NMRC Board Meetings
The next two board meetings
are open to all NMRC Members. To attend, please RSVP to English Bird at
english@recyclenewmexico.com
1) Friday, March 17, 12-4 PM, Frenchy's Field,
Santa Fe
2) Friday, May 19, 12-4 PM, Albuquerque, location
TBA
Recycling-Related
Legislative Updates
Thank you to everyone who
took time to call legislative committee members in efforts to further recycling
and solid waste management bills. The legislature finished its session this
Thursday, February 16 but as of the morning of the 17th no news was updated on
the website as far as status.
Check back early next week at
the for status updates
http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/default.asp
1) HB286 - Solid Waste
Facility Grant Fund. $5 million re-charge to grant fund.
2) SB388 - E-waste Pilot
Collection Program requesting $25,000 to support pilot.
3) Senate Memorial 14 -
Support from producers to fund the E-waste Pilot Collection Program ($25,000
match)
4) Santa Fe MRF Capital
Outlay Request (sponsored by Representative Peter Wirth D-Santa Fe). This
capital outlay project most likely was not funded.
Jaitire Brings New
End-Market to New Mexico
Jaitire Industries is
completing the permitting process to begin business as a tire shredding facility
in Albuquerque and to produce a recycled tire product.
Jaitire represents the latest
entry as a New Mexican recycling end-market, which will bring tires from the City of
Albuquerque, other municipal programs and tire dealers. Jaitire charges about $1
per tire at the facility.
Corny Snyder, the director of
Jaitire, is excited about the potential markets for the shredded-tire ground
cover products they sell. These products include playground surfacing, landscape
cover, turfgrass topdressing and horse arena cover. The shredded tire comes in
several different sizes and come in a variety of colors. The product is
surprisingly light and fluffy, and has been proven to reduce injury at
playground or playing field sites.
With the implementation of
the new Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act scheduled to be enacted summer,
recycled-content tire products will become a valid grant application for
municipal projects and thus would be able to cover the cost of purchase for this
product.
For more information contact
Corny Snyder at 505-830-2765 or
corny@jaitire.com
.
Managing Waste
Conference - Last Call for Abstracts and Call out for Exhibitors and Awards
The "Managing Waste in the
Wide Open Spaces" conference, slated for June 12-15 at the Hotel Albuquerque at
Old Town hotel, is fully underway in the planning process and we thank members
who have lent their support and time. We have several updates:
1)
Call for Abstracts Deadline Extended until March 3rd. View
abstract guidelines and online submittal form at
www.recyclenewmexico.com/conference_call_for_papers06.htm
2)
Call for Exhibitors. If you would like to
gain excellent exposure not only reaching out to New Mexicans, but to
professionals working in solid waste in recycling in 13 other arid climate
states, give English Bird a call at 505-983-4470 to discuss exhibiting
opportunities. The conference expects about 500 attendees.
3)
Call to Members to Join Planning Committees: This is our
biggest conference yet and co-hosting this event is a big job. If you have an
interest in assisting in the planning process, we invite you to join the
Conference Planning committee. The next meeting will be March 3rd, from
8:30-10AM at LePeep, 2125 Louisiana in Albuquerque. Please RSVP your attendance
or interest if you can make the meeting to
english@recyclenewmexico.com
4)
New Mexico Recycling Awards: We are currently soliciting
Recycler of the Year award nominations in a number of categories. Please go to
www.recyclenewmexico.com/conferenceawards06.htm
to view past year winners, award categories and to submit a nomination form
online. Nominations are due March 31, 2006. E-mail nominations to
english@recyclenewmexico.com
or call 983-4470 to receive a nomination via fax or mail.
Thank
you to our sponsors thus far:
New Mexico Environment Department: Solid Waste
Bureau (co-host)
Roadrunner Chapter of SWANA (co-host)
Weyerhaeuser Recycling, Waste Management New
Mexico
Waste Management Recycle America
Dex Media Recycling
Gordon Environmental
Cascade Engineering
Associated General Contractors
Southwest Solid Waste
Authority Works With Private Landowner to Clean Up Tires
The Southwest Solid Waste Authority
recently completed a project with a private landowner in Grant County to
clean up and bale almost 3000 tires on a residential lot. The landowner,
Ms. Heidi Sexton, purchased the property with the tires scattered throughout
the property but with a commitment to clean-up the property upon buying it.
Ms. Sexton reimbursed the Authority for all expenses associated with baling
the tires.
The tire bales were left on site for a
soil erosion project. The State of New Mexico Environment Department has
already approved the soil erosion project.
Pictured from left to right
are: Authority employees Ubaldo Benavidez (also a NMRC Board member), Patrick Mosley, Angie Wiles,
Ramon Arroyo, and landowner Heidi Sexton.
CONTACT: Kariann Sokulsky, General
Manager, Southwest Solid Waste Authority, 505-388-8051.
Solid Waste
Management Plan Draft Online
An extremely important document that will
guide the NM Environment Department: Solid Waste Bureau in recommending how
to handle diversion in local communities is available for public review and
input. NMED strongly encourages everyone and anyone to review the Solid
Waste Management Plan for New Mexico that is posted on their website at
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swb/swmpdraft.htm
The document is divided into 4 pdf files:
the Solid Waste Management Plan text; SWMP Appendices; and 2 maps of solid
waste, recycling, and composting facilities.
Please note that a few sections of the
Plan are not finished yet as 2 working groups are still meeting to finalize
their recommendations. You will see "placeholders" marked in red denoting
additional sections to be added to the Plan. The comment period will end on
Friday, February 24, 2006.
Especially, NMED asks that you take a
close look at Chapter 2 of the Plan, Appendix B, and the 2 Maps of Solid
Waste and Recycling/Composting Facilities at the website link above to see
if there are any waste management or diversion programs you know of that
have been omitted.
Please forward comments to Gretchen
Brewer at 505-827-0129 or
gretchen.brewer@state.nm.us
or E. Gifford Stack at 505-827-2653 or
e.gifford.stack@state.nm.us
.
NMED:SWB thanks everyone who gave input and time towards creating this
document!
America
Recycles Contest Prize Winners
The winners
of the
America Recycles national contest drawing were announced January 31st. A
Ford Escape was filled with 112,000 pledge cards for the drawing.
The winners
of the five Youth Prizes (Trek model 4300 aluminum bicycles provided by
Novelis Corporation):
Lindsey
Martin - Saginaw, Michigan
Melvin
Patrick Pearsall - Palm Bay, Florida
Julianna Foglio - Fresno, California
Brendan
Nelson - Avon, Connecticut
* Last
winner TBA, South Carolina
And the
winner of the one Adult Prize (2006 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV):
Myrna &
Harold Gittler - Plainview, New York
Regional Recycling Round-Up
City of Raton
has such a large bear problem that national media has spotlighted their plight
of bears coming into town daily for dumpster diving forays. To deal with the
problem the city now picks up their alley dumpsters daily and is working to
change over to bear-proof dumpsters.
Raton also has begun offering
free cardboard recycling to commercial customers and picks up weekly.
City of Las
Cruces is in the process of purchasing a screen so
that they can process their composted green waste and further expand their
organics diversion program.
City of Santa Fe
- A city councilor has requested the city to lay
out a plan for active recycling at all city buildings.
Cloudcroft
will become the first New Mexico town to recycle its wastewater this spring. The
new membrane bioreactor system that uses reverse osmosis, will cost about $2
million and will re-use 80,000-1000,000 gallons of effluent daily.
Environmental Code
Enforcement Training February 29-March 2 in Los Lunas
Since the Middle Rio Grande Illegal Dumping summit
held in Albuquerque in October 2002, the New Mexico Environment Department Solid
Waste Bureau has held an additional seven regional summits that were attended by
some 430 people. Although the original slate of summits were intended for local
government policy makers, the majority of those attending were code enforcement
personnel.The summit evaluations
completed by these people overwhelmingly indicated a lack of training
opportunities for code enforcement staff, especially in the area of dealing with
illegal dumping situations. Introduction to Environmental Enforcement
(February 28 – March 2 at the UNM-Valencia campus in Los Lunas) is a training
opportunity that has been specifically tailored to fill this need.
Please click here for the complete invite letter, registration and agenda.
Map
attached here.
Grants
EPA Solid
Waste Grant - Deadlines Extended
EPA's Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response (OSWER) and EPA Regions 2, 3, 6 and 7
are soliciting proposals for grants that will stimulate
solid waste reduction and recycling projects to increase the
national recycling rate from 30% to 35% by 2008, reduce and
recycle industrial byproducts (including construction and
demolition debris), reduce the amount of electronic waste
going to landfills and/or incinerators, and reduce the
amount of priority chemicals found in waste streams. EPA
must receive initial proposals by February 6
(THIS WAS EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 21), and final
proposals will be due now on April 7th. The funding opportunity
number is EPA-OSWER-OSW-06-04. The full solicitation can be
accessed either on
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/resources/06-04.pdf
or on www.grants.gov . Non-profit organizations,
including governmental entities, may apply.
Jobs
City or Truth or
Consequences - Sanitation Superintendent
The City of T or C has an
opening for the Sanitation Superintendent of the Solid Waste
Division. Requirements: High school diploma or equivalent.
Must currently hold a valid NM CDL and MOLO certificate;
have a minimum of six (6) years' experience in sanitation
work, which includes two years of landfill management
experience; and be familiar with recycling operations. Must
successfully pass pre-employment drug testing. Grade 16.1
$19.13 hourly plus benefits. Annual: $39,790.40. Application
and job description are available from Human Resources
Office, 523 Broadway, T or C, NM 87901, phone 505-894-0764;
fax 505-894-0703. Deadline for application to be returned to
human resources is 5:00 PM, March 22, 2006. EOE
Recycling Tidbits
Elle:
The fashion magazine called "Elle" will be
printing a Green edition this May.
"Rate
Yourself on Waste Prevention" calculator on the New York
City "WasteLe$$" website:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/at_home/rate_yourself.shtml
The WasteLe$$ website is maintained by the New York City
Department of Sanitation's Bureau of Waste Prevention,
Reuse and Recycling.
C&A Floorcoverings has recycled more than
100,000,000 pounds of reclaimed vinyl and
vinyl-backed carpet since introducing its
"Infinity Initiative" ten years ago. The program
recycles any post-consumer vinyl-backed carpet,
regardless of original manufacturer, into 100
percent recycled content backing for new floorcoverings. The company guarantees that all
carpet returned to it will be recycled and not
landfilled, incinerated, or disposed of in any
other way.
More
information:
www.cafloorcoverings.com.
Calendar
**Feb 21,
Recycling Alliance meeting, 9AM-12PM, Albuquerque. Contact
Gretchen Brewer at
earthgb@aol.com
for info.
**Feb
27-28, CFRP "Don't Trash that Slash" Training, Santa Fe.
Available to all forest and land managers on benefits of
using compost and mulch from slash for erosion control
applications. More info
kathy@recyclenewmexico.com
**March
17, NMRC Board Meeting, Frenchy's Field, Santa Fe. 12-4PM.
All members welcome.
RSVP to English Bird
**May 20, NMRC Board Meeting,
Albuquerque. 12-4PM. All members welcome.
RSVP to English Bird
**June
12-15, 2006 "Managing Waste in
the Wide Open Spaces"; NM Recycling Conference and Arid
Climate Landfill Symposium joint conference, Old Town
Sheraton, Albuquerque
**October
22-25, NRC Congress, Atlanta
If you have questions about any of the
above information or have articles for future Recycling
Scraps, please e-mail or call me.
English Bird
Executive
Director
New Mexico Recycling Coalition
PO Box 24364, Santa Fe, NM 87502
english@recyclenewmexico.com
(505)
983-4470
Fax (505)
466-6266
