&EBV
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
REUSABLE
NEWS
Climate Change
and Waste Linkages
Abound
Sustainability—this is the
watchword of the 21st Cen-
tury. By managing resources
and waste materials with the goal
of Sustainability in mind, cities
and businesses across the United
States and around the world can
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. This link between cli-
mate change and waste manage-
ment is highlighted by numerous
initiatives to manage waste mate-
rials more effectively.
The United States is a world
leader in manufacturing, produc-
tion, and also consumption. But
companies and citizens, spurred
on by public opinion and eco-
nomics, are using innovative
approaches to protect the climate
by reducing GHG emissions. And
despite the profound shift in
international attention and prior-
ities since September 11, compa-
nies and cities are still meeting
waste management challenges
and looking for ways to use
resources more sustainably.
The goal of resource Sustain-
ability is to adopt strategies and
activities that meet the society's
needs while protecting, sustain-
ing, and enhancing the human
and natural resources that future
generations will need to enjoy a
quality of life equal to or greater
than what citizens have today.
Waste reduction strategies
directly fight climate changes
(Continued on page 3)
Waste Wise Partners with
Climate Neutral To Reduce
Greenhouse Gases
To reduce or offset the green-
house gas (GHG) emissions
associated with a variety of
products and services, the non-
profit Climate Neutral Network is
working with companies to
develop innovative and environ-
mentally friendly products, ser-
vices, and partnerships. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) works with the Climate Neu-
tral Network through its Waste-
Wise program to develop and
promote programs that fight the
negative impacts of climate
change.
The network's "climate neutral
concept" aims to eliminate GHG
emissions at each stage of the life
cycle of a product or service. Then,
the network helps companies bring
these innovations to market. The
Climate Neutral Network works
with leading environmental groups,
like EPA, the Natural Resources
Defense Council, the Nature Conser-
vancy, and the Rocky Mountain
Institute, so it can learn from their
experience and expertise.
A variety of companies and orga-
nizations—including The Body
Shop, the Earth Day Network, and
Sunoco—currently participate in
the Climate Neutral Network.
These and other companies inter-
ested in the climate neutral con-
cept can access a variety of services
through the network, such as:
• Technical Assistance. The net-
work helps companies accu-
rately estimate their GHG
(Continued on page 4)
Climate Neutral Pioneers
The Climate Neutral Network so far has recognized four companies for their work
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:
• Interface, lncv a carpet tile manufacturer, received Climate Neutral certification
for its new Solenium flooring product.
• The Saunders Hotel Group created climate neutral accommodations at The
Lenox and The Copley Square hotels in Boston, and at the Comfort Inn and
Suites, Boston Airport.
• Shaklee U.S., a consumer products marketer, offset the GHG emissions for their
business operations, becoming the first Climate Neutral Enterprise.
• TripleE Travel, a travel service provider, offers a "Travel Cool" air travel program,
which allows travelers to book airline tickets at a small incremental cost that
pays for reducing and offsetting the global warming pollution usually caused by
airline travel.
) Printed on paper that contains at least 50 percent postconsumer fiber.
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Cities Pledge To Protect
the Climate
The results are in—by practic-
ing a variety of waste preven-
tion, recycling, and landfill
gas recovery programs, more than
100 U.S. cities and counties
helped prevent 7 million tons of
carbon dioxide from being emitted
into the atmosphere in 2000. Cities
and counties participating in the
International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives' (ICLEI)
Cities for Climate Protection (CCP)
Campaign have agreed to set up
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
reduction plans in exchange for
technical and marketing assistance
from ICLEI.
"Many waste managers don't
make the connection between
solid waste reduction programs
and climate protection," said
Maria Sanders, ICLEI technical
assistance program manager and
one of the main organizers of the
U.S. CCP Campaign. "But their
programs have resulted in some of
the biggest reductions in green-
house gases to date."
Many CCP participants used
ICLEI assistance to create a Cli-
mate Wise program that helps
local businesses set and meet car-
bon dioxide emission reduction
pledges through waste prevention
and recycling activities. San
Diego, California's, Climate Wise
program helped Microelectronics,
Inc., a semiconductor manufac-
turer, institute recycling programs
to divert 95 percent of their manu-
facturing and packaging waste by
2005, resulting in substantial
reductions in energy use and asso-
ciated carbon dioxide emissions.
A number of cities participating
in the CCP Campaign, including
Austin, Texas; San Francisco, Cali-
fornia; Portland, Oregon; and
Boulder, Colorado; run Pay-As-
You-Throw (PAYT) programs,
which serve as an incentive to
recycling by charging residents
based upon the amount of waste
they dispose of. The reduction in
waste disposed of through PAYT
programs plays a part in reducing
GHG emissions in these cities.
To further encourage waste
reduction activities by CCP partic-
ipants, the EPA Office of Solid
Waste is supporting a new ICLEI
initiative called the Waste Chal-
lenge. CCP participants taking the
Waste Challenge will receive peer
matching and additional technical
assistance to help them set up pro-
gressive waste reduction activities.
For information on joining the
CCP Campaign, contact Abby
Young, director of the U.S. CCP
Campaign, at ICLEI at 510 540-
8843.
Communities
Join in
Celebrating
America
Recycles Day
On November 15, 2001, com-
munities across the United
States celebrated the 5th
Annual America Recycles Day.
This year's theme, "America
Recycles Day—A Great Time to
Renew Our Commitment to Recy-
cling," joined participants from
all 50 states to raise awareness of
the benefits of recycling and fos-
ter a renewed dedication to recy-
cling efforts.
Using the common threads of
resource conservation and envi-
ronmental protection, state envi-
ronmental coordinators, local offi-
cials, schools, businesses, and
communities organized events to
educate residents about recycling
and the numerous consumer
products that contain recycled-
content material. From displays
of recycled-content products to
tours of recycling facilities, from
art contests to fashion shows,
from school assemblies to essay
contests, America Recycles Day
activities encouraged participants
to recommit to recycling.
EPA has been a sponsor of
America Recycles Day since it
began in 1997 and actively pro-
motes recycling not only as a pre-
ferred solid waste management
strategy, but also as a useful tool
to save energy and reduce green-
house gas emissions. Typically,
making goods from recovered
materials uses less energy than
manufacturing products from vir-
gin materials. When manufactur-
ers use less energy to make
products, they emit fewer green-
house gases into the atmosphere.
Participants in America Recy-
cles Day activities, as well as visi-
tors to the Web site, could sign a
pledge to buy recycled products,
recycle more, and support recy-
cling events. The people who
signed pledge cards were entered
in a drawing to win one of three
regional prize packages contain-
ing products made from recycled-
content materials.
Participation in America Recy-
cles Day has grown from 750,000
people in 37 states in 1997, to 3.3
million people in all 50 states in
2000.
For more information, visit the
America Recycles Day Web site at
.
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Measuring the Energy Benefits of Recycling
EPA has long reported that
recycling saves energy, but
how much energy does recy-
cling save, exactly? For example,
how much energy is saved by
recycling newspaper instead of
sending it to the landfill? If a
community increases its alu-
minum recycling from 28 percent
to 35 percent, what does that
mean in terms of energy savings?
To help waste managers begin to
answer these questions, EPA
recently developed "energy fac-
tors" to measure the energy
impacts of commonly recycled
commodities during their life
cycle. The life cycle includes
acquisition of raw materials, their
manufacture into products, and
their ultimate disposal, including
the energy associated with collec-
tion and transportation. Most of
the materials included in this
analysis have comparable energy
impacts during use and disposal.
The energy savings associated with
recycling these commodities are
thus driven by the energy savings
from the raw materials extraction
and manufacturing stages. When a
recycled product is manufactured,
less energy is used than with vir-
gin products, due to reduced man-
ufacturing energy needs and the
fact that no new raw materials
must be obtained. For example, as
illustrated below, recycling alu-
minum saves significant energy
because of the energy intensive
process to extract and process vir-
gin aluminum.
expressed in metric tons of carbon
equivalent and million BTUs,
respectively. Links to both tools
Energy Consumed/Avoided from MSW Management
Options (Million BTUs/ton)
(Negative values
Material
Newspaper
PET Plastic
Glass
Steel cans
Aluminum cans
indicate net energy
Source Reduction
-30.70
-27.54
-6.58
-27.56
-115.55
savings.)
Recycling
-16.49
-22.20
-2.13
-19.97
-184.99
Combustion
-2.83
-3.46
0.08
-17.04
0.12
Landfilling
0.44
0.53
0.53
0.53
0.53
Energy Savings Per Ton Recycled*
(Million BTUs)
Paper
Plastics
Glass
Steel Cans
Aluminum Cans
22.3
20.5
Million BTUs/ton
*Assumes recycled materials would otherwise have been disposed in
a landfill.
Using the energy factors allows
a comparison of the energy con-
sumed or avoided when using dif-
ferent waste management
scenarios, from recycling to land-
filling. Following are the energy
impacts, expressed in million
British Thermal Units (BTUs) per
ton, associated with several of the
materials for which EPA calculated
energy impacts.
To determine the energy impact
of one materials management
option over another, subtract the
energy consumed by a baseline
option from the energy consumed
by an alternate scenario. For exam-
ple, to calculate the energy impact
when choosing recycling instead
of landfilling, subtract the energy
that it takes to landfill each ton of
waste from the energy saved from
recycling.
The energy fac-
tors complement
EPA's Waste Reduc-
tion Model
(WARM), a tool
that calculates the
climate change
impacts associated
with waste. Now,
using these new
energy factors, a
waste manager can
calculate both the
climate change and
energy impacts,
185.5
are on the Climate Change Web
site, at .
To find "Energy Impacts of Waste
Management," click on "Reports
and Papers."
(Continued from page 1)
and promote resource sustain-
ability. Making goods from
recycled materials takes less
energy than making products
from virgin materials. When
manufacturers use less energy
to make products, they emit
fewer greenhouse gases. And
when products are reused or
made with less material, fewer
raw materials are extracted,
transported, and processed.
More efficient manufacturing
burning fewer fossil fuels,
emitting less carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere, and gen-
erating less waste materials.
The articles in this issue of
Reusable News highlight steps
cities, countries, and corpora-
tions are taking to reduce the
waste they dispose, thereby
decreasing GHG emissions.
Cities and corporations are
making positive, practical steps
toward saving natural
resources and protecting the
Earth's atmosphere.
3
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(Continued from page 1)
emissions and the effects their
products have on the environ-
ment.
• Certification. The network
works with companies and orga-
nizations to develop a GHG
"footprint." This footprint estab-
lishes a comprehensive, clear
framework within which GHG
emissions can be measured. The
footprint is measured differ-
ently, depending on the individ-
ual nature of the product or
service and the manufacturing
conditions under which it is
made. Network staff helps com-
panies create these "Product
Metrics" as part of their consult-
ing services in setting up the
Climate Neutral certification
application.
• Networking. The Climate Neu-
tral Network helps companies
forge alliances with other com-
panies and with public sector
and nonprofit groups to help
introduce new and improved
climate neutral products to the
market.
• Market Development. The net-
work operates a trademark and
brand to certify products and
services and supports compa-
nies' climate neutral product
launches through outreach and
communications programs.
Looking ahead, the Climate
Neutral Network plans to reach
out to key sectors to expand its
Right now, 5,245 cities across North America use variable rate, or Pay-As-You-
Throw (PAYT), programs to collect waste and recyclables. Is your city interested
in learning more about the benefits of PAYT collection programs? EPA's PAYT
Bulletin educates municipal officials on how to set up a PAYT program and fea-
tures success stories and case studies from cities that are practicing PAYT. To
receive the next issue of the PAYT Bulletin, simply visit the PAYT Web site at
and sign up to subscribe!
services and participants. The net-
work's relationship with EPA's
WasteWise is intended to help
realize this goal.
For more information, contact
Sue Hall at the Climate Neutral
Network at 503 697-2798, or by e-
mail at . Visit
the Climate Neutral Network's Web
site at .
This issue of
Reusable News is
also available on
the Internet.
Access this and
other EPA publica-
tions through the World Wide
Web at .
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5305W)
EPA530-N-02-005
Spring 2002
www.epa.gov
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