Photo: Eric Forrest participated in the 2005 Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival in the Trash Fashion Contest. Recycle Santa Fe happens November 10-12 this year and is part of the NMRAM events.

C&D Recycling Task Force Launched

The first meeting of the Construction and Demolition Task Force took place August 15th in Albuquerque with a great turn-out of 16 folks and another 20-30 folks who want to be kept in the loop. The Task Force's first directive will be to update the Construction and Demolition Recycling Guide, which has been produced by NMRC and Keep New Mexico Beautiful in past years. New information will include LEED and Green Seal point requirements for job site recycling, an update on NM recycling resources for builders and construction projects, as well as Costs and Benefits section.

Anyone who is not included on the e-mail announcements about this new Task Force and would like to be involved or know of someone who should be involved, please e-mail English to be included: english@recyclenewmexico.com . The next Task Force meeting is scheduled for September 19th at 2:30 PM in Albuquerque.

Speculation Circulates Around Santa Fe Solid Waste Director’s Firing

“The city Solid Waste Division suffers from a culture that uses favoritism and pits experienced workers against more educated ones, the summary of a recent city-commissioned study says,” reported the Santa Fe New Mexican on Thursday, August 17^th.  The article goes on to recount recent events in the City of Santa Fe’s Solid Waste Division including last month City Manager Asenath Kepler’s firing of Division Director Jill Holbert while the division study was still being drafted.  Kepler has not publicly discussed the reasons behind the firing, and Holbert has said that she never received an explanation. 

Holbert currently serves as a board member of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition (2005-2006 term) and served as co-chair of the recent joint NMRC recycling and SWANA waste conference in Albuquerque.

The study went on to describe the conflict at work in the Division as a split between the “patron system” and an “entrepreneurial business-based system.”  It concluded that there is a collision of old ways of doing business with new ideas, demands from an influx of new people into Santa Fe and the need to upgrade Solid Waste practices and run it as a business.

Holbert joined the city in 2003, and as director quadrupled the number of homes served by automated cart collection for garbage.  She successfully balanced the division’s $9 million budget.  She also worked to improve the city’s recycling program and collaborated with the Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency to help develop the forthcoming recycling processing center in Santa Fe.

Earlier this month, the Albuquerque Journal North reported that Councilor Karen Heldmeyer voiced her concerns about finding a replacement for Holbert at a recent Public Utilities Committee meeting, “The word is out among solid waste professionals in the United States that you don’t take the job in Santa Fe.” The division, which is responsible for refuse and recycling collections, has had six directors in the past six years, one of whom only lasted six weeks. Bill DeGrande, formerly the Division’s environmental compliance officer, has been appointed the interim Division Director.

NMED Launches Government Office Recycling Pilot

Silver City Schools to Participate in Recycling Awareness Contest

Students at Silver City’s four public elementary schools will be participating in a recycling contest from August 14-31 to enlist their families, neighbors, and friends in the City’s curbside recycling program.   The contest is being organized by the Silver City Citizen’s Recycling Advisory Committee.  The Committee has been working with the Southwest Solid Waste Authority over the last year to increase diversion and participation rates in recycling.

The contest will work like a petition.  Students will ask residents to sign a standard form indicating a commitment to recycle or recycle more. Alotta Gelato, Desert Blossom Books, ToyTown, and Western Stationers are supporting the contest.  Each business has contributed gift coupons to encourage students to bring in signed recycling commitment forms. Students will receive one coupon for each commitment form they return. Winning classes from each school will be treated to a movie outing at Real West Cinema before Christmas break. “We hope you will welcome students when they come to your home asking you to participate in curbside recycling,” said Terry Timme of the Silver City Recycling Advisory Committee.

Glass and No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles (without lids) are now being picked-up at the curb from homeowners, along with cans, cardboard, magazines, newspapers, and white office paper.   Pick-up day is the same say regular trash is picked-up.  Glass and plastic are accepted only at the curbside and at the main landfill on 318 Ridge Road.  Additionally, the Authority is picking up glass from selected businesses twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, under a new agreement between the Authority and the Silver City Council.

“To make curbside recycling cost-effective, we need more recyclable materials set out and we need more homes participating,” said Kariann Sokulsky, General Manager of the Authority.  “Historically only about one-fourth to one-third of the homes in Silver City participate in curbside recycling.”

In addition to curbside recycling for homeowners in Silver City, the Authority also does once weekly pick-up for small businesses, twice a week pick-up of cardboard from businesses, and manages  drop-off bins located at Gough Park and Walmart. The City also provides cardboard pick-up for businesses in the City of Bayard and manages seven other drop-off bins for recyclable materials throughout the County.   These drop-off bins are located at the Tri-City, Clif/Gila, and Mimbres Transfer Stations, and in Pinos Altos, Tyrone, Bayard and Santa Clara. More information can be received from Kariann Sokulsky, General Manager, 505-388-8051 or Terry Timme, Recycling Advisory Committee, 505-534-4389.

Recycling Tidbits

Seattle Bans Recyclables in Trash

Seattle has seen a significant improvement in recycling six months after crews began enforcing a ban on recyclables in the trash. The ban is part of Mayor Greg Nickels' plan to booth the city's commercial and residential recycling rate to 60 percent by 2010, from a low of 38 percent in 2003. Under the new policy, city crews don't collect trash from cans that contain more than 10 percent recyclables. Form January 1 to June 30, workers left behind trash in about 900 garbage cans out of a total of 3.9 million collected. -Reported in Waste News July 31, 2006.

EPA Organics Website

On average, Americans waste 25 percent of the food they prepare. We throw away 44 percent of our yard trimmings and over 90 percent of our wood waste. It’s time to be part of the solution.

EPA launched its new organic materials Website. This Website is a great place for businesses and consumers to find ways to put surplus food, yard trimmings and wood waste to good use. With information on the Food Waste Recovery Hierarchy, EPA's GreenScapes program, and wood waste recovery options, everyone can find a way to be part of the solution.

Visit the Organic Materials Website at www.epa.gov/organicmaterials .