The First Facility Management Blog

In the latest update of its ongoing recycling program, the EPDM Roofing Association (ERA) announced that more than five million square feet of EPDM membrane has been recycled since the program’s inception. That total is the largest recorded figure for a recycled commercial roofing product in North America. In all, roughly 1.25 million pounds of reclaimed EPDM membrane has been diverted from landfills in the past three years.

After initiating the program in a pilot phase in 2006 and 2007, ERA has expanded the program in 2008 and 2009, thanks in large part to the introduction of the ERA Recycling Council, featuring ERA Affiliate Members. The Affiliate Member category is open to any company engaged in any aspect of the business of recycling EPDM or other single-ply roof membranes.

Nationwide Foam Inc. (NFI), of Framingham, MA, and West Development Group (WDG), of LaGrange, OH, are the first members of the Recycling Council. Through the efforts of these partners, the EPDM recycling program is active in 48 U.S. states and several provinces in southern Canada. The program is available for low-slope ballasted and mechanically attached non-reinforced EPDM membrane tear-offs, offering jobsite collection and transportation directly to a recycling center.

“We have seen significant progess in the recycling program in the past 18 months,” said Mike DuCharme, director of product marketing, Carlisle SynTec, and chairman of ERA’s board of directors. “EPDM is now well positioned in a changing marketplace that has high expectations for sustainable performance and a life cycle that extends into recycling.”

The EPA also estimates that more than one billion square feet of EPDM roofing is removed from rooftops every year, the equivalent of 33,000 40-yard dumpsters or more than 120,000 full-size railcars.

On February 2, the Institution Recycling Network (IRN) shipped its first container of relief supplies to Haiti. The 15,000 pound load included 120 mattresses from Brown University, medical supplies from New England Baptist Hospital, and more than 2,500 liters of bottled water from Max’s Blues Café in Brockton, MA. The supplies were shipped from IRN’s Everett, MA warehouse through the Port of Newark, NJ, and will arrive in Haiti by February 12.

IRN helped these contributors navigate the complicated logistics of moving supplies through the relief pipeline. IRN has long standing relationships with several of the most active relief organizations in Haiti’s recovery, and is able to match contributed furnishings and supplies with agencies that can place them immediately where they are desperately needed. In this case, the shipment is being handled by longtime IRN partner Food for the Poor, which has been on the ground in Haiti for many years.

With port facilities damaged and dozens of organizations competing for limited transportation resources, making this match is the most crucial challenge in Haiti’s recovery effort.

There’s a pattern to recovery initiatives, according to Mark Berry, IRN’s Surplus Program Manager. “In the first weeks the recovery focuses on supplies for survival and stabilization: food, water, shelter, medicine, and medical supplies. Then gradually there will be a shift to supplies for reconstruction, including building materials, furnishings, school and medical equipment. IRN’s role is to help both contributors and our relief partners match the flow into Haiti with the immediate needs on the ground.”

IRN is able to match large and small quantities of surplus. The February 2 load was made up of materials from three different contributors. That’s typical for loads shipped from IRN’s Everett warehouse, where IRN collects small quantities of usable surplus from generators throughout New England. When it has enough to fill one or more containers, IRN reaches out to a network of nonprofit partners, who slot the materials into their relief needs.

Larger quantities of surplus, one or more full containers, are loaded directly from the contributor’s site. IRN arranges labor or works with the generator’s staff to assure that containers are packed full and tight to maximize value and minimize damage in transit. IRN matches the surplus with the most appropriate recipients, and handles the paperwork and connections to get the loads overseas.

“The Haiti earthquake puts a spotlight on the relief community,” says IRN’s Berry. “The fact is that the need for surplus relief supplies is permanent and overwhelming. Even now we can’t promise that every load will go to Haiti. What we can promise is that every load will go where it’s needed desperately by some of the world’s most disadvantaged people.”

Got $100,000? Got loads of office paper that’s ripe for recycling? Well, one Japanese firm has the perfect solution: White Goat.

Take a squirt of water (well, maybe more than a squirt) and about 40 pieces of paper, process it in the White Goat for about 30 minutes, and voila! Out comes a roll of toilet paper, ready to use.

Check out this video:

Happy days!

The product is expected to go on sale in Japan this summer.

Many thanks to several folks who brought this to my attention this week.

This past December, Armstrong World Industries named the National Security Agency (NSA) in Ft. Meade, MD as its 2009 Ceiling Recycler of the Year. Over the past 14 months, the government agency has recycled more than 400,000 square feet of discarded ceiling tiles. The award was presented to NSA at a ceremony at the National Cryptologic Museum, the NSA’s principal gateway to the public.

Steve Lopez, NSA deputy associate director for installations and logistics (left) accepts the award from Paul Corr, Armstrong regional vice president, commercial ceiling sales-east.

This Armstrong award recognizes companies and organizations that make significant environmental contributions through their recycling initiatives. Other recipients recognized for their recycling achievements have included General Motors, Nike, Pfizer, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

NSA began recycling its old ceiling tiles in September 2008 as part of the Armstrong Ceiling Recycling Program. The program, established in 1999, is the nation’s first and longest running program of its kind. It enables facility managers to ship ceilings from renovation projects to an Armstrong ceiling plant as an alternative to landfill disposal.

Earlier EPA Recognition

The NSA was also recognized for recycling actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in September 2009 wit the annual EPA, Region 3 [mid-Atlantic region), Environmental Achievement Awards program. Through the partnership of the Occupational Health Environmental and Safety Services (OHESS) organization, the Installations and Logistics organization (I&L), and the general workforce, more 11 million pounds (5,815 tons) of materials were diverted from landfills and recycled by the NSA Fort George G. Meade campus during the 2008 calendar year.

There are four broad classes of sources for the recycled material from NSA: Facilities-Related materials, Automated Data Processing Equipment (ADPE), Universal Wastes, and Employee-Derived Materials. The facilities-related recycled materials category contained the largest amount of recyclables at 3,278 tons. Most of these recyclables were derived from rehabilitation and construction projects. In addition to its ceiling tile recycling efforts with Armstrong World Industries, the NSA campus also recycled construction metal, paving millings, raised flooring cardboard, concrete and pavers, and cable reels and pallets.

Earlier this year, Geocycle LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holcim (US) Inc., launched a Total Resource Management Group which provides customers environmentally sustainable service options for their waste management needs. Geocycle Total Resource Management provides companies with a full suite of progressive, solutions oriented services focused on re-using, recycling and co-processing waste in the most beneficial manner. This allows natural resources to be preserved for future generations while at the same time helping to reduce a company’s waste management costs.

The Geocycle Total Resource Management program includes the following services:

• Resource Management: Offers customers assurance that their waste is being sent to the location that provides the most resource recovery and diverted to less sustainable locations only after all other solutions have been exhausted.
• Analytic Services: Accurate analysis of waste requires specific expertise.
• Logistics Services: Provides safe handling and transportation when working with hazardous and non-hazardous waste and staffed by qualified operators with the training and certifications necessary to do the job successfully.
• On-site Materials Management: Includes the management of waste through the company’s consulting services to help minimize the generation of wastes, setup recycling programs, and maximize the recovery of these resources.

Here’s an off the wall idea. Incorporate the (sometimes) tedious concept of recycling into one of the most popular, yet controversial programs on television and see what happens. Apparently, the creators of the show, “Family Guy” have been doing this for some time, and the results are presented here in this collection of clips. (The idea for this post originally came from the Web site, Greenopolis, but a few of the original selections seemed to grasp at recycled straws, so to speak.)

Gary, the no trash cougar:

Stewie and the renegade soda can:

And here are a few PSAs from Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy creator, for Fox Broadcasting:

Global Spectrum, the management company responsible for daily operations at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati since 2006, was recognized on November 17, 2009 with the Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District’s Public Recycling Award. “We are honored to have received this award,” said the center’s General Manager, Ric Booth. “We feel that being good environmental stewards by reducing the amount of waste produced by events in the building is simply the right thing to do.”

Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, OH

The program began in 2008 when Global Spectrum began recycling cardboard. Cardboard is one of the largest waste materials produced at the Duke Energy Convention Center because conventions, trade shows, and other groups ship large quantities of materials to the Center for their events. A cardboard bailer was installed in order to reduce this waste and 163,800 pounds of the material have been recycled as a result.

The Center’s recycling program was expanded in 2008 with a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. This grant helped purchase 20 recycling bins that were placed throughout the building. Since then, 81,760 pounds of paper plastic and aluminum have been recycled. Global Spectrum staff at the Duke Energy Convention Center have also recycled more than 1,000 wooden pallets, and all outdated computer equipment is recycled through the Cincinnati Computer Cooperative.

In addition to recycling, the Center has undertaken efforts to reduce its energy use. Incandescent lightbulbs have been replaced with more efficient compact fluorescent and cold cathode bulbs. This change has resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 154,000 pounds (77 tons) annually.

During the November 17 event, Booth also noted that several other environmental projects are planned, such as installing solar panels on the roof that will further reduce energy use and green the building.

Click here to read TFM’s coverage of Duke Energy Center’s renovation and expansion completed in 2006.

The follow images were sent to me by two different people this week. They illustrate the creative adaptation of objects once they’ve reached the end of their original useful life. In the first instance, the objects have been transformed into an interesting art exhibit. In the second instance, well, see for yourself. Coincidentally, both examples come from Germany.

Every one of these sheep is made from telephones and cords…check out their feet! (Source: Museum of Communications in Frankfurt)

From the London “Metro” paper…
The unusual urinals at a pub in Freiburg (apparently, an “eco-city”), south Germany, were put in by landlord Martin Hartmann.

“Most people see the funny side. But, we’ve had a few complaints from musicians. They are called ‘tenor horns,’ and will hopefully never again be used for their original purpose,” according to Hartmann.

Earlier this month, Envion Inc. introduced the Envion Oil Generator(TM) (EOG), technology that converts any type of plastic waste into high quality, synthetic light medium oil for less than $10 per barrel. The first commercial unit was demonstrated at the Montgomery County Solid Waste Transfer Station in Derwood, MD.

As a petroleum-based product, plastic contains a huge amount of stored energy that literally goes to waste with conventional disposal methods. Envion’s technology reclaims that energy and provides it in a form that is immediately commercially viable: oil.

Through the use of this technology, one ton of waste plastic can be converted into approximately four 42-gallon barrels of high quality, synthetic light to medium oil. This oil is a refined and 99% sediment free product that can be used to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and kerosene.

“About 8% of world crude oil production is used to manufacture plastic,” Envion CEO Michael S. Han. “The EOG uses a closed loop, catalyst-free system to take plastic and convert it back into oil safely, efficiently, and economically.”

Each individual unit can process up to 10,000 tons of plastic waste annually, generating as much as 50,000 barrels of oil. With full national deployment, the EOG could generate over 150,000,000 barrels of oil each year in the United States alone. Additionally, the EOG is capable of processing all types of plastic waste, thus reducing the time and cost of sorting plastic by type.

Envion’s approach provides a comprehensive solution that has the potential to remove plastic waste from landfills, freeing up the estimated 24% of capacity that plastic occupies. The United States produces approximately 50 million tons of plastic waste per year, the vast majority of which ends up taking up space in landfills.

With the ability of a single EOG to eliminate 10,000 tons of plastic per year, at a cost of $17 per ton, the EOGis a cost effective alternative to the $70-$200 cost range of landfill disposal. And according to the EPA, recycling programs process only 6.8% of plastic waste and are not as cost effective, costing between $50 and $150 per ton of plastic recycled.

The Envion process converts plastic into energy without the need for fossil fuel combustion. The technology requires only minimal energy input and is fully automated, allowing the facility to operate with only two operators.

Envion is expected to have multiple EOGs in full operation within months. Envion’s EOG is a shovel-ready, green technology.

“Given the shortage of sustainable plastic waste disposal alternatives, Envion is poised to capitalize on the substantial benefits of licensing its groundbreaking technology,” continued Han.

Recycled content is turning up in all sorts of products these days. And for Atlanta, GA-based Creollus designs, that has resulted in items manufactured out of such as coffee filters, cardboard, newspapers, banana leaf, cement bags, and more.

The HELIA floor lamp (pictured, right) is one of several lighting fixtures made from unusual materials. The lamps are made from banana fibers (raw materials discarded at harvesting), recycled kraft paper (from cement bags), and natural pigments extracted from the ground/soil.

This one of a kind, handmade fixture by Domingos Totora and a team of artisans from Brazil is a decorative and utilitarian piece that reflects an adherence to ethnic ancestral style. A percentage of the sale of this product goes to Semear Educar, a non profit organization in Brazil.

Domingos Totora says, “We recycle paper and fibers in a creative and alternative way so as to generate employment. This work has improved the lives of people and community as a whole. Our people are allowed to let their imagination flow and create as they please.”

For Creollus, preserving means not only to stop destroying. It also means reusing through concern for the environment in an act of solidarity. The idea is to recycle paper and fibers in a creative way, to generate alternatives for accepted realities.