Don’t Cross the [Waste] Streams: Recycling Made Efficient
Staff Writer: Aubrey Kemper, Environmental Manager (Chicago, Illinois)
Aubrey Kemper holds a Bachelor's degree in Coastal Environmental Science from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, and a Master's degree in Natural Resources from University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Her greatest passion is environmental education for all ages, and much of her academic research involved creating educational resources for "citizen scientists". Before coming to work at Vanguard Environmental, Inc., she served as a nature educator at Lyman Woods Nature Center in Downers Grove, Illinois. Now, that experience is channeled towards educating her ten nieces and nephews to become great stewards of the environment.
If you manage a facility which is classified as a hazardous waste generator under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), you may be familiar with the terms “hazardous waste”, “universal waste”, and “non-hazardous waste”. In order to comply with the RCRA regulations, a facility must separate these waste streams for storage and/or disposal. When it comes to recyclable materials, separation is essential for preventing contamination with non-recyclable materials. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), separating waste streams allows some materials to be recycled [1]. There are three main methods of recycling waste streams: material recovery, material exchange, and beneficial reuse of materials.
Material recovery is the process of sorting and preparing recyclables, which is conducted at a materials recovery facility (MRF). MRFs are specialized plants that receive, separate, and prepare recyclable materials for re-use by manufacturers. There are two main types of MRFs – clean and dirty. Clean MRFs receive recyclables that have already been separated at the source, while dirty MRFs handle mixed waste streams where recyclables are mixed with general waste. Sorted materials are compacted into bales and stored in the facility until they are sold and shipped to manufacturers who will reprocess them into new products. [2]
Materials exchange programs are governmental programs that facilitate transactions between waste generators and industrial users. Buying products made with recovered materials ensures that the materials collected in recycling programs will be used again in the manufacture of new products. One such program in the United States is the Comprehensive Procurement Guideline (CPG), which is run by the EPA. The CPG program is authorized by Congress under Section 6002 of RCRA. Materials exchange programs offer a variety of services to both waste generators and industrial users. [3]
Beneficial reuse of materials is the substitution of a waste material for another material with similar properties. This can manifest as material reuse within a facility or sector, use of another sector’s byproducts, or use of post-consumer materials. To fulfill the objectives of beneficial reuse, recyclable materials must perform well, and they must be at least as safe for human health and the environment as the materials they replace. Beneficial reuse can minimize the fees paid to dispose of waste, reduce the cost of purchasing materials, and lower the cost of complying with waste regulations. [4]
An important step in increasing your facility’s recycling efficiency is ensuring proper waste stream characterization. If waste management and/or material recovery are potential concerns, contact your Regulatory Specialist to discuss Vanguard Environmental, Inc.’s RCRA service!