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NEW MSW AND ORGANICS RECYCLING FACILITY IN SANTA BARBARA TO BOOST DIVERSION RATE BY 60 PERCENT

The Tajiguas landfill in Santa Barbara, California, recently held the grand opening of its new recycling and waste management facility. The new ReSource Center will allow the county to truck in and process its own municipal and organic waste, turning it into recyclables and renewable energy, rather than to landfill. The new ReSource Center brings in 600 to 700 tons of waste per day, including around 150 to 180 tons of recyclables, and is expected to boost the county’s diversion rate by 60 percent, to a total rate of 85 percent.

The facility’s new MRF equipment and recycling technology was supplied by Van Dyk Recycling Solutions and includes size reducers for liberating bags, 3D trommels, anti-wrapping screens, air density separators, elliptical separators, 11 optical sorters to identify recyclables by composition, and a high-capacity baler from Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions.

In addition to recyclables, the ReSource Center is also recovering organic material such as food scraps and other wet, heavy material which makes up around 40 to 45 percent of the county’s total waste generated. Once recovered, this waste is transferred up to the anaerobic digester on site, where it is dumped into heated tunnels and sealed airtight. It is then pumped with a mixture of 97 percent water and 3 percent cattle manure to start the digestion process. The natural bacteria in the manure breaks down the organic waste to produce methane gas. The methane gas is then harnessed to create renewable electricity that is sold back to Southern California’s primary electricity supply company. The electricity produced is enough to power the Resource Center itself, as well as about 1,000 to 1,200 homes.

CPP’S GOLDEN DESIGN RULES FOR PLASTIC PACKAGING SUPPORTED BY CANADIAN RETAILERS

Twenty-one Canadian retail and consumer packaged goods companies are taking leadership by supporting the Golden Design Rules for Plastic Packaging recently released by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Coalition of Action on Plastic Waste. The consultation and implementation of the Golden Design Rules nationally is being led by the Canada Plastics Pact (CPP).

According to the CPP, its nine Golden Design Rules provide a clear framework to drive innovation and scalable actions that will result in less plastic packaging overall, and plastic packaging that is easier to recycle, by 2025. The Golden Design Rules are voluntary, independent and time-bound commitments that outline specific design changes, aligned with globally recognized technical guidelines. Companies are each independently choosing to commit to individual rules based on which are most relevant to their packaging portfolios.

The objectives of the Golden Design Rules are to eliminate unnecessary or challenging-to-recycle packaging, increase the recycling value for both packaging that is currently recycled at scale as well as packaging types that will be recycled at scale in the future, improve environmental performance of business-to-business packaging and improve consumer communications.

The new rules include reducing the use of plastic overwraps like those used in multipacks, eliminating air space in flexible plastic packaging like snack bags and improving recyclability by using single-material plastics.

The Canada Plastics Pact is engaging companies, experts and stakeholders across the plastics value chain to develop a set of voluntary guidelines that are aligned with the Golden Design Rules globally and tailored to Canada. In addition, the CPP and its partners will collaboratively develop a framework for companies to independently determine whether to commit to the Golden Design Rules, provide guidance, support, learning materials and programming for implementing them, and create reporting mechanisms to track progress.

EQT ACQUIRES COVANTA FOR $5.3 BILLION

Covanta Holding Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement with EQT Infrastructure whereby EQT will acquire all shares of Covanta common stock for US$5.3 billion. Covanta will maintain its corporate headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, and its management team is expected to remain in place.

Annually, Covanta’s 40-plus facilities process approximately 21 million tons of waste from municipalities and businesses and convert it into renewable electricity to power over one million homes. Following the completion of the acquisition, EQT will work with Covanta’s management team to build its portfolio of assets to provide essential waste services to municipalities and commercial customers, as well as explore growth opportunities.

SCRAP UNIVERSITY CERTIFICATION TEACHES STUDENTS HOW TO ID AND UPGRADE METALS

Kate Fraser and Brad Rudover founded Scrap University to empower the scrap metal recycling industry through education. This certificate program is an online, video-based training “boot camp” where individuals learn first about the basics of the scrap industry, scrapyard operation and terminology, and then how to identify and upgrade all types of scrap metals quickly and easily.

For more on this story, turn to page 36.

GFL FORMS RESOURCE RECOVERY ALLIANCE IN RESPONSE TO NEW EPR REGULATIONS IN ONTARIO

GFL Environmental has formed the Resource Recovery Alliance (RRA), a producer responsibility organization, in response to the Ontario Government’s new extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulation requiring product and packaging producers to operate and finance the province’s residential curbside Blue Box collection program.

GFL also entered into an agreement to acquire the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA), expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. Through the creation of the RRA, combined with the data and compliance assets of the CSSA, GFL says producers will have a partner that can leverage economies of scale, help keep them compliant and help meet their responsibilities under the consolidated Blue Box Program.

NEW STORMFISHER FACILITY PROVIDES SUSTAINABLE FOOD WASTE RECYCLING SOLUTIONS FOR ONTARIO

StormFisher has expanded its operations with the addition of a $20 million resource recovery facility in Drumbo, Ontario, that will provide food waste recycling services to handle packaged organics and divert waste from landfills. According to the company, recent regulatory changes by the Ontario Government are supporting the growth of food waste recycling by easing the process of developing on-farm biogas systems.

StormFisher’s facility will enable more municipalities, restaurants, grocery stores and food manufacturers to achieve their environmental goals by reducing food waste while simultaneously producing renewable energy and organic fertilizer. The facility will have the capacity to process over 100,000 tonnes of food waste per year.

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RECYCLING COUNCIL OF ALBERTA LAUNCHES PROVINCE’S FIRST COMPOSTING GUIDE FOR FARMERS

The Recycling Council of Alberta (RCA) has released An Introductory Guide to On-Farm Composting for farmers, ranchers and landowners interested in learning more about the opportunities they have to build processing capacity for organics generated by municipalities and businesses.

The project aims to connect urban and rural communities and reduce greenhouse gas emissions created by organic waste while building soil health. The guide also establishes basic information about setting up an on-farm composting operation, including the regulations to follow, and processes for managing organics. By applying compost, farmers can reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers, increase crop yields and improve overall soil quality.

INDONESIA TO ESTABLISH 2 PERCENT MATERIALS CONTAMINATION THRESHOLD

Following two years of advocating on behalf of the recycling industry with the Indonesian Government, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) recently applauded the Ministry of Trade in Indonesia on their affirmation that pre-export inspected recycled commodities, specifically metals and paper, will be allowed to be imported into Indonesia with an up to 2 percent impurities threshold.

In 2019, the Indonesian government stated that their impurities threshold would be 2 percent at the outset and transition to 0.5 percent in two years. ISRI and its members participated in a variety of advocacy efforts to solidify the continuance of the less restrictive regulation, which is expected to go into effect in September.