&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5305W)
EPA530-N-96-010
November/December 1996
REUSABLE
NEWS
WasteWi$e
Savings Are on
the Rise
The second-year results are
in! The more than 500 com-
panies in EPA's WasteWi$e
program conserved almost
344,000 tons of materials
through waste prevention activi-
ties in 1995—a 40-percent
increase over 1994 figures. They
also collected more than 4 mil-
lion tons of materials for recy-
cling. These activities represent
a potential savings of $143 mil-
lion in avoided disposal fees.
These and other successes are
documented in the WasteWi$e
Second-Year Progress Report—
and were cele-
WASTE bratedatthe
program's forum,
held in Washing-
ton, DC, on Sep-
tember 9, 1996.
The forum recog-
nized partners'
outstanding
waste reduction
(Continued on page 3)
This issue of Reusable News is also
available on the Internet. To access
this and other EPA publications
through the World Wide Web, type:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/
recycle/re use.htm
Through Gopher: dial 919 558-0335
Address: gopher.epa.gov
Port: 70
Selector: 1/Offices/Waste/OSWRCRA/
non-h wire cycle/re use
The Case for Recycling
Michael
Shapiro,
Director of
EPA's Office of Solid
Waste, highlighted
the benefits of recy-
cling at the National
Recycling Coalition
(NRC) Conference, held on Septem-
ber 16-19, 1996. Shapiro stated that
a few recent newspaper articles
about recycling did not present the
whole story. In fact, recycling has
wide-ranging benefits, including:
• Economic Benefits. Recycling can
be a cost-effective technique for
managing municipal solid waste.
Successful recycling programs not
only divert waste from landfills,
but they also have the potential to
generate revenues from the sale of
secondary materials. As recycling
programs mature and become
fully integrated with the total
solid waste management system,
costs should go down.
• Social/Environmental Benefits.
Using recycled materials instead
of virgin materials in manufactur-
ing helps conserve nonrenewable
resources such as petroleum and
coal while reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases and other pollu-
tants. The Environmental Defense
Fund found that manufacturing a
ton of recovered materials con-
serves at least $187 worth of elec-
tricity, petroleum, natural gas,
and coal, when compared to man-
ufacturing virgin materials.
Because of these and other bene-
fits and additional opportunities for
recycling, EPA has proposed for
public comment a new nationwide
recycling goal of 35 percent by the
year 2005. Shapiro said, "There's
tremendous potential for growth in
recycling and increased efficiencies
as [integrated solid waste manage-
ment] programs innovate and
mature." EPA programs promoting
source reduction, recycling, and the
purchase of recycled products
include WasteWi$e, Jobs Through
Recycling, and Pay-as-You-Throw.
Shapiro's NRC speech was followed
by a roundtable discussion in which
he received comments on EPA's pro-
posed 35 percent recycling goal, ffl
CPG II
Proposed
On November 7, 1996, EPA
proposed 13 items for desig-
nation in the first annual
update of the Comprehensive Pro-
curement Guideline (CPG). Once
CPG II is finalized, federal, state,
and local government agencies that
purchase designated items will be
required to buy these products
with recycled content. Contractors
that use federally appropriated
funds to purchase these items also
would be affected. Preference for
these materials harnesses the
(Continued on page 2)
Printed on paper that contains at least 20 percent postconsumer fiber.
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FCA Takes Center Stage
More than 4,400 people tuned in to EPA's full cost accounting (FCA)
satellite forum, "Planning, Pricing, and Performance: The Business of
Municipal Solid Waste Management." Held on September 11, 1996, the
forum was broadcast to 279 downlink sites in 45 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin
Islands, and Canada. (FCA is an accounting tool that helps local governments
identify the actual costs of municipal solid waste [MSW] services.)
The forum featured five panelists, including four local solid waste officials
who have implemented FCA in their communities and a solid waste policy
specialist. The panelists discussed the benefits and challenges of using FCA in
MSW management, as well as how FCA can support recycling and how it can
be used in an integrated solid waste management program. Viewers were
invited to call or fax in their questions, which focused on how FCA can help
their communities, problems that can be expected, and privatization issues.
Produced by EPA, the forum was cosponsored by the
American Public Works Association, International
City/County Management Association, Maryland Depart-
ment of Environment, National Association of
Counties, National Recycling Coalition,
National Solid Wastes Management Associa-
tion, Solid Waste Association of North America,
and U.S. Conference of Mayors. For more
information, contact Angle Leith of EPA at
703 308-7253. FCA resource materials
are available from the RCRA Hotline at
800 424-9346. A document providing
answers to many questions asked at
the forum will be available soon, ffl
Extending Product Responsibility
Sharing responsibility for prod-
ucts as they are manufactured,
used, and disposed of can
result in minimized environmental
impacts, improved efficiency, and
even cost savings. But what does
sharing responsibility mean, and
who should share it? These are just
some of the questions raised at a
workshop on extended product
responsibility (EPR), held on Octo-
ber 21-22, 1996, in Washington, DC.
Cosponsored by EPA and the
President's Council on Sustainable
Development, the workshop
brought together more than 80 rep-
resentatives from major
corporations, trade associations,
environmental groups, states, uni-
versities, and the federal
government. Eleven companies
presented case studies on how they
have implemented EPR to reduce
some of the environmental impacts
of their products. For example, the
nickel-cadmium battery industry
collects and recycles consumers'
spent nickel-cadmium batteries.
Rochester-Midland Corporation, a
manufacturer of commercial clean-
ing products, involves product
users, building owners, and tenants
in improving the indoor environ-
ment of office buildings.
Workshop attendees also dis-
cussed barriers to implementing
EPR, how to educate the business
community about EPR, and next
steps for promoting EPR. For more
information about the workshop,
contact Clare Lindsay of EPA at
703 308-7266.
PURCHASING
CPG II
(Continued from page 1)
government's buying power and
encourages recycling markets for a
wide variety of materials that can
be diverted from disposal as MSW.
Last year, the Agency designated
24 items in the CPG. This year, EPA
proposes to add the following
products made from recycled mate-
rials: shower and restroom
dividers, latex paint, parking stops,
traffic control devices (channeliz-
ers, delineators, and flexible delin-
eators), snow fencing, garden and
soaker hoses, lawn and garden edg-
ing, printer ribbons, ink jet car-
tridges, plastic envelopes, and
pallets. EPA is also clarifying a pre-
vious designation for floor tile. In
an accompanying proposed Recov-
ered Materials Advisory Notice
(RMAN), EPA recommends ranges
of recycled content to look for and
practices to assist procuring agen-
cies in purchasing these items.
Some procuring agencies have suc-
cessfully purchased these items
with recovered content already.
The public will have until Feb-
ruary 5, 1997, to comment on the
information presented in the pro-
posed CPG and RMAN. After
addressing these comments, the
final CPG and RMAN will be pub-
lished. Copies of the proposed
notices and background documents
containing supporting research
information are available from the
RCRA Docket. Call 703 603-9230.
For more information about the
CPG or RMAN, call Terry Grist at
EPA at 703 308-7257. 1
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Update on
Industrial D
Stakeholder
Meetings
EPA continues to move ahead
in developing voluntary
guidelines for managing
industrial nonhazardous waste in
land-based disposal units. A focus
group of stakeholders from state
solid waste management programs,
EPA, industry, and environmental
groups met for a second time on
September 11-12, 1996, to discuss
developing these guidelines.
At the meeting, stakeholders
discussed six issues that will be
covered in the guidelines includ-
ing risk characterization, public
involvement, liner systems,
ground-water monitoring, location
considerations (including buffer
zones and environmental justice
concerns), and waste minimiza-
tion. The guidelines will help
owners and operators select liner
system designs and ground-water
monitoring programs tailored to
potential risk. EPA and the Associ-
ation of State and Territorial Solid
Waste Management Officials will
consider input from the focus
group and the public as they draft
the voluntary guidelines. A draft
is expected to be completed by
Winter 1997.
The next Industrial Solid Waste
focus group will be February 19 and
20, 1997, in Washington, B.C. For
further information, contact Paul
Cassidy of EPA at 703 308-7281. I
New Flexibility for
Small MSW Landfills
In response to the Land Disposal
Program Flexibility Act signed
into law on March 26, 1996, EPA
revised its criteria for municipal
solid waste landfills (MSWLFs).
These revisions (61 FR 50410) re-
establish an exemption from
ground-water monitoring for owners
and operators of certain small land-
fills. In order to qualify for the
exemption, the landfill must accept
less than 20 tons of MSW per day
(based on an annual average), have
no evidence of ground-water conta-
mination, and be located in either a
dry or remote location. The revised
criteria will ease burdens on certain
small landfill owners and operators
without compromising ground-
water quality.
For more information, contact
Dana Arnold of EPA at 703 308-
7279. 1
WasteWi$e
(Continued from page 1)
efforts and provided an opportu
nity for partners to share
their success stories and
learn from each other.
WasteWi$e offers a
variety of technical
assistance materials,
including a recently
released Tool Kit, to
help partners imple-
ment waste reduction
programs. For more
information about
the voluntary pro-
gram, call the
WasteWi$e helpline at 800 EPA-
WISE or visit the WasteWi$e
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/
epaoswer/wastewis.htm B
Source
Reduction
Tips for the
^•» Holidays
Reuse wrapping 4
paper, ribbons, and ~J
bows from last year's
gifts. Save this year's
wrappings for next year.
Make your own wrapping paper
from the comics pages
, or kraft paper gro-
cery bags you deco-
rate yourself.
Buy only the amount of food
you plan to eat.
Consider purchasing a tree you
can plant in your
yard after the holi-
days, and use com-
post in planting it.
Find out whether your
community collects holiday
trees for recycling.
Use reusable glassware and din-
nerware at holiday
parties.
Donate used toys
to charity organiza-
tions—they still
make great gifts.
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RESOURCES
Building with
Recycled
Products
Did you know that
many building
materials were
once soda bottles, news-
papers, and ash? Numer-
ous construction
products, including carpet, insulation, cement, and
floor tiles, contain these and other recovered materi-
als. Recycled-content construction products work as
well as their virgin counterparts and divert count-
less tons of waste from the landfill.
To make buying these recycled-content products
easier, EPA has published a Construction Products
Fact Sheet. This fact sheet is the sixth in a series of
fact sheets on EPA's Comprehensive Procurement
Guideline (CPG). The CPG includes seven categories
of recycled-content items, including construction
products, that government agencies using appropri-
ated federal funds should purchase. This fact sheet
explains the CPG and accompanying Recovered
Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN), which recom-
mends ranges of recycled content to look for when
purchasing items designated in the CPG.
For a copy of the fact sheet, call the RCRA Hotline
at 800 424-9346 and ask for document number
EPA530-F-96-020.
Purchasing Resourcefully
To assist public agencies in purchasing recycled-
content products, the Recycling Board of Alameda
County, California, has released a hands-on buy-
ers' manual called Resourceful Purchasing.
This easy-to-use reference manual contains infor-
mation about how to buy recycled products and up-
to-date technical specifications for a variety of
products. Featured products include paper, office
supplies, construction materials, playground surfaces,
insulation, oil, and plastic materials. The man-
ual offers practical tips on how to bid and con-
tract for recycled products, develop model
purchasing policies, identify vendors, and moni-
tor and track purchases. It also includes defini-
tions for such terms as "recycled-content" and
"postconsumer," and includes a list of recycled
product guides and other helpful information
about buying recycled.
The manual is available in two formats: a
284-page color-coded notebook with tabs (for
$30) and a disk in WordPerfect 6.0 for Win-
dows (for free). For more information or to
receive a copy of the manual, contact Mark
Cullors of the Alameda County
Recycling Board at 510 614-1699
or via e-mail at
acwma@stopwaste.org.
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401 M Street, SW. (5305W)
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