Waste News articles from May 2006

Waste News archives from May 2006

Stock Report.(At Your Disposal)
May 8, 2006... 3 graphs: Waste News Stock Index * Calvert Social Index Fund * Dow Jones Industrial Average * table: Percentage change by market segment: see print copy

Personnel.(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... AG CONTAINER RECYCLING COUNCIL - Ron Perkins named executive director. AUGUST MACK ENVIRONMENTAL INC. - Darci Thomas promoted to project manager, Indianapolis office. BUDGET WASTE INC. - Kelly Podmoroff appointed manager, residential...

Clergy panel preaches environmental action.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth McGowan Making baptized believers of those who question global warming, says the Rev. Richard Cizik, requires shaking the fence free of mugwumps - those who sit with their mugs facing one direction and their wumps the...

Conn. hauler pleads guilty.(Joseph R. LoStocco, trash hauler, Connecticut)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson A Danbury, Conn., trash hauler pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge, admitting to taking part in a system to divvy up territory, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Joseph R. LoStocco, 47, of Danbury,...

Mag recycling hits West Coast.(recycling of magazines and catalogs)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson A campaign to boost the recycling of magazines and catalogs is expanding to the West Coast. Recycling Magazines is Excellent, or ReMix, is adding Portland, Ore., to a program that already includes Boston, Prince...

GHG emissions from solid waste drops.(greenhouse gas emissions)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Municipal solid waste disposal volumes have basically doubled between 1970 and 2003, but greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste activities dropped dramatically during that same stretch, a trade group for...

Deere buying into wind.(Deere & Co wind turbine deal)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bob Tita Crain's Chicago Business Deere & Co. wants to make wind-powered energy turbines as much a part of the rural landscape as Deere's big green tractors. The new John Deere Wind Energy unit plans to invest about $300...

A man's home is his castle.(recycling materials for construction work)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson The world comes to Peter Wing's doorstep, Wednesdays through Sundays. On a busy day, as many as 300 people can show up at Wing's Castle in Millbrook, N.Y., to see what 37 years of work, chiefly from recycled...

EPA could approve urea system; One automaker may have pollution control system for diesel engines.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Richard Truett Automotive News Diesel-powered vehicles that rely on a controversial chemical called urea to lower tailpipe emissions are closer to getting a green light from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At least...

Hong Kong joins debate on plastic bag waste.(News)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Steve Toloken Plastics News Just two months after the Hong Kong government raised the possibility of taxing plastic bags, the topic has struck a nerve in the city of 7 million. Television airwaves are full of ads urging people to...

Coming Events.(Calendar)(Calendar)
May 8, 2006... May 8-11 - National Environmental Partnership Summit, Atlanta. Call (413) 684-2403 or visit www.environmentalsummit.org. May 9-11 - Resource Training Institute Radioactive Waste Management Training, Oak Ridge, Tenn. Call (706) 951-5685 or...

10 states sue EPA over CO2.(News)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Ten states have filed a lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from new power plants across the nation. "In defense of public health, the...

EPA recognizes NRDC's Hawkins.(Environmental Protection Agency)(Natural Resources Defense Council)(David Hawkins recieves Thomas W. Zosel Outstanding Individual Achievement Award)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... David Hawkins, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and director of the the NRDC Climate Center, has been selected by the Environmental Protection Agency to receive this year's Thomas W. Zosel Outstanding Individual...

Supplier News.(PC Scale Inc house software version conformance certificate)(Franklin Electric Company Inc acquires Little Giant Pump Co)(Bell Equipment Co joins Heil distribution network)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... PC Scale earns software certificate PC Scale Inc. last month earned a National Type Evaluation Program certificate of conformance for its latest scale house software version. The NTEP certificate helps assure that commercial devices,...

Waste Generator Briefs.(Briefs)
May 8, 2006... Industry Report tracks environmental progress Steel recycling has reached a 20-year high; the number of buildings meeting green building standards doubled last year; and paint and coating manufacturers now reclaim 97 percent of all...

Green home building expected to rise sharply.(News)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Interest in green home building is expected to increase by 30 percent this year among those in the industry on top of a 20 percent increase in 2005, a new survey shows. Preliminary results of a survey conducted by...

Jury: Pipe maker, workers guilty of enviro, safety abuses.(Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co crimes trial )
May 8, 2006... Byline: Joe Truini A federal jury has found a McWane Inc. division and four company officials guilty of committing flagrant abuses of environmental and worker safety laws. The seven-month trial was the longest environmental crimes...

CAPITAL BRIEFS.(legislative bills)
May 8, 2006... LEGISLATION GENERAL ENVIRONMENT Colorado: House Bill 1095 requires a governmental body to award the contract to a bidder who is able to offer environmentally preferable products subject to the conditions specified in the act in...

New Products.(Products)
May 8, 2006... HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY has introduced the Zaxis Dash Three excavator line. The Dash Three excavators include enhancements such as Tier 3 engines, faster hydraulics, a redesigned cab, and a beefier undercarriage, the manufacturer said....

D.C. architect 'recovers' via surplus shop.(Jim Schulman, Washington D.C.)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth McGowan In the last half year, Jim Schulman has lost count of the number of telephone inquiries he's fielded from warehouse operators wanting to know if he sells forklifts. The callers can all be forgiven, Schulman is...

10 states sue U.S. gov't over SUV fuel standards.(News)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Ten states have filed a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's new fuel economy standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San...

Illegals: We're all guilty.(illegal immigration)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Allan Gerlat Environmental management and illegal immigration in many ways share the same Catch-22. The business of managing environmental issues like waste collection, recycling and water treatment includes work everyone...

Senator unveils CO2 bill.(carbon dioxide cap legislation)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., is introducing new legislation with bipartisan support that would toughen air emissions requirements at electric power plants and impose the nation's first-ever carbon dioxide cap. The...

Katrina's water bill smacks utilities; Federation pegs damage at $1.4 billion.(Hurricane Katrina)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Joe Truini Lost in the muck Hurricane Katrina left behind was its impact on the Gulf Coast wastewater treatment infrastructure, but an international water quality group has finally quantified the damage. The hurricane that hit...

Inbox.(global warming )
May 8, 2006... Byline: Pete Fehrenbach The global warming news took an unexpected turn last week. A spate of headlines brimming with harmony and accord started popping out of the woodwork. (I hear you quipsters out there: Does the Internet even have...

Power plant settlements reach westward; Scrubbers just part of $100M investment in North Dakota New Source Review deal.(News)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman A North Dakota power plant is the first in the western United States that burns lignite coal to reach a financial settlement with federal and state officials. Two utilities jointly operating a coal-burning power...

Alabama Power will spend $200M.(coal-fired power plant)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Alabama Power Co. has agreed to spend more than $200 million on pollution controls and other measures at its James H. Miller Jr. coal-fired power plant near West Jefferson, Ala. The company, as a partial settlement of Clean Air Act case...

Bush waives fuel rules to ease gas prices.(environmental regulators for fuel blend)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman President Bush has instructed federal environmental regulators to temporarily waive local fuel blend requirements when necessary to boost gasoline supplies and hold down prices. Bush, saying soaring gasoline...

It's settled; Firms to pay $8M to clean Ariz. site.(clean up the contamination)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Federal authorities will require the owners of a former manufacturing facility for defense and aerospace component systems to pay more than $8 million to clean up contamination at the Phoenix-area site. The...

Veolia targets $1B in revenue in N. America.(Michel Gourvennec, Veolia Environmental Services)(Interview)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Michel Gourvennec is not sure exactly how long it will take, but the CEO of Veolia Environmental Services expects solid waste management revenues to hit $1 billion for his company in North America. After spending a...

Waste Industry Briefs.(Southern Recycling LLC )
May 8, 2006... Labor Teamsters' strike grows in New York Striking Teamsters expanded picket lines to 15 hauling and transfer station sites in the New York City metropolitan area on April 27, the union said. Workers from Laborers Local 108 and...

Green group lauds work in health care field.(outstanding achievements in environmental performance)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Hospitals for a Healthy Environment has recognized a record 190 hospitals, health systems and health care organizations for outstanding achievements in environmental performance. The winners included the 14...

Look what's not in the bag; 2 firms debut IV bags that don't use PVC.(News)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Mike Verespej Plastics News Triggered by health concerns and efforts to reduce plastics waste, the IV container market - which shifted from glass to plastics in the 1970s - could be shifting away from polyvinyl chloride to other...

Katrina: What lies beneath.(damage to wastewater operations of the Gulf Coast)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Hurricane Katrina has made its vast impact on the Gulf Coast in ways highly visible and in ways not so visible. One effect not quite as obvious as the leveled buildings but no less critical is the wastewater infrastructure of those areas. ...

A Look Back.(At Your Disposal)
May 8, 2006... 1987: The Garbage Project at the University of Arizona in Tucson begins excavating modern landfills as if they were ancient archaeological sites. Five years ago: The Los Angeles International Airport begins a six-month pilot project to...

At Deadline.(Seattle sanitation workers, Environmental Protection Agency budget cut, recycling at Kentucky Derby)
May 8, 2006... Seattle trash workers reach deals with duo Unionized trash workers in Seattle struck tentative labor deals with both Waste Management Inc. and Allied Waste Industries Inc. Members of Teamsters Local 174 were scheduled to vote on the...

The wheels of democracy.(climate change)(Brief article)(Column)
May 8, 2006... Scientific support continues to grow for the theory that humans are playing a role in the planet's changing climate. Political support for that concept seems to be growing too, though somewhat more slowly. A hardy strain of skepticism remains,...

Cascades buys mill for $14.5M.(Caraustar Industries Inc.)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Cascades Inc. is buying a major recycled boxboard plant in Sprague, Conn., from Caraustar Industries Inc. for $14.5 million. The sale of the mill, which represents 7 percent of North America's recycled boxboard...

DaimlerChrysler sets ethanol goal.(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson DaimlerChrysler Corp. expects to sell at least 250,000 flexible-fuel vehicles in the 2007 model year capable of running chiefly on ethanol, and then almost double that to nearly 500,000 for the following model year. ...

Product stewardship: Sharing the load.(Product Stewardship Institute )
May 8, 2006... Byline: Scott Cassel Product stewardship. EPR. Producer responsibility. Cost internalization. Shared responsibility. Whatever you call it, I call it a revolution. Not one with Molotov cocktails, coups and kidnappings. But a rapid paradigm...

Slow, but steady; Parties more cautious about privatizing services.(solid waste management )
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Movement of solid waste management from municipal to private hands continues to occur, but not nearly at the pace it once did. Privatization - when a local government essentially decides to get out of the trash...

Guns now holstered, N.M. deal working well.(Bernalillo County, New Mexico)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Bernalillo County, N.M., had to make some decisions about solid waste management. And it wasn't easy. But a decade after privatizing solid waste management services, representatives from both the county and the...

Yucca Mountain falsifications get a pass; Justice Department won't prosecute employees at proposed nuclear waste facility.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The U.S. Justice Department has decided against prosecuting federal employees accused of falsifying research related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository proposed for the Nevada desert. The U.S. Energy...

Stock Report.(At Your Disposal)
May 22, 2006... 3 graphs: Waste News Stock Index * Calvert Social Index Fund * Dow Jones Industrial Average * table: Percentage change by market segment: see print copy

Technology & New Products.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Tracy Hayhurst TITAN TRAILERS INC. has custom-built an A-Train Tipper Trailer to maximize payloads for waste hauling in the Rocky Mountain region. The Rocky Mountain Double configuration takes advantage of permits available in...

A Look Back.(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... 1935: Rohm and Haas invents Plexiglas, a clear plastic used in headlights, windows, clocks and jewelry. Five years ago: U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., introduces a bill that would give states the authority to block imports of municipal...

Inbox.(At Your Disposal)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Pete Fehrenbach Like A Hot Knife Through Butter: L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's commingled-cops-and-trash plan skated through the City Council Tuesday. The lawmakers unanimously approved the mayor's proposal to double the city's...

CAPITAL BRIEFS; A summary of recent developments in federal and state environmental legislation and regulation.
May 22, 2006... LEGISLATION GENERAL ENVIRONMENT Alaska: House Concurrent Resolution 30 calls for creating an Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission. Adopted May 9. Hawaii: Senate Resolution 163 encourages the Department of Transportation to...

Texas Mills makes $1B buy.(News)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. is selling its consumer packaging operations to a private investment firm for a little more than $1 billion. The deal with Texas Pacific Group includes four mills that make coated...

Landfill gas powers BMW's paint shop.(News)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Not every car that BMW Manufacturing Co. will paint will be the same color. But the company is touting the paint shop at its Spartanburg, S.C., manufacturing site as being "green.'' BMW will start using methane...

Waste Industries targets Atlanta.(News)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Waste Industries USA Inc. is continuing its march on Atlanta with another three acquisitions that will expand the company's presence in that market. The Raleigh, N.C.-based solid waste management company has...

Kimberly-Clark gains big in recycling.(News)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson Kimberly-Clark Corp. - the big consumer products company - managed to recycle 69 percent of its manufacturing waste from around the world last year, according to the company's new sustainability report. The...

Waste Generator Briefs.
May 22, 2006... Energy Hot spots worry EPA Inspector General The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General's Office is questioning the agency's conclusion that the new mercury rule for emissions at power plants won't result in hot spots....

Hong Kong's bag lag.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Pete Block Hong Kong has apparently put plastic grocery bags on the front page ["Hong Kong joins debate on plastic bag waste,'' Waste News, May 8, 2006]. What to do? Tax them? Establish "no plastic bag'' days? Mount a drive...

Unicor deserves a bit of slack.(Opinion)(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... For much the same reasons that it has hired illegal immigrants, the waste and recycling industry has employed prison labor. It reduces costs to make the product competitively priced, and it provides workers to do tasks that not many others will...

At Deadline.(avoid plastic bags)(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... California bill targets plastic bag litter The California State Assembly passed legislation May 18 to reduce plastic bag litter and waste. Assembly member Lloyd Levine, a Democrat, introduced the measure, which requires grocery stores...

Study: Plenty of natives available for hire.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth McGowan Will Flower's opinions about immigration don't differ much from those of most other executives in the trash hauling and recycling industry. The vice president at Republic Services Inc. sees an America...

Feds react to tips rather than focus on sectors.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth McGowan More than 1,000 April arrests of illegal immigrants employed at the nation's largest pallet maker and recycler might have put other businesses in the environmental sector on edge. A U.S. Immigration and...

Waste Industry Briefs.(Briefs)
May 22, 2006... Container Recycling Aluminum can rate rises again The U.S. aluminum can recycling rate increased for the second consecutive year, though the number of cans returned dropped slightly. Americans recycled 51.4 billion aluminum cans in...

Coming Events.(Calendar)(Brief article)(Calendar)
May 22, 2006... May 22-25 - Fifth International Conference on Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds, Monterey, Calif. Contact Heather Gatta (410) 306-8651 or visit www.battelle.org. May 31-June 2 - Recycling Council of British Columbia 32nd...

Nearly half of U.S. streams in poor condition, EPA says.(Environmental Protection Agency)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman A new government survey shows 42 percent of the shallow stream miles in the United States are in poor condition and only 28 percent are in good condition. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's May 5 survey...

Borderline employees; Research shows illegal immigrants prevalent in waste and recycling fields.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth McGowan Illegal immigrants laboring in the environmental sector are far from invisible. They fill an above-average 7 percent of the jobs in the industry, according to a recent comprehensive study of the work force by a...

Solution for recycling standard not in sight.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joe Truini Stakeholders met May 11 in Burlingame, near San Francisco, for the fourth round of talks to develop electronics recycling standards. The small group of recyclers, environmental groups, manufacturers and government...

Democrats roll out 'clean energy' bill.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Senate Democrats have proposed their own energy plan aimed at reducing dependence on foreign oil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative, dubbed Clean Energy Development for a Growing Economy, or...

EPA may remove 'waste' label from CRTs.(Environmental Protection Agency)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joe Truini After a 12-month silence, the federal government may finally be ready to move on a long-awaited cathode ray tube rule that should ease reuse and recycling. The White House Office of Management and Budget has released...

A group effort; Online tool can aid green purchasing.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joe Truini A new federal computer standard should take the guesswork out of green. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association unveiled a new tool...

Seller's market; Buying spike drives up company values.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson This is the year of the seller in the solid waste industry, according to one New York investment banker who says there's a buying frenzy driving up prices. With company valuations up 40 percent in the past couple of...

Unicor pledges new standards; Probe spurs company to upgrade inmate e-waste recycling practices.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joe Truini If you can't join 'em, beat 'em. That's the attitude of Federal Prison Industries Inc. The government-owned firm, which does business as Unicor, has faced a barrage of criticism over health and safety issues at its...

Cooperation on immigation.(Opinion)(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Stories in this week's issue of Waste News confirm that illegal immigrants are a very real part of the waste industry work force. Some solutions also are offered, but the problem is by no means simple. Illegal immigrants comprise about 7...

Correction.(Correction notice)
May 22, 2006... * A Capital Briefs news item on Page 10 of the April 24 issue should have said that Maine's governor signed Senate Bill 47 that, beginning Jan. 1, 2007, limits the amount of wood from construction and demolition debris that may be substituted...

Ohio ag prof spreads the word about gypsum.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Tracy Hayhurst Stricter regulations over emissions from coal-burning power plants have raised air quality standards during the last three decades, but an Ohio State University professor also recognizes that those higher standards...

Ohio firm expands food waste biz.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson An Ohio company expects to double the amount of food waste it can divert from area landfills with a grinding project that will cost more than a half a million dollars. Paygro, of South Charleston, also expects to...

Water quality concerns spur letter; 2 N.Y. congressmen want EPA's Johnson to act on perchlorate.(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Two Long Island congressmen have written a letter urging Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson to immediately establish a safe drinking water standard for perchlorate. Reps. Tim Bishop,...

Watching and waiting in San Francisco.(paper bags may be readily recycled)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jared Blumenfeld Checkout bags of the kind you get at grocery stores, whether paper or plastic, are an environmental pariah. While paper bags may be readily recycled, their impact on the boreal forests is far from sustainable. ...

Laying down the law; Ariz. city takes idiosyncratic approach to implementing recycling.(At Your Disposal)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth McGowan Mess with Phil D. Blue these days and you might find yourself one step ahead of the law. Avondale, Ariz.'s Barney Fife-like recycling mascot is morphing into more of a Clint Eastwood character as the Phoenix...

'Using white handkerchiefs'; Diesel industry says it's ready for 2007's tougher emission law.(News)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jim Johnson A group of diesel engine and vehicle manufacturers say they are ready to meet new, cleaner emission standards for 2007 trucks and buses. "We are using white handkerchiefs to demonstrate that the exhaust from these...

Supreme Court to enter pollution equipment battle.(Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency in 2000)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about the conditions under which older coal-burning power plants should be required to add modern air pollution control equipment. The Supreme Court agreed May...