MATERIAL MATTERS
JUNE 2020 NEWSLETTER
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IRA MEMBERSHIP FEES WITH COVID DISCOUNT
Take advantage of a 10% membership COVID-19 discount offer through the end of July 2020. Help support the IRA and enjoy membership benefits at reduced membership fees.
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Member Spotlight
GDB INTERNATIONAL
A paint recycler located in Nashville IL with headquarters in NJ. GDB International Inc was established in 1993 as a leading exporter of paint and related material. In 1997 the company began recycling paint.
For over 20 years, GDB International has been the global leader in providing environmentally friendly solutions to the paint industry. They are the largest paint recycler in the United States and work with a variety of companies to take in unused paint, then turn it into a reliable environmentally-friendly paint product in a variety of colors for resale across the globe.
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Members of the Illinois Recycling Association enjoy the benefit of spotlighting their Business, Government, Educational Institution or Non-Profit entity in a future Newsletter. If you would like to be featured, please send an email to
info@illinoisrecycles.org.
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Check out the National Recycling Coalition’s Resource Center and Library!
The National Recycling Coalition has developed an online resource library which can be accessed by visiting the resource tab at
https://library.nrcrecycles.org
.
The NRC encourages your resource contributions to the library. The types of requested documents include conference proceedings you’ve organized or attended, webinars and documents you’ve published or presented, and case studies, guides, and reports you have compiled. An NRC board subcommittee routinely reviews submissions before posting to the site. Please pass along this request to your colleagues in the recycling industry, especially those who may be nearing the end of their careers. It would be a shame not to share their knowledge with future generations.
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Summary of the Recent Electronics Recycling Webinar
On May 21 the IRA hosted a virtual meeting on the State of Electronics Recycling in Illinois. The event was well received with 83 people registering to hear from experts in Illinois on both the residential & commercial sides of electronic recycling. The slide presentation & Zoom video on the IRA YouTube channel are available by
clicking here.
The discussion covered the history of the electronics law in Illinois and how manufacturers support the recycling of residential material, along with concerns related to the commercial side, which includes services to business, government, schools and non-profits. In addition, the panel answered questions regarding new electronic devices not covered by the law, some of the hazards involved in handling them, issues with markets for materials, and, of course, the impact COVID-19 has been having on the industry.
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
State of Illinois
:
The House and Senate had a brief session to handle budget issues. They are not expected to return to Springfield until the Fall Veto session when some bills may be passed but the majority are not expected to see additional action due to COVID-19.
Federal: Funds Requested
The
Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
, has joined more than 170 other organizations urging Congress to include direct relief to cities, towns and villages in future federal assistance packages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to SWANA, the unprecedented coronavirus public health crisis has strained municipal budgets across the U.S. This will test their ability to provide essential services to communities and support local economic activity in these critical times.
In response to these challenges, SWANA and others have
requested that congressional leadership support legislation
that would provide $500 billion of federal aid over two years to local governments. The association requests that these funds be fairly and directly allocated without exclusions based on population and should provide equal funding overall for both municipal and county governments.
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C&D Recycling Task Force Forming
Last month the IRA announced it was concerned with markets for some C&D materials and was forming a Task Force to explore and address these concerns. The percentage of material recycled required by State Law was set at 75% but traditional MRFs are reporting contamination rates as high as 40% demonstrating the need to re-evaluate this requirement on C&D recyclers, especially in light of the difficulty with marketing “fines”. If the Task Force pursues a legislative solution, funds will be needed to push the effort.
Members of this Task Force are:
Ron Tazelaar, IRA President and Owner of TAZ C&D Recycling
Bill Turley, Executive Director, Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA)
Dr. Townsend, University of Florida, Expert on C&D Fines
Mary Margaret Cowhey, IRA Treasurer, President/CEO of Land and Lakes Company
Dean Olson, Will County Resource Recovery and Energy Director
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August Webinar Topic: C&D Recycling Issues in Illinois
Please keep your calendar open for IRA’s next Virtual Meeting which is set for the last week of August to provide an update on the issues facing the Construction & Demolition Recyclers in Illinois. The Task Force will provide information on their exploration of both the issues and possible solutions with participants invited to submit questions via [chat] throughout. This webinar will be offered FREE to members.
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Cart Confusion: Textiles
As people sheltered-in-place March through May, many took advantage of this time to declutter. They found clothes, shoes and small home goods. All of these items can be donated but no thrift shops were open. Many folks understand that clothing can be recycled and occasionally get confused, believing this will happen though the recycling cart. It will NOT. Instead, the clothing may become entangled on sorting equipment leading to expensive shutdowns to clean the apparatus. Never place clothing in the recycling cart. Take it to “Clothing Collection Bins”, thrift stores, second hand shops or try selling it in garage or yard sales. Reuse is best and often the large donation organizations have downstreams that recycle what cannot be reused!
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Plastic Bag Recycling Update
At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak many stores ceased plastic bag collection while at the same time requiring patrons to use single-use plastic bags. This was disruptive on several levels. For those that avoid single-use grocery bags, they still need the collection containers for bread bags and the plastic wrap around toilet paper and for those used to taking that material, along with single-use bags, back to the store, it became one more item that many simply sent to the landfill. Thankfully many stores have resumed collection service and at no time was the material still being sent for processing, not recycled. Urge your local stores to resume collection if they have not already restarted it.
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"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes - including you."
Anonymous
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Illinois Recycling Association, PO Box 6957, Villa Park IL 60181
708 358 0050
info@illinoisrecycles.org
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