Regulators Contaminate Recycling
Winter 2002/03

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) seems determined to force radiation exposures upon the public. The NRC published in the Federal Register a request for comments on “controlling the disposition of solid materials.” These materials are nuclear wastes to be “released,” allowing them to go into unlicensed landfills, incinerators and even consumer products. More than 100 organizations in the US and internationally have stated their opposition and have signed on to a “State- ment Opposing Radioactive ŒRecycling’ and Deregulation of Nuclear Wastes.”

Nuclear wastes are already being released, without any restrictions, on a “case-by-case” basis. A National Academies report stated that “The amount of these materials is not known because there is no requirement to document the materials released.”

The NRC is accommodating the nuclear industry, which would like to make the release of nuclear trash easier, cheaper and more clearly legal than it is now, says Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. The materials could end up in bicycles, toys, cookware or bedsprings.

A previous method, by which certain wastes were designated as “below regulatory concern,” was barred by Congress in 1972 in response to pressure from state and local governments and citizen, consumer, and industry groups.

The NRC seems to be ignoring recommendations from this report, which stated that a “legacy of distrust” had developed between the NRC and the public.

Today’s announcement includes no schedule for any public hearings, except one two-day workshop (May 21 and 22), scheduled for daytime during the work week in the Washington, DC area.

“The NRC is back again trying to legalize putting nuclear power and weapons waste into our belt buckles, baby toys and frying pans. The public response is still “NO! We won’t take it” and NRC knows it, so they are avoiding public hearings so the public won’t find out,” said Diane D’Arrigo, radioactive waste project director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS).

To read the complete group statement, please go to www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/nuclear_waste/low-level/recycling/articles.cfm? ID=8417. Public comments will be accepted until June 30, 2003. Public Citizen plans to submit comments soon.

— www.citizen.org

Electronic Recycling
Fall 2001

“E-waste is one of the fastest growing and most toxic waste streams, threatening human health and the environment,” said Ted Smith of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and the Computer TakeBack Campaign. Dozens of organizations across the country have joined the Campaign to promote producer responsibility and clean production in the personal computer and consumer electronics industry.

The takeback movement is already off to a start in Georgia, where four counties, using state funds, took back non-functioning electronics (computers, TVs, VCRs etc.) in November for refurbishing and recycling. Hall County was one of them.

The Campaign’s Report Card reveals some troubling double standards between countries, among companies, and even within companies doing business in different areas of the world. Over the past year, several initiatives within the high-tech sector have emerged in Europe and Japan. In stark contrast, there have been no major initiatives in the US.

Companies meet higher standards outside of the US, yet these same companies do not transfer these practices back home. Since 1989, IBM has offered product takeback programs in certain European countries free of charge where required by law, but charges $29.99 per unit in the US.

Apple Computer of Germany will take back electronic appliances at no charge due to legislative requirements, but has no such program in the US. Sony Electronics has a similar full-scale program in Germany, but a limited one in certain parts of the US.

The European Parliament recently voted to phase out the use of some of the most hazardous substances in the electronics industry, as has Japan. As a result, some Japanese companies offer lead-free products and products without brominated flame retardants. US companies lag far behind.

— Zerowaste@grrn.net, GrassRoots Recycling Network, David Wood, 608-270-0940, Ted Smith or Leslie Byster, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 408-287-0707.

Cut the Trash
Winter 2000/1

Nova Scotia has done something about its trash. It recently became the first territory in Canada to reduce the garbage it generates by 50%. What’s more, it accomplished the reduction in less than five years and created thousands of new jobs – all in a region hamstrung by high unemployment.

Nova Scotia, mostly rural with a population of less than one million, suffered because of declining fisheries and a dying coal and steel mill industry. Until 1995 its waste strategy was simple: dump garbage in a big hole and burn it. The massive landfill outside the city of Halifax was an environmental disaster that cost millions to clean up. And no community wanted new landfills in their backyards.

Residents replied to public surveys on how to solve the garbage crisis: recycling, composting, reduction and reuse. In February 1996, a comprehensive strategy to reduce waste going to landfill or incineration by 50% by 2000 was made into a law. One part of the law made it illegal to put recyclables and compostable organic materials into landfills.

Here’s how it was done:

A deposit/refund system for all beverage containers, including juice boxes. The return rate is more than 80%, or 160 million containers annually.

Curbside recycling. All residents and businesses have access to the service.

Composting. About 72% of residents have access to curbside collection of all organic materials for composting. “We’re planning to get residential curbside organic collection to 90% in 2001,” says Barry Friesen, resource manager. In the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors, 100% of all organics are collected.

Stewardship agreements. Under one agreement, tire retailers take back used tires that they sold new. More than 900,000 tires are reused or recycled annually through the used tire management programs.

Did the program cost an arm and a leg? Not at all. In fact, recycling and composting are making money. Most ot the composting facilities are privately owned and are selling their products to landscapers and gardeners for as much as $55 a ton.

Some people complain about paying a 6-cent deposit for drink containers and receiving a 3-cent refund. The other 3 cents is used to pay Enviro-Depot owners and fund other recycling and diversion programs.

More than 500 jobs have been created in transportation, processing, and marketing beverage containers and other materials. There are ten times more jobs in recycling than in disposal. Nova Scotia’s waste innovations have spawned whole new recycling industries for paint, plastic bottles, used lumber and newspaper. There’s even a cottage industry springing up around ornaments made from broken window glass.

Nova Scotia is attracting attention from Hong Kong, Iceland, Taiwan, Russia and other parts of the world. “We’ve even had some quiet visits from Toronto officials,” says Friesen.

-- www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/12/12042000/ waste_4043/.asp

Recycling Governor
Spring 2000

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber believes in efficient use of state resources. He signed an executive order on May 17 giving the Oregon Dept. of Administration six months to develop guidelines for constructing buildings and roads using recycled materials, nontoxic paints, and safer chemicals. He even told his cabinet not to show up for meetings with coffee in paper cups.

“What we need to do is change the way people think.”

— Portland Oregonian, Michele Cole, 5/18/00

Recycling Pays
Spring 2000

A California company has found a way to make recycling simple and rewarding. It’s called rePLANET. Consumers take their aluminum cans and glass or plastic bottles to a local rePLANET center and put them into a designated slot. Then in a short time out comes a receipt redeemable for cash at a participating grocery store.

The Norwegian company that created the system operates 19 sites in southern California and planned to open eleven more by the end of April. Its goal is to cover the country with recycling centers.

The vending machines are like automated teller machines. The recyclables travel on a moving belt while cameras take digital photos that recognize the shapes of the containers.

Because of the huge volume of recyclables accepted, the state of California pays a handling fee to the company, and the company also makes money from the recyclables.

Company representatives offer several reasons why recycling is important:

- Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
-In the US 1,500 aluminum cans are recycled every second.
-If the Pilgrims had six-packs the plastic rings would still be with us today.
-Five two-liter plastic bottles make one square foot of carpet or an extra large T-shirt.
-The energy saved from recycling one aluminum can will power your TV for three hours.

— www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/04/

Send it Back to Coke Campaign

For every bottle not recycled, the plastics industry extracts more non-renewable resources and spews more hazardous emissions. Demand that Coke take back its plastic bottles and use the material again -- like they do in other countries. If Coke closed the loop and made bottles with recycled plastic, it would reduce pollution and strengthen markets for recycled soda bottle plastic. The concept is simple: producers must take responsibility for products and packaging.

TAKE ACTION NOW: Join campuses across the country by protesting Coke's destructive practices and decade-long lies during the National Day of Action on November 15. Mail used plastic soda bottles back to Coca-Cola! Send your own used bottles or scavenge discarded bottles. Tape the mailing label on back to a clean, empty plastic Coke bottle, add 55 cents postage, and mail-away. Hold a great fundraiser by asking passersby for a dollar to send a bottle back to Coke. Write an opinion piece for your campus newspaper, or poster Coke machines on campus.

Find an Activist Kit with fact sheets, mailing labels for bottle send-backs, sample letters, model press releases, and organizing tip sheets at http://www.grrn.org/coca-cola.html.

Call Coca-Cola at 800.571.2653 or email CEO Douglas Ivester at fctc_cocacola@em.fcnbd.com.