Waste News articles from September 2003

Waste News archives from September 2003

Air ball; Report criticizes EPA actions after World Trade Center attack.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman A new report faults the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its response following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, and that has prompted several members of Congress...

Spoiled food costs markets, restaurants.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Massive amounts of food waste from markets, restaurants and homes flooded the waste stream as a result of the blackout that affected a reported 50 million people in the Northeast and upper Midwest. While electrical...

Survey says; WN needs recyclers' help.(News)(Waste News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Waste News needs your assistance in compiling our annual ranking of the largest recycling companies in the United States and Canada. To be included in this year's list, visit the Waste News Web site at www.wastenews.com/ rr_survey_2003.html...

Lexmark joins EPA e-recycling program.(News)
September 1, 2003... Lexmark International Inc. is the latest electronics giant to start throwing its weight around to increase electronic waste recovery. The world's second-largest printer maker said Aug. 19 that it has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection...

Calif. bills target ship waste.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Three members of the California Assembly are calling on the Senate to pass three bills regulating cruise ship pollution along the California coast. Assemblymen Joe Simitian, George Nakano and John Laird, all...

Coke makes recycling splash in Mexico.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Steve Toloken Coca-Cola Co. and several partners are investing $20 million to build a polyethylene terephthalate recycling plant near Mexico City to produce high-quality material that can be reused in Coke bottles. The plant...

GAO: Impact of attacks on nuclear waste small.(News; General Accounting Office)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Widespread deaths or serious illnesses would be unlikely from a terrorist attack on shipments of spent nuclear fuel from power plants, but the federal government could take additional precautions to reduce the risk...

Maine bases turnpike project on scrap tires.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Rubber not only hits the road in Maine, it's buried under it. The Maine Turnpike Authority's interchange project in Sabattus is consuming some 2 million scrap tires from the state's largest tire pile in Bowdoin. H.E....

Report: EPA lacked data to reform air rules.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman A General Accounting Office report concludes that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lacked comprehensive data and relied on anecdotal evidence from industries in reaching its decision to reform the New Source...

The Great Blackout's green angle.(Column)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Allan Gerlat We've basically recovered from the Great Blackout of 2003. Now we're in the stage of trying to figure out why it happened and, more importantly, how to prevent it from happening again. The environmental component...

Report: Half breathe bad air.
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Almost half of the country is breathing bad air, according to a new report that blames transportation as a major cause of the problem. The study, by a group called the Surface Transportation Policy Project, studied...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
September 1, 2003... North America Sept. 10-12 - Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Commodities Roundtable Forum, Chicago. Call (202) 737-1770 or visit www.isri.org. Sept. 10-12 - Commodities Roundtable Forum, sponsored by the Institute of Scrap...

corrections.(Correction)
September 1, 2003... * The North American Legislative Review in the Aug. 18 issue should have said that Alabama passed House Bill 186. The state's Scrap Tire Environmental Quality Act, in part, imposes a $1 per tire fee on replacement tires. * The North...

A 1st for flooring; Landfill gas to power carpet maker's plant.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson A flooring plant will use landfill gas to fuel two heaters and a boiler. "We believe this is a first for the American carpet industry,'' said John Wells, president of Interface Flooring Systems. The company...

Buffalo free of trash train.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson About 500 rail containers full of trash have been removed from Buffalo after a judge brokered a deal for their disposal to a landfill several states away. The stranded trash made news as it lingered for months in a...

DOE cleans up Denver site.(News)(United States. Department of Energy)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The U.S. Department of Energy has removed the last of nuclear-weapons grade plutonium from the Rocky Flats weapons facility near Denver, marking a major milestone in efforts to clean up the former weapons production...

Cart cleaning system's magic is in the wand.(News; waste hauling)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Tracy Hayhurst Before dishwashers became common household appliances, people scraped their plates and scrubbed their pots and pans by hand. For many people, life without the machine would be unthinkable. Marlin Thompson said he...

Trio pays millions in PCB case.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Thousands of plaintiffs will share in hundreds of millions of dollars in the settlement of legal action stemming from wide scale PCB contamination. A trio of companies - Monsanto Co., Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia...

Sonoco will shutter 20 plants; Closings will save S.C.-based maker of recycled packaging $60 million.(News)(Sonoco Products Co.)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Hartsville, S.C. - Sonoco Products Co. wants to close 20 more plants worldwide as part of a plan to save $60 million per year. The Hartsville-based recycled packaging company also plans to cut 340 additional...

Weyerhaeuser to close 2 Oregon mills while creating some work at 2 others.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Weyerhaeuser Co. is closing a 100 percent recycled containerboard mill that employs more than 150 in Oregon. The mill makes corrugating medium, which is used as the center layer in cardboard boxes. "There...

Biosolids bouquet; Synagro to build recycling facility in Sacramento.(News)(Synagro Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Sacramento County hopes its efforts will prevent residents from raising a stink about its new biosolids treatment facility. The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District has entered into a public-private...

Finnish paper maker to cut U.S. jobs.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Stora Enso Oyj plans to cut another 700 jobs in North America, or about 12 percent of its work force as part of a plan to cut costs by $65 million. The Helsinki-based company, which purchased Consolidated Papers...

Offshore wind farm wins Mass. case.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini America's first proposed offshore wind farm has cleared a small, but potentially significant, legal hurdle. Judge Joseph L. Tauro of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed a case claiming...

Waste news Pricing Report.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SKYROCKETING PET: Strong overseas demand pushed prices for recovered post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate higher last month on both coasts. Domestic processors and end-users are forced to keep up with the increases. West Coast prices have...

A Look Back.(News)
September 1, 2003... Five years ago: The U.S. Department of Transportation sends a strong signal that regulatory officials are not receptive to easing up on packaging standards for certain kinds of medical waste transport. A year ago: Some of the organizations...

Waste Industry Briefs.(News)
September 1, 2003... Federal Government Top EPA lawyer Fabricant resigns post Washington - Robert E. Fabricant, general counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has submitted his resignation effective Sept. 3 to President Bush. Fabricant...

Air rule changes get mixed review.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its latest plans for reforming New Source Review to the cheers of industry groups and the jeers of environmentalists. The changes, formally unveiled Aug. 27,...

Waste Generator News.(Briefs)
September 1, 2003... The Military Sen. urges Army to clean up Iowa plant Washington - Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is urging the Army to quickly clean up contamination at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown, Iowa. Harkin wrote a letter dated Aug....

Blackout fallout; Green groups say industry will seek to exploit outage.
September 1, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Environmentalists are concerned the blackout of 2003 will give the White House and utilities ammunition to push for more pollution-belching power plants and transmission lines rather than improving the current system....

Joint services; Military, California join forces to address perchlorate problem.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The Department of Defense has committed to form a combined federal-state working group with California to coordinate a response to the problem of perchlorate contamination. Perchlorate, an ingredient in a...

Letters.
September 1, 2003... Hawkeye black eye Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the home of approximately 120,000 people, 75 miles from the Illinois border. The entire county's population is well above 200,000. In 1998-99, the Bluestem Board of politically elected...

Industry groups hail new emission regulations.
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Washington - Manufacturers, electric power plant operators and at least one trade union have embraced the New Source Review changes unveiled last week, saying the changes will make plants more efficient and improve...

Fickle winds.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The long-awaited reform of the New Source Review is in, and the reactions are predictable: Industry loves it, environmentalists hate it, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defends it as a rule that won't harm the planet but will help...

Come clean.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not learned that two wrongs never make a right. The agency faced the wrath of U.S. senators and representatives from New York late last month. A report by the agency's own Inspector General's...

EPA says it lacks greenhouse authority.(Late News)(United States. Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Washington - The federal government denied a request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide from motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it lacks such authority. The...

Army taps community to spur sustainability.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Efforts to improve environmental performance on a military base must involve educating not only soldiers but their families and the community as a whole, said Barry Hull, a sustainability trainer at Fort Bragg, an...

Raw sewage fouls beaches.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The massive power outage that left tens of millions in the Great Lakes and Northeast regions without lights or air conditioning also prevented residents from cooling off by taking a dip at nearby beaches. ...

DOD's C&D plan; Military works to curtail amount of construction waste bases generate.(News)(United States. Department of Defense)(construction and demolition)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Military bases across the country need to dispose of aging World War II-era buildings while trying to reduce their total waste stream. The Department of Defense has established a program called Measures of Merit...

Pollution pact protects parks.(News)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will adopt rules to reduce air pollution clouding national parks and wilderness areas under an Aug. 19 agreement with environmentalists. The agreement, if approved by a...

New Products & Technology.(Products; waste management )
September 15, 2003... A.R.E. INDUSTRIES INC. has introduced a Jet Spray Washer that is designed to remove grease and contaminants from trash containers within minutes, according to the company. Specifications include a turntable drive, a 1/4-horsepower, 115-gear...

EPA says it lacks power to police emissions.(News; automobiles)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles cannot be regulated through the Clean Air Act because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it lacks the authority. The agency had been asked by the International...

Court fines Shell $30m for pipe leak.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini A Texas court has ordered a subsidiary of Shell Pipeline Co. to pay $30 million in damages in a case involving a 1992 oil pipeline leak that contaminated groundwater in a residential subdivision in Midland, Texas. ...

2 officials exit EPA for private sector; Group criticizes departures in wake of changes to New Source Review.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman One week after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a major reform of the Clean Air Act that benefits industry, a high-level EPA air official is resigning to take a job with Southern Co., one of the...

Air changes pros, cons; The White House has eviscerated the Clean Air Act.(Opinion)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Nat Mund On Aug. 27, the Bush administration weakened a critical provision of the Clean Air Act called New Source Review. Weakening the NSR program will allow polluters to spew thousands of additional tons of pollution into the air...

Combustible situation; Citizens group protests Pa. capital's WTE plan.(News; waste-to-energy)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Harrisburg residents are raging against the machine after the state gave the city the go-ahead to reopen its closed municipal waste-to-energy facility. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approved...

Air change pros, cons; EPA's clarification will aid efficiency, lessen emissions.(Opinion; New Source Review laws)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Scott Segal In the United States, coal-fired power plants generate 55 percent of all electricity and are regulated by federal emission reduction programs. Evidence indicates that these programs work well and achieve their goals....

Study lifts 9-11 haze; Sens. want details on air quality after attacks.
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The World Trade Center debris pile spewed out metal and glass particles, gases and various pollutants that could penetrate deep into the lungs of workers at Ground Zero, according to a study by researchers at the...

A Look Back.(News)
September 15, 2003... 1970: The Clean Air Act establishes federal authority to fight urban smog and air toxins. Five years ago: President Clinton signs a buy-recycled executive order designed to put more teeth into a 1993 policy. A year ago: The EPA raises...

Rule targets foundry toxins.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini U.S. iron and steel foundries will have to reduce toxic air pollutants at a cost of about $21 million per year under a new federal rule. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule Aug. 29 to reduce...

Future of Michigan WTE plant in limbo.(News; waste-to-energy)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini The future of a Michigan waste-to-energy facility is in limbo as the owners have shuttered the plant and are looking for a buyer. The Central Wayne Energy Recovery Facility shut down five years into a 35-year...

Supplier News.(Briefs; waste management)
September 15, 2003... Onyx, Heil make 3-year contract Chattanooga, Tenn. - Onyx Waste Services Inc., one of the largest solid waste management organizations in North America, has awarded a three-year equipment contract to Heil Environmental Industries Ltd. ...

Cardboard, cans and kisses; Maine transfer station employees wed near recycling bin.
September 15, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Amid the bottles and cans and old cardboard boxes, Rockie Graham and Dave Hart fell in love. She is steadfast a recycler, and he is the manager of the Bethel Transfer Station. It was near the cardboard...

Study: Weapon destruction plan in turmoil.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The federal government's Chemical Demilitarization Program is in turmoil, and unless changes are made it will be paralyzed by delays and cost overruns, according to report by the General Accounting Office. The...

Aging bones.(Opinion; environmental management)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... A study of the United States infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the environmental component some reason for encouragement - but a lot more reason to try harder. The study looked at different areas such as solid...

Waste Generator Briefs.(Briefs)
September 15, 2003... Superfund Mining firm to pay largest settlement Missoula, Mont. - A federal judge has ordered W.R. Grace & Co. to pay the largest trial judgment in the history of Superfund law in order to fund the cleanup of asbestos contamination in...

NYC seeks partner for recycling pact.
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini The city of New York is stepping up its commitment to improve its recycling program and is searching for a partner who will do the same. The city is hoping to keep curbside recycling around for the foreseeable future...

Waste News Pricing Report.(News)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... (With graph: Houston steel can prices): FORGING AHEAD: Scrap steel prices improved early this month, allowing recyclers in some parts of the country to increase the prices they are paying for loose material over the scales. Houston scrap...

Waste Industry Briefs.(Briefs)
September 15, 2003... Wastewater EPA forms unit to protect water supply Washington - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has formed a new Water Security Division to improve safeguards against terrorist attacks on the nation's drinking water and...

22 Calif. cities challenge water pollution rule.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Twenty-two cities in Los Angeles County are challenging a regional water agency's order to eliminate trash entering the Los Angeles River and its tributaries, while the city of Los Angeles has reached an agreement with...

EPA reinterprets PCB policy.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is changing its policy to allow PCB-contaminated properties to change ownership prior to cleanup. The agency said the policy shift will encourage cleanup and...

Steel maker: New furnace will emit less.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. has gotten the go-ahead to install an electric arc furnace at a plant that will reduce annual air emissions in the region by 35 percent, according to the company. The Ohio...

E-recycling industry continues evolution.(Special Report)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini It may not be getting any easier or any cheaper, but the electronics industry is growing as players try to recover what seems to be an inexhaustible supply of material. "I think we're in a transition period of trying...

Q&A with Steve Ragiel.(Special Report)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini In January, two of the country's largest recycling companies came together to form Recycle America Alliance, a company with about 3,000 employees and 80 recycling facilities handling 8 million tons of recyclables. ...

Committee stalls engine law.(News; emissions)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure Sept. 4 that if signed into law would block an attempt by California to limit pollution from portable generators, backhoes, tractors, forklifts, lawn and garden...

Wolfpack tailgaters chuck cans, bottles; N.C. State teams up with Waste Industries USA.(News)
September 15, 2003... Some folks enjoying too much of their favorite beverages at North Carolina State University football games this year just might upchuck, but everyone attending the Wolfpack games is being asked chuck it. Waste Industries USA Inc., the...

DOE to test technology for power plants.(Late News; mercury pollution)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... The U.S. Department of Energy has selected eight new projects to test mercury control technologies at coal-fired power plants. The selections build on past Energy Department research and focus on long-term, large-scale tests of the most...

Earning less; Higher health care costs force Republic adjustment.(News; Republic Services Inc.)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Higher health care and operating costs are forcing the nation's third-largest solid waste management company to lower its earnings estimate for the year by about 10 percent. Republic Services Inc., of Fort...

Fund for toxic waste cleanup running dry.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman An industry-financed trust fund that helps offset the costs for Superfund cleanup projects will likely run out of money by the close of the fiscal year at the end of the month, according a government report released...

China eats up scrap metal; U.S. companies feel heat as costs rise from export demand.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: David Prizinsky The growing competition that companies face from finished products made in China has been well-documented, but China's voracious appetite for copper and brass scrap is creating concern among processors and users of...

Status quo & grow; Top 5 companies increase revenue but hold same positions on WN list.(Special Report)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Recyclers reported rising revenue, reacting possibly to a recovering economy as little changed atop the Waste News 2003 Recycling Rankings. The top five companies in the Waste News 2003 Recycling Rankings kept pace...

Coming Events.(Calendar; waste management)
September 15, 2003... North America Sept. 23-24 - Tire Science and Technology Annual Meeting & Conference, Akron, Ohio. Call (929)-5238 or visit www.tiresociety.org. Sept. 23-25 - International Construction and Utility Equipment Exposition, Louisville, Ky....

Upcliff battle.(Opinion; PCB cleanups)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... The EPA's rule change to allow the sale of PCB-contaminated properties before those sites have been cleaned up strikes us as a sensible revision. Sen. Barbara Boxer has denounced the EPA's policy shift as an "environmental sneak attack''...

Synagro names new CEO.(News)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Synagro Technologies Inc., a water and wastewater residuals management firm, introduced Robert C. Boucher Jr. as its new president and CEO Sept. 8. Boucher joined Synagro after serving as regional vice president of...

Waste best of bleak U.S. infrastructure.
September 15, 2003... Byline: Jim Johnson Solid waste services remain the brightest spot in a dismal assessment of America's infrastructure that passes out poor grades like substitute teachers hand out hall passes. America's infrastructure - which also...

Groups seek to halt ship transport.(News; scrap transport)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bruce Geiselman Two environmental groups say they plan to sue the federal government to block the export of 13 obsolete ships from the James River Ghost Fleet in Newport News, Va., to a scrap yard in Teesside, England. The...

Waste News Poll.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Q: How will the EPA's New Source Review rule changes affect the environment? A: (pie chart): Negative net effect: 62.7% Positive net effect: 22% Little or no impact: 15.3% From the Waste News Web site, Sept. 2-8. To vote in...

Trio on 'revolution' forefront.(News; recycling)
September 29, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Large companies are starting to embrace corporate sustainability as environmental programs are getting support from the top. Three global firms, Dell Computer Corp., Nike Inc. and magazine publisher Time Inc.,...

Nike makes dash to expand program.(News)
September 29, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini Nike Inc. is taking its own advice and just doing it. The Beaverton, Ore., sports apparel firm is expanding its shoe recycling program throughout the continental United States. The National Recycling Coalition...

Waste-nots.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2003... A trend's at work in corporate board rooms and on production room floors these days. And the motor behind it is corporate sustainability. In the past, most businesses chose to ignore this philosophy of taking responsibility for how...

Nick of time; Calif. OKs e-waste bill as recall looms.
September 29, 2003... Byline: Joe Truini California is the first state to pass electronic waste legislation, oddly to the chagrin of many environmentalists. Gov. Gray Davis signed Senate Bill 20 on Sept. 25, creating the Electronics Waste Recycling Act of...

Man in a maelstrom.(Opinion' Mike Leavitt)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2003... A lot of people are saying what a tough job Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt will have if he is confirmed as the next administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But in one way, he might catch a break. Critics of the administration already...

At Deadline.(Late News; waste industry)
September 29, 2003... White House wants to streamline act Washington - A White House task force issued a report Sept. 24 that recommends refining the National Environmental Policy Act to make the law more efficient and effective at protecting the environment....

Trio settles pricing lawsuit; Georgia-Pacific, International Paper, Weyerhaeuser deny wrongdoing.(News)
September 29, 2003... A trio of large containerboard makers is paying $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming the companies conspired to increase prices in the 1990s. Weyerhaeuser Co., International Paper Co. and Georgia-Pacific Corp. all denied...

Waste News Pricing Report.(News)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2003... (With graph: Hard white envelope cuttings): STEADY AS SHE GOES: Supply is tight for recovered newspaper, as prices for the material remain relatively unchanged in most parts of the country. However, several regions saw small price increases...