, and know where to recycle them at.

In the past month alone, Arrow Electronics Inc. and Sims Metal Management Limited have announced the acquisition of e-waste recyclers. In September, major electronics manufacturer/seller, Arrow Electronics, announced their acquisition of yet another electronics recycler, Redemtech Inc. This was after the company’s previous acquisition of Global Link Technology Inc., the Colorado-based electronics recycler specializing in the data removal, data security and refurbishment of electronics. This was announced around the same time that Sims Metal Management announced their acquisition of Maryland-based E-Structors Inc. Serving Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia, E-Structors is one of the largest electronics recycling and document destruction companies in the area. Stepping in to the electronics recycling ring gives this metal recycling company a competitive edge in its industry. As electronics recycling continues to grow and increase in profitability, we can expect these innovative companies too to continue to grow and should expect to see other electronics and scrap recycling companies follow in their footsteps.

A recent Consumer Electronics Association survey showed that 63% of consumers know where to recycling electronics and nine out of 10 consumers believe that it is important to recycle any unused electronic devices. The study went on to show that 60% of consumers removed at least one electronic device from their home in the past year, and of that 60%, 48% donated the device for reuse and 26% sent their device to be recycled. Consumers are right to recognize the importance of recycling the products rather than throwing them away to be landfilled. When it comes to e-waste, recycling is extremely significant because of the valuable material that can be recovered from used electronics, reducing the need to mine into the earth for new raw materials. In addition, throwing old electronics in the trash is also a safety hazard because of the toxic materials they contain that cause environmental problems if not discarded of properly.

When electronics show up at an e-waste recycling facility, they are processed down to the basic commodities on site. As the first step in the e-cycling process, most items are manually dismantled. Those that can’t be efficiently dismantled manually are put through a shredder so that the pieces of whole e-scrap and dismantled parts are taken down to scraps less than two inches in diameter. Pieces are then separated through a series of devices, traveling via conveyor belts. Once the devices have been broken down to their various metals and other elements, they are ready to be reprocessed and recycled into new products. With approximately 600,000 tons of electronic material recycled annually in the United States, a 120% increase compared to a decade ago, there is a definite market demand for an industry to take care of all this waste. And, with more and more knowledge coming to light on the damaging environmental effects of discarding of these products improperly, the e-waste recycling industry is on the rise and more profitable than ever.

Shred-Pax Model AZ 45 Shredder	MAC Saturn 62 x 40 Shredder
Tuffman 12′ Portable Incline Conveyor	18′ Incline Conveyor

Waste Pro USA Inc. didn’t expect such a high volume of calls when they sent out around 8,000 “Go Green” pamphlets to residents around St. Petersburg, Fl, announcing that they would be the city’s new recycling service and encouraging residents to sign up. In fact, the company was flooded with so many calls that residents were met with constant busy signals on the first day and Waste Pro ended up setting up a 15 operator call system lasting a three week period to ensure proper service to all customers wishing to sign up. This emphatic response is a plus to both the company as well as city residents, as St. Petersburg officials were considering shutting down the city’s curbside recycling all together when only 7,249 of 76,290 signed up for the service during the two year period under their previous provider.

Halfway across the country from St. Petersburg, students returning to school at the University of Colorado this year will see something new in the dorms and cafeteria: single-stream recycling bins. This upgraded recycling system was put in place just in time for students arrival in the hopes that this easy, everything in one bin system will make encourage students to recycle, and placing these new bins in campus cafeterias and dorms where all incoming freshman eat and sleep will make recycling the norm right off the bat. This program is a step in the direction of reaching the school’s campus-wide goal of a 90% landfill diversion rate.

Colorado isn’t the only state taking its recycling initiative to the next level, residents in Queen City, AZ will see an addition to the blue bin sitting out on the curb at next week’s curbside pickup. Residents received a special blue bag to stuff with textiles, including clothes, shoes, towels, sheets and blankets. The fabrics will be sent to United Fibers in Chandler, AZ where they will be turned into insulation. This four-month pilot program makes Queen City among one of the first locations in the country to offer this service.

With so many new residential recycling programs and upgraded residential recycling programs being introduced nationwide, the need for bigger and more efficient material recovery facilities (MRF) was an obvious side effect. An MRF is a plant that receives, separates and prepares recyclable materials for end-user manufacturers. A clean MRF only accepts commingled materials that have already been separated from municipal waste, while a dirty MRF accepts a mix of recyclables and waste. Most commonly, an MRF will consist of a single stream of material to be sorted, like the new Detroit plant. The materials travel on a conveying system manned by workers known as pickers who are each assigned to pick a different type of material off the line, thus separating waste from recyclables and commingled recyclables into groups of plastic, aluminum, glass, paper, etc.

Once the material has been sorted to specifications, it is ready to be baled, shredded, crushed or compacted in preparation for shipping. Condensing the material this way saves space, thus reducing shipping and storing costs, financially benefiting both the sorting facility and the end-user manufacturers.

Just last month, Today Republic Services, Inc. celebrated the grand opening of the world’s largest MRF in San Jose, CA. The 110 tons-per-hour multi-stream system is the first of its kind. This system will allow the site to process waste from 8,000 local businesses, as well as 85,000 local households and recover more than 80% of material for recycling. With a processing rate of 420,000 tons of material annually, it certainly sets a new standard in the recycling industry of today. We can only wait to see what the next big thing in residential recycling will be.

With such an extreme amount of food being wasted, especially in the U.S., it has been suggested that the government conducts studies to determine which foods account for the largest amounts of food waste and set up national goals for food loss reduction. Abroad, food waste levels and reduction was the number one topic at the World Water Week that took place in Stockholm last month.

In an attempt to not let so much food go to waste, or to at least do something with the food waste rather than just sending it to decompose in a landfill, some U.S. cities have set up curbside food pickup programs. These programs encourage residents to set out their food waste in special collection bins to be sent to be composted, rather than landfilled with the rest of the collected waste. Composting these materials cuts down on landfill overflow, reduces food waste by preparing it for reuse and helps the environment by decreasing the methane emissions released into the atmosphere.

Once the leftover food material is collected, it is sent to a site to be composted, broken down and prepared for reuse as fertilizer, top dressing, erosion control product of some other form of soil conditioning. The most common composting machines used to speed this process along, which play a vital role when composting mass amounts of food waste, are compost turners and windrow turners.

(Wildcat Compost Turner)

Windrow composting turners are most commonly used in large volume composting to improve porosity and oxygen content, mix in or remove moisture, and redistribute cooler and hotter portions of the pile. This method of composting is commonly used on the farm level. Windrow turners provide a range of benefits other composting and turning methods do not offer, such as consistent and pathogen-free compost, innovative and aggressive mixing, and the ability to accelerate compost digestion and rejuvenate contaminated soil. Windrow turners are more efficient than a bucket loader, are built to endure harsh weather conditions and are easy to use. Their tough rotor blades/teeth ensure the quickest composting time possible.

(Wildcat M-700-E Windrow Turner)

Waste is composted much more efficiently when the windrow (the long row of piled organic matter and biodegradable waste being composted) is bale to breathe. A windrow turner creates this environment by turning and breaking up the material in the windrows, thus stimulating the micro-organisms to break down the coarse organic matter. More turns are required at the beginning of the composting process to ensure proper mixing and to activate the breakdown process, but after the first couple of weeks, once the windrow has reached its maximum temperature, less turning is required. Windrow turners are designed to perform every task required to maximize bacterial and fungal activity necessary to produce odor-free valuable compost. When applied appropriately, windrow turning produces rich, high-quality compost in as few as six weeks, creating a safer and healthier environment for growing more abundant, high-quality produce.

(Wildcat 718 Windrow Turner)

Handling the food waste this way provides a much greater benefit to the environment than it would have if it had been sent to decompose in a landfill somewhere. Composting benefits both those creating and participating in the programs, as well as the end-users, such as the planters and farmers that will be able to produce their own compost, eliminating fertilizer costs and improving the quality of their crops.

Often times the gas will migrate from an old or existing landfill site in the brownfield area and affect nearby development. It is important that any contaminants in the air be detected early-on so that a treatment plan can be created at the beginning of the process, rather than incurring unexpected costs later on down the road. This makes a landfill gas analyzer and a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit an important investment for any brownfield cleaning or development project manager/planner.

Most commonly a PSA, such as the QuestAir (Xebec) Pressure Swing Adsorption Unit, is used to purify methane, but it can also be set up to purify nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia or hydrogen. It does this by absorbing all gasses found in biogas stream except the gas the user is wishing to purify; when all the other gases are adsorbed, the desired gas is separated from the gas stream, thus purifying it.

The gas stream emitted from a landfill or brownfield site is directly routed into the adsorption unit that uses carbon beds to absorb all of the carbon in the gas stream. Once saturated, these carbon beds can either be replaced or regenerated. If the user chooses regeneration, the gas leaving the regenerating carbon bed will still contain trace amounts of the other gases from the landfill gas stream; these gases will be sent through a thermal oxidizer where the undesired gasses will be incinerated.

After the gas has been properly processed through the adsorption unit, it can be directly used to generate electricity in homes, or it can be piped offsite to nearby manufacturing plants or industrial consumers to use as an alternative fuel source such as for heating/cooling at a school, government building or other public facility. 75% of the gas generated from a landfill can be used and sold as green energy if one simply has the proper harnessing and purification equipment for the job.

The QuestAir (Xebec) Pressure Swing Adsorption Unit is a skid-mounted, high-efficiency methane purification unit complete with packing, rapid cycle valves and five no high pressure (80-450 PSIG) vessels with packing currently configured for the separation of carbon dioxide from biogas to increase the methane (CH4) content. The unit measures 34 1/2′ long x 12 1/2′ wide x 13 1/2′ high. The system uses an integrated rotary valve technology in lieu of conventional solenoid-actuated valves, increasing throughput and will process up to 4,000 cfm.

Producing a new aluminum can from recycled material uses 95% less energy than using new materials, resulting in energy, emissions and resource savings. To put these savings into perspective, the energy savings gained from the recycled cans in 2011 alone is equal to the energy equivalent of 17 million barrels of crude oil. That is enough to fuel 1 million vehicles for a year.

An average of 68% of the content making up an aluminum can is reused every time it is recycled, and metal is one of the few materials that has an infinite recycling capability, meaning that the material can be used to form new products over and over again endlessly; it never breaks down or decomposes. And, the entire can to can process takes only 60 days. With aluminum recycling being such an easy and efficient process, it is no surprise that more and more companies are setting higher recycling and reduced waste to landfill goals. If this trend continues, the aluminum recycling industry may soon see recycling rate goals as high as 90-95% in the not so distant future.

Machinery such as balers and can flatteners help companies to meet their diversion goals by making the first step in the recycling process an in-house procedure. These machines take up relatively little space and help companies to save on storing and transportation costs by storing and shipping the metal waste and condensed bales, rather than piles of loose waste.

Marathon Model TR-10/50 2-Ram Auto-Tie Horizontal Baler

AB Model 60 Twin Cylinder Metal Baler

International Model C-54 Horizontal Baler

When condensing cans and other metal containers, using a can flattener is more efficient than just throwing the product into a standard baler because can flatteners produce highly compacted biscuits that are denser than standard baling. When bailing or condensing a product, the goal is for the final product to take up as little space as possible. This means the most efficient and cost effective condenser is going to be the one that produces the densest and most compacted bale or biscuit.

Alcoa Model EB 2500 Can Flattener/Blower

Alcoa Model EB 2500 Can Flattener/Blower

When cans are collected with residential recycling, they are received at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) along with other recyclable and non-recyclable materials. They are diverted from the municipal waste stream usually through use of an eddy current separator. Eddy current separators use a magnetic rotor along with forces of alternating polarity spinning quickly inside of a conveyor belt driven non-conductive drum to separate non-ferrous metals from ferrous metals. The external drum rotates at the speed of the belt, acting as the head pulley, while the internal rotor operates at a higher speed than the drum. These combined forces create a strong repelling force, inducting eddy currents. This separator collects the ferrous metals that stick to the magnet and rejects the non-ferrous metals as the alternating magnetic fields throw them out of the product flow.

Bunting Eddy Current Separator

Bunting Eddy Current Separator

The cans are then shredded down into small pieces so that they take up less volume and to prepare them to be melted down and molded into new material. Because the recycling process does not damage the metal’s structure, aluminum can be recycled infinitely and be used to produce new aluminum products over and over again.

One main industry constantly finding use from recycled tires is the paving and road construction industry. Asphalt companies mix large amounts of shredded rubber crumb in with their hot melt asphalt to make pavement projects less expensive while still being durable and reliable. Road construction companies also use shredded tires in road beds to minimize vibration and highway sound.

According to an Environmental Expert report (http://www.environmental-expert.com/news/liberty-tire-recycling-presents-recycle-wisconsin-2012-event-to-explore-innovative-applications-of-rubberized-asphalt-in-wisconsin-308786), “Rubberized asphalt is a low-cost, high-performance alternative to traditional paving mixes that reduces dependency on oil and limits carbon dioxide emissions.  Added to traditional asphalt, crumb rubber comprises 8- to 22-percent of the binder and increases tensile strength.  For more than 40 years, rubberized asphalt has proven to diminish maintenance costs and provide a smoother, safer ride.  Plus, recycled rubber provides a reliable and consistent supply of material.”

Beyond paving, processed tires are also used to form new rubber products, such as foundations for racetracks and playgrounds, mulch for garden beds and new tires themselves. They also provide erosion control and collision reduction and are a good source of carbon, replacing coal or coke in manufacturing.

Recycling and reusing scrap tires rather than landfilling them is economically and environmentally the right decision for a variety of reasons. Whole tires are made up of 75% void space, which consumes valuable space that could be filled with non-recyclable waste. Also, tires trap methane gases which can leak into and damage landfill liners that have been installed to keep landfill contaminants from polluting local surface or groundwater. And, with markets existing for recycling and reuse for more than 80% of scrap tires nationally and the amount of landfills accepting whole tires rapidly declining, there is a high demand for used tires.

This knowledge brought the Quebec region in Canada to the decision to clean up all 45.5 million of its scrap tires landfilled throughout the province. Since the project started in 2011, 12 major scrap tire sites and 800 small sites have been cleaned up with the tires being processed for reuse. The last 22 million scrap tires were removed from the stockpile in Franklin on July 20^th, 2012. Since 1996, Recyc-Quebec has been in charge of managing the province’s program to reclaim and recycle all scrap tires produced annually. More than 151 million vehicle tires have been recovered and recycled since the program started in 1990, including the 45.5 million recovered.

While the collection and recycling program costs the province money to get up and running, they are now profiting both environmentally and economically with the long term benefits of recycling this material for reuse, rather than landfilling.

National Tire Cutter Model 184TG Tire Cutter

Shred-Pax Model AZ 45 Shredder

Cumberland 100 hp Granulator

Seventeen years later, as the sole owner of the company, Gallagher moved to a more business-minded approach. She was accepted to a five month program put on by Goldman Sachs designed to provide professional, college degree level training to small business owners wishing to learn strategic development skills. Not only did the strategies learned from this course teach her new money making and cost cutting techniques to improve profit, it also taught her how to use these increased profits to be applied to achieving her overall mission of getting as many businesses as possible to sign contracts with her company to divert their hazardous fluorescent lamp powder waste from ending up in landfills.

Virtually every component of a fluorescent lamp can be recycled, including metal caps, glass and mercury phosphor powder. During recycling, lamps are crushed and the materials are separated under a continuous vacuum filtration process. In order to properly recycle the mercury phosphor powder to be reused in thermometers, barometers and electronic devices, the mercury must first be retorted, through a process known as lamp powder recycling. This is done through a mercury retort unit, such as the Mercury Tek Thermal Retort Unit.

The system recovers elemental mercury from fluorescent lamp tube powder through a four-step process. First, the lamp powder is screw fed into the retort chamber, eliminating the powder’s introduction to oxygen. Second, the powder is heated up to 1200 degrees F in the fluidized retort, vaporizing the mercury from the lamp powder. Next, the mercury vapors are cooled in a refrigerated heat exchange unit and condensed into a liquid form, making it easy to collect. Finally, the now mercury-free lamp powder is cooled, tested for mercury levels and recycled for profit.

Most communities in the United States, as well as various other countries around the world have implemented requirements and regulations on the disposal of fluorescent light tubes and other types of mercury containing lamps. Because mercury is such a potent neurotoxin, it is extremely important to keep this element out of the environment. When items containing mercury are not disposed of properly, mercury sediments leak into the environment. These sediments are consumed by small organisms, which are then eaten by fish or other animals. The mercury remains stored in the muscle and fatty tissues of that animal, thus traveling up the food chain. Exposure to mercury affects the brain, kidneys and liver causing developmental problems, neurological disorders, mental retardation and increased risk of heart attack.

Amounts as small as a half teaspoon of mercury can contaminate an entire lake or stream, making fish inedible. Forty of the 50 states have issued contamination advisories on select bodies of water and 13 states have statewide advisories on some or all fish from lakes and rivers. The EPA classifies fluorescent bulbs under the Universal Waste Rule, which was created to encourage recycling and proper disposal of certain common hazardous wastes by reducing the regulatory burden on businesses and individuals that generate these wastes. The rule dictates that all universal waste must go to a permitted Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility or permitted dangerous waste recycling facility.

EverLights, and companies like it, make it their mission to ensure that all businesses follow these rules and regulations regarding fluorescent lamp powder to make sure that it is collected and recycled properly. With her recent course graduation, Gallagher is equipped with the proper tools and know-how to make this vision a reality.

The recycling industry is based on the fact that it is better to find a way to reuse something than to just let it pile up in a landfill because it conserves natural resources, conserves energy and reduces the water pollution, air pollution and greenhouse gas emission that cause global warming. When it comes to e-waste, recycling is even more significant because of the valuable material that can be recovered from used electronics, reducing the need to mine into the earth for new raw materials. With that being the case, it is no surprise that we have seen a global increase in the amount of electronics collection programs using everything from standard drop off in store programs, to innovative pilot collection and testing efforts.

After a 2011 statewide ban on electronic waste disposal to landfills and incinerators, the E-Cycle New Jersey program began. This program established collection sites around the state for various electronic products including TVs, computers, monitors, laptops, printers, fax machines and DVD players. In an effort to increase exposure for this relatively new program, the Association of New Jersey Household Hazardous Waste Coordinators started a public awareness campaign last month for the e-waste recycling program. As a result, many electronics manufacturers joined with local communities for e-waste collection, increasing the number of electronics drop-off sites.

Outside of the United States, even more innovative steps are being taken to improve and increase e-waste collection, processing and recycling. Just this month, the European Union put a 10-year directive on electronics recycling into motion. This directive states that all EU member states must ensure that at least 45% of electronic equipment sold in the country is recycled by 2016. By 2019, the percentage increases to 65%. This new system will enforce take back programs at electronic retailers to collect the out-of-date electronics and sets up a uniform e-waste recycling policy across all states in the Union. Under the existing program, approximately 33% of e-waste is collected.

In order to make electronic waste collection an easier and more convenient process, the Niagra Region of Canada is considering a curbside e-waste collection program. The three-month pilot program would test to how actively resident use the services, if the amount of recycled electronics increases and if the program is economically viable before making it a permanent solution. Residents would be required to call before collection day, rather than just leaving the electronic devices at the curb, so workers would know to pick them up for recycling. While the program will cost approximately $60,000, it is projected to bring in a possible $200,000 per year through the Ontario Electronic Stewardship recycling program.

As electronic waste collection efforts increase and change, as does the way the waste is processed and handled. The United Kingdom has developed an accreditation for testing electronic waste. The current EU guidelines state that the waste must be tested in order to ensure that it is being shipped for reuse and not just being dumped someplace. The new standards will create conformed tests to check for illegal exports.

As shown in this new e-waste testing program, country’s working hard to ensure electronics are recycled are also working hard to ensure that they are processed correctly and that the valuable resources contained in these electronics are extracted for reuse. As these and other similar collection programs and testing efforts go into effect, we can expect to see an increase in the number of certified electronic recycling facilities.

When electronics show up at an e-waste recycling facility, they are processed down to the basic commodities on site. As the first step in the e-cycling process, most items are manually dismantled. Those that can’t be efficiently dismantled manually are put through a shredder so that the pieces of whole e-scrap and dismantled parts are taken down to scraps less than two inches in diameter. Pieces are then separated through a series of devices, traveling via conveyor belts. Once the devices have been broken down to their various metals and other elements, they are ready to be reprocessed and recycled into new products.

Shred-Pax Model AZ 45 Shredder	MAC Saturn 62 x 40 Shredder
Tuffman 12' Portable Incline Conveyor	18' Incline Conveyor