CRA 26th Annual Conference - Save the Date! Come One, Come All - Conference Committee Volunteers Needed

Does the Carolina heat and humidity already have you wishing for a cool drink on the waterfront? Indulge yourself with thoughts of cool river breezes in Wilmington, NC. Mark your calendars now for our 26th Annual Conference and Trade Show in Wilmington from March 21 - 24, 2016.

Planning is already underway and there are many ways that you can get involved to make this conference even bigger and better than the last! The Conference Planning Committee is recruiting volunteers to help with the program and speakers, sponsors and exhibitors, entertainment, awards, auction, golf tournament and many other aspects that go into planning the largest recycling trade show in the Southeast.

For more information or to join the committee, please contact CRA Executive Director, Diane Davis at (704) 467-7774 or [email protected].

Recycling Innovators Forum Deadline June 1   Think yours is the next big idea in recycling?

The Recycling Innovators Forum is a venue for inventors and innovative organizations to present their game-changing ideas on how to advance recycling.  The Forum offers innovators throughout the recycling community the chance to compete for additional funding, marketing opportunities and industry support.

Up to 10 of of the best innovations will be invited to participate in the 2015 Recycling Innovators Forum on September 28 in Indianapolis at the Resource Recycling Confernce. One winner will be chosen from the finalists and will be awarded a prize of $20,000 to further advance their innovation.  Think yours is the next big idea in recycling?  Check out the submission details and get your innovation in before it's too late. The deadline for submitting a proposal is June 1, 2015.

NC DEACS Launches Mercury Products Recycling Grant Program

The purpose of the Mercury Products Recycling Grant program is to assist North Carolina local governments, solid waste authorities and water and sewer authorities in developing, implementing, and expanding recycling programs to collect products containing mercury with particular emphasis on increasing the number of public collection sites for fluorescent lights and mercury thermostats.

With the release of these guidelines, NC DEACS is accepting applications for grant funding from municipalities, counties, water & sewer authorities and solid waste authorities seeking to implement or expand programs collecting and recycling mercury containing products from the public.  Applicants should carefully read the Grant Application document below prior to submitting an application.  Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Joe Fitzpatrick or (919) 707-8121 to discuss application requirements and funding options prior to starting work on their grant application.

APR Study Shows Grocers Increases in Rigid Plastics Recycling Makes Economic Sense

The Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers (APR) recently released an economic overview of recycling grocery rigid plastics to help grocers recognize that recycling their bakery, deli, and other "behind the counter" rigid plastic containers makes economic sense. According to the study, recycling of these containers reduces the amount of material going to landfill and lowers waste disposal costs, while at the same time generating new revenue for the chains.

In 2013, The Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers (APR) developed the Grocery Store Recycling Program. In 2014, a case study from the group of multiple grocery rigid plastic recycling programs revealed that an average conventional supermarket generates between 80 to 150 pounds per week of rigid plastic containers within the bakery, deli, seafood, and pharmacy departments.

"There is tremendous demand for these containers from grocery stores," says Scott Saunders, General Manager of KW Plastics in Troy, AL, and Chairman of APR. "Because it is generally clean and already separated, grocers should be able to generate substantial revenue should they make this material available for recycling."

Keep America Beautiful Announces Results of "Recycling at Work" Research Study Convenience, Bin Size Keys to Establishing Improved Results of Recycling in the Workplace

Providing employees with a desk-side recycling bin and a smaller trash bin attached to it can serve as a success model for increasing recycling and reducing waste in the workplace. The recommendation, referred to as the "Little Trash" scenario, is one key insight comprising the first wave of the "Recycling at Work" study, commissioned by Keep America Beautiful with support from PepsiCo Recycling and CBRE.

Conducted over a six-month period in 2014, the study's purpose is to help define best practices for a recycling program that will foster improved recycling behaviour in the workplace and result in an increase of quality and quantity of materials collected. The results provide a number of common-sense approaches that can be broadly applied in most workplace environments.

The overarching recommendation, which achieved a 20 percent increase in office recycling during the study, is to provide employees with a desk-side recycling bin along with small trash bin. In common areas, it's recommended that recycling and trash bins be paired with simple, consistent signage provided on bins and posters with the most common recyclables identified on the recycling bin. Read the full press release from Keep America Beautiful.

SERDC Food Recovery Summit Registration Open Charleston Event to Focus on Prevention & Recovery of Food Discards

CRA Member Spotlight Gottlieb, Inc

Gottlieb Inc. is a proud, new member of the CRA and they recently had the pleasure of exhibiting at our 25th Anniversary Conference, their first CRA conference.  If you attended the trade show, chances are good that the newest recycling super hero to hit the solid waste industry caught your eye - Gottlieb, Inc.'s very own: Kid Remelt.
 
Gottlieb, Inc. is an aluminum deox manufacturer in Pittsburgh, PA.  The lion's share of their raw materials are traditional aluminum scrap which they melt in their furnaces to manufacture aluminum deoxidizer notch bars and various sized ingots. Their manufactured deoxidized ingots are used as an additive in the steel making process by customers throughout North America.  Robert Gottlieb, owner and President of Gottlieb, Inc., always saw the value of non-UBC aluminum in the household waste stream. The company has followed Bob's vision to utilize formerly discarded aluminum items and introduce them into the industrial recycling process.

There are many consumers of clean, aluminum used beverage containers (UBC's) but what about the contaminated/off-spec can packages or the "non-UBC" aluminum items such as cat food containers, foil/pie plates, aluminum aerosol cans, etc.?  Sure, they aren't as clean as your typical beverage container but does household contamination make it OK to dispose of good, recyclable aluminum? Gottlieb, Inc. has designed, built, and implemented a unique MRF aluminum processing system with the goal of changing the way people value their used aluminum.  They are working to spread the word from residents to processors throughout the Carolinas that these items should be recycled, captured, baled, marketed, and ultimately that diverting these recovered aluminum items from the landfill while compensating you for your efforts is a win-win.  Kid Remelt would like to team up with the Carolinas and the CRA to divert even more unwanted post-consumer aluminum away from landfills and into the industrial recycling process.

CRA Board of Directors

President Amanda Kain Catawba County Vice President Harris DeLoach III Sonoco Recycling Secretary Amanda Fairley Waste Management Treasurer Wes Westbrooks BMW Manufacturing Board Development Chair Michael Talbert Mecklenburg County

Chad Beane Moore County Public Works Lynn Bestul New Hanover County Anne Blindt Albemarle Regional SW Authority Patrick Darrow Goodwill Industries John Demary Pitt County Solid Waste & Recycling

Paul Hanna MetalTech Systems Brett Henderson PowerHouse Recycling Tonya Randell Moore Recycling Associates Rusty Smith Santee Cooper Karen Terry-Johnson Pratt Recycling