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RECYCLING PROGRAMS
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WasteWise
WasteWise is a free, voluntary, EPA program through which organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste, benefitting their bottom line and the environment. WasteWise is a flexible program that allows partners to design their own solid waste reductions programs tailored to their needs. Go to their web site at http://www.epa.gov/wastewise/ for more information. WasteWise has published a number of useful publications on waste reduction such as:
1. Recovering Organic Wastes Giving Back to Mother Nature
2. The Measure of Success Calculating Waste Reduction
3. Extended Product Responsibility;
4. Building Supplier Partnerships;
5. Closing the Loop;
6. Donation Programs Turning Trash into Treasure;
7. Remanufactured Products Good as New;
8. Going Paperless with Technology;
9. Employee Education;
10. Measuring Waste Reduction;
11. A Fresh Look at Packaging
12. Electronics Reuse and Recycling
13. Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
and many more dealing with success stories of WasteWise partners, such as Target Stores, Disney World, Stonyfield Yogurt and others. To look at the publications go to http://www.epa.gov/wastewise/about/pubs.htm or call the toll-free help line at 800 EPA-WISE (372-9473). WasteWise also has a number of good links to several waste reduction and recycling web sites on topics such as General Solid Waste Management. Waste Prevention, Recycling, General Buy Recycled Information, Buy Recycled Directories and Databases Manufacture Recycling, Climate Change, Sustainable Development and other environmental topics at http://www.epa.gov/wastewise/wrr/links.htm
RecycleMania
RecycleMania is a friendly competition among colleges and universities, throughout North America including New Mexico and Canada, to see which schools can collect the most recyclables through a fun, proactive exercise in waste reduction. The competition is conducted over a 10-week period from January to April each year. The purpose of the competition is to increase student awareness and involvement in recycling and waste reduction. As a starting point for collaboration with colleges and universities to reduce waste, RecycleMania is organized and operated by university recycling coordinators and is endorsed by EPA’s WasteWise program, the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), NRC’s College and University Recycling Council (CURC), and the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program. The EPA WasteWise program envisions increasing benefits for both EPA and colleges and universities through this competition. In an effort to obtain more corporate sponsors, EPA transferred the day-to-day responsibility for the competition to NRC at the conclusion of the 2007 campaign.
RecycleMania At A Glance:
RecycleMania began in 2001 as a competition between Ohio University and Miami University of Ohio. Nationally, 93 colleges and universities participated in the 2006 competition and in 2007 that number increased to 201 colleges and universities. As of January 31, 2008, 400 colleges and universities have registered for the competition. You can check the National list of the schools that are participating in RecycleMania 2008 at http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/universities.asp. In addition, a list of the Regional participants, as well as a link to the updated results for the 2008 competition, can be found at http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/solidwastemania.htm. The RecycleMania 2008 competition runs from January 27 to April 5, 2008. Registration closed on January 18, 2008.
EPA Region 3’s recruitment efforts resulted in the registration of 75 colleges and universities, the most among EPA Regions, repeating last years feat. This year’s registration represents a 78.5 percent increase over RecycleMania 2007. Every Region 3 State and the District of Columbia are once again represented in this year’s competition. NRC has confirmed that, for the second straight year, Pennsylvania led all of the States with a total of 35 schools registered for the competition.
It is Region 3's goal to continue to increase the number of Regional RecycleMania participants, to provide the assistance necessary to allow all of our participating schools to increase their accomplishments each year, and to present Certificates of Participation at the conclusion of each year’s competition. We are available to answer any questions concerning the competition as well as recycling programs in general.
For more information concerning RecycleMania, please visit the http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/index.htm Web site. You may also contact Donna McGowan at 215/814-5197 (mcgowan.donna@epa.gov).
EPA's Jobs Through Recycling initiative puts the tools of business development technology transfer, financing, and marketing into the hands of recycling professionals. It facilitates cooperation and communication among solid waste officials, economic development organizations, and businesses involved in collecting, processing, and remanufacturing recovered materials. The initiative provides grant funding and information to recycling market development staff across the country. Grants are distributed to state and tribal governments to assist in funding recycling market development programs, investment forums, and recycled commodity demonstration projects. Information is provided through some of the grant programs and the JTRnet list server. More information on this program is on available on the JTR web site at http://www.epa.gov/jtr. There is also transcripts of past discussions by recycling professionals on several recycling related topics from the JTRnet list serve at http://www.epa.gov/jtr/netshare/index.htm
Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT)
In communities with pay-as-you-throw programs (also known as unit pricing or variable-rate pricing), households are charged for waste collection based on the amount of trash they throw away. This creates a direct economic incentive for individuals to recycle more and to generate less waste. Traditionally, residents pay for waste collection through property taxes or a fixed fee, regardless of how much or how little trash they generate. Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) breaks with tradition by treating trash services just like electricity, gas, and other utilities. Households pay a variable rate depending on the amount of service they use. Most communities with PAYT charge residents a fee for each bag or can of waste they generate. In a small number of communities, residents are billed based on the weight of their trash. Either way, these programs are simple and fair. The less individuals throw away, the less they pay. More information on EPA's PAYT program is available on the EPA's PAYT web site at http://www.epa.gov/payt At this site you can view the many tools EPA has developed to explain the benefits and answer questions about PAYT. There is also a directory of the more than 2000 PAYT successful programs in the US and a contact for each at http://www.epa.gov/payt/comm.htm. The web site also has a list of Frequently Asked Questions, Articles, Research and Publications on PAYT, links to other PAYT information on the web and much more.