After everyone has been pushing the importance of recycling, and lots of families have gotten on the bandwagon and started to help out by separating their trash, one Milwaukee area has uncovered a disastrous lie. The waste removal company whom vendors believed were keeping their trash and recyclables separate were actually being lazy and mixing the two different materials.
Milwaukee County public works employees have for years been combining recyclable materials with trash, disposing county recycling in violation of state laws, according to an audit performed by the county.
“Officials mistakenly believed the vendor picking up the trash had been separating recyclables from other waste items at its facility,” according to the audit, which was published September 1st.
The report recommends that the county could improve its recycling practices by centralizing operations currently performed autonomously at several county departments, such as contracting for recycling vendor service, maintaining records on the amount of recycling taking place and educating employees on proper recycling procedures.
The audit found that the county lacked a formal contract for hauling away commingled recyclables (cans, bottles, glass) and most paper. “It is unclear when the county last had a formal contract for recycling commingled items and paper,” the audit said.
Instead, invoices were paid through a series of centralized purchase orders. The use of departmental purchase orders, which bypasses the competitive bids process, also added considerable cost.
The invoices also included pick-up service to locations in which there had been no commingled recyclable dumpster and service at locations no longer directly a part of the county, such as the transit department.
On the subject of recycling and keeping the trash separate I found an interesting website with all these innovative designs for waste and recycling bins. The most interesting might be the bin bin wastebasket.
There is one more thing that small business owners in Wisconsin need to worry about on top of any financial crises that they are feeling as a result of the bad economy, and that has to do with trash. There is one city that is looking to charge small business owners and forcing them to contract with other companies to pickup their garbage at additional costs.
One Wisconsin city is considering a plan which might cause small businesses in the area to contract with a private firm for their trash and commercial dumpster pickup.
The Dells Events newspaper notes that Wisconsin Dells is one of only a few areas in Wisconsin where businesses are not required to contract with a private firm to handle their trash hauling or commercial trash dumpster removal.
But that may change as the city says garbage collection costs $375,000 – a number that’s expected to increase next year.
To fight this, the paper says assistant public works director Chris Tollaksen proposed a system which would charge businesses for their trash pickup at costs between $150 to $1,200 per year.
Wisconsin Dells mayor Eric Helland says something must be done as prices rise and the city continues to subsidize trash pickup for area businesses and Alderperson Dar Mor said the city needed to stop accruing additional costs.
“Everyone across the board is looking at cutting costs and looking for ways to generate revenue,” Mor said, according to the paper.
Although garbage removal is getting more expensive, not all towns are passing the buck on pickup. The Columbus (Ohio) Local News reports that although waste disposal charges increased in the past year, a fee covering the costs is not being considered by the city.
Also, this story that I came across goes along with contracting private garbage pickup; Dustbot, the robotic garbage man. This robot can be summoned at any time and any day via cellphone to come pickup and dispose of your garbage or recyclables.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and LEED Certification Matters for Homeowners not only does it help the environment, but it also saves home owners money and lots of it. What is better then building a new home, paying little for it and saving money every year on your bills while being “smart” and going green?
New York Governor David A. Paterson recently signed the State Green Building Construction Act, which requires that any future construction of state buildings or substantial renovation planned for existing buildings conform to green building principles.
The Office of General Services will now be charged with advancing standards for constructing green buildings that lower energy costs, improve air quality, reduce waste and curb greenhouse gases.
In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required all newly constructed major building projects to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold status. Several states have similarly instituted policies requiring green building practices.
Design and construction firms are increasingly required to conform to green building standards on LEED-certified projects. Now, contractors working on renovations to public buildings will need to comply with similar standards.
The trend extends to roofing professionals, who can now be accredited for work in green roofing projects. The American green roof industry grew by 35 percent in 2008.
Contractors involved in roofing repairs and renovations for green projects will need multiple recycling dumpsters for disposing of different types of recyclable materials.
Now here is a new idea, creating solar energy from panels on a dumpster of all things. I know that everyone is trying to go green, but this is a step above and beyond going green.These are called SEEDS and the main benefit of SEEDS are that they can help business owners or dumpster owners to produce some of their own energy while using their commercial dumpsters, so it is a two-for-one deal.
EarthSure Renewable Energy has developed an affordable system to deliver solar energy from an enclosure around trash dumpsters called the Solar Energy Enclosed Dumpster System, or SEEDS.
Company owner Ray Saluccio designed a dumpster enclosure system to prevent unauthorized access to the dumpsters, which can cause health and safety concerns. Made from prefabricated recycled plastic, the enclosures are transportable and easy to assemble.
Saluccio says SEEDS allows businesses and property owners to produce their own electricity without the prohibitive costs of installation or damage to their buildings by affixing solar installations on the dumpster enclosures.
SEEDS can be fitted with other useful accessories such as an emergency Blue Phone, safety lighting and surveillance camera. The self contained system generates its own power and is operational in the event of a public power outage.
When attached to the building’s electric meter, SEEDS can feed power back to the utility grid causing the meter to spin backwards, providing savings for businesses.
Operators may also be eligible to receive Renewable Energy Certificates earned as a production subsidy to electricity generated from renewable sources. Like other commodities, these certificates can be sold and traded for profit.
Illegal dumping is no joke. As trivial as it sounds you could be fined up to $6,000 for any type of violation like this. I have always seen shady construction workers driving their trucks up to apartment complexes and unloading their trash for free into the tenant’s dumpsters for which they pay a monthly fee themselves. It does not seem fair that those people living in large apartment complexes would come out to throw away their trash and find dumpsters over-flowing with construction debris so much so that they must find alternative ways to get rid of their own garbage. The construction workers just need to rent their own dumpsters!
Recent reports indicate that the problem of illegal dumping is not going away. The problem could be related to the high cost of landfilling, despite the availability of low-cost roll-off dumpsters.
In Boston, a woman was cited and fined for two dumping violations after a street sweeper spotted a truck dumping construction waste, according to the Boston Herald.
The newspaper reported that the woman will be fined $6,000 for illegally dumping hazardous waste at a South Boston property that has been used as an illegal dumping ground. Two city firefighters were hospitalized after inhaling toxic fumes at the site.
The dumping problem is affecting a range of cities and towns that are trying to fight back against illegal dumping of commercial, residential and yard waste.
Greenwich, Connecticut, the wealthiest town in the country, is trying to cut down on non-resident dumping at its waste facility to save money on a new waste disposal contract, according to the Greenwich Post.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, illegal dumping raises significant concerns with regard to safety and property values and is a major economic burden on local government, which is typically responsible for cleaning up dump sites.
If you have actually been outside sometime over the summer I am sure that you have seen at least one of the car dealerships participating in the “cash for clunkers” deal. If you missed the banners, you probably did not miss the over-sized dumpsters filled with ‘trashed’ cars spray-painted and hanging out of one end of the container. I think that was a great advertising idea as it sparked a lot of attention by the media and passerby’s.
In what has to be one of the few examples of businesses using commercial dumpsters as a marketing ploy, car dealerships across the country advertised the cash for clunkers trade-in program by hoisting worn-out vehicles into dumpsters for a compelling visual.
Car dealers, hurt by the recession and drastic reductions in car sales over the past year, jumped at the government rebate program as a way to increase new car sales. The clunkers program, which provided $3 billion in rebates for consumers who traded in old gas-guzzling vehicles for new, more efficient models, was by most accounts wildly successful.
Koons Ford outside Baltimore advertised the clunkers program by depositing a large SUV in a commercial dumpster to draw attention. Sutliff Chevrolet in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania crammed multiple cars into a dumpster near the roadway.
The success of the clunkers program in the U.S. has led to a similar program in Canada, where Hyundai dealerships are offering their own version of the rebate program.
To launch the program, Hyundai Auto Canada CEO Steve Kelleher stood nearby as a giant forklift dropped scrapped cars into a giant dumpster, according to the Toronto Star.
Jackson Mississippi is going green! There are new solid waste programs that are providing bulk pick-up for the people of Jackson, removing things like old couches and washers and dryers from the end of the driveways. A place like Mississippi really needed something like this to spruce up the area and to get more people involved with recycling and cleaning up.
The city of Jackson, Mississippi seems to recognize that providing free solid waste collection for its residents can pay off in cleaner streets, reduced blight and happier citizens. On the second Saturday of each month, the city holds what it calls Roll-Off Dumpster Day.
Residents can unload an unlimited amount of household waste and yard waste at the roll-off dumpsters placed in each of the city’s wards. The only limitation is a prohibition on tires, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, chemicals or gas tanks.
Roll-Off Dumpster Day was initiated by the city’s solid waste division in 1997 with only a few bins, but the success of the program led the city to expand it to multiple dumpsters at sites in each of the city’s seven wards, according to the Clarion-Ledger.
“Everybody’s loving it. If we stopped it now we’d probably have to leave the city,” said Ardell Kitchens, a supervisor with the solid waste division, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
Residents appreciate saving the $10 per load charged by the local landfill and the ability to dispose of unwanted items with unlimited trips once a month.
On the August 8th dumpster day, Britt Gober of Beaumont, Texas, dropped off five loads of furniture and other junk cleaned out from his deceased uncle’s Jackson home, according to the Clarion-Ledger.
Imagine taking a family vacation and once you hit the beach, all you see is a pool of green. You and your children decided to turn right around and kill the beach idea for the day just because of a little problem with seaweed. This has been happening far too often for families in Rhode Island due to the over abundance of seaweed in their beaches.
Newport, Rhode Island is world-famous for its seaside mansions and is considered an unparalleled yachting capital. But the seaweed problem has long plagued its beaches and prevented many resort-goers from enjoying an ocean swim.
Earlier this summer, Newport opted to resolve its seaweed problem by purchasing a $300,000 Aquamarine Beach Harvester 12000, which plows through the shallow water along the beachfront, collects the red algae and seaweed and spits it into a large roll-off dumpster, the Boston Globe reported.
From the dumpster, the seaweed can be shipped to farmers and turned into mulch and fertilizer.
Aquamarine offers a variety of machines and watercraft for cleaning waterways, beaches and harbors. The company provides aquatic weed and plant harvesters, along with boats that skim surface trash and debris.
The trash skimmers are designed with open-mouth conveyors that collect and loading floating trash and debris onto the storage conveyors. The skimmers easily transport waste to an off-loading point for discharging the load into a suitable container or transport.
The company says its services are a boon for boat marinas and hydro power stations. The comapny provides trailers and dumpsters for material disposal.
Has the bad economy gotten you feeling blue? Well this might make you feel green. If you lost your job due to this recession, or just are unable to find work, there is good news on the horizons!
The American Clean Energy Security Act, also called the Waxman-Markey bill, would provide an additional 270,000 construction jobs if passed, according to a new study.
Two provisions included in the House-passed bill, the State Energy and Environment Development (SEED) program and the Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods (GREEN) program, could be a big boost for contractors and construction businesses, according to the study by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
“We have been actively calling for investments in infrastructure that create greener buildings, vibrant communities and a 21st century transportation network that is good for both the environment and economy,” said AIA CEO Christine McEntee.
AIA said it encourages the Senate to pass the bill as a way to invest in jobs and reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment.
Provisions in the GREEN program would provide authorized funding for the energy efficient design, construction or retrofit of buildings, including residential single-family and multi-family buildings.
Contractors involved in green building will likely require multiple commercial dumpsters designed for different types of materials, in order to separate different categories of waste.
Where can you get a computer for a tree? Well this man from Keny is actually not even asking that much, for each computer he gives all he asks in return in for one Kenyan to begin planting a tree. This sounds so crazy it just might work, and it has been working for years now.
Generally the term “dumpster diver” has a negative connotation and brings up thoughts of people scouring for food or looking for personal information, but a teacher in one New York City suburb has been going through commercial dumpsters for years looking for computers to refurbish and send to his native Kenya.
CNN reports that Jude Ndambuki, a high school chemistry teacher, has been looking through garbage dumpsters for the last eight years in a hunt for computers, printers and other electronic equipment he can refurbish and send to Kenya.
Ndambuki sends hundreds of computers to Africa each year, but rather than asking for money the Kenyan native asks those who get the computers to plant 100 trees for each one.
He tells the news provider that each school in Kenya gets about five computers each year and according to Ndambuki, without his help schools might go decades without the electronics.
“Many of the schools that I give computers [to] in Kenya have not seen computers before. So we’re bringing them closer to the development,” he told CNN.
Ndambuki isn’t the only one helping people by going through a trash dumpster.
Canada’s CBC reports that three American tourists who were planning to board a cruise ship in Vancouver were turned away after their wallets, passports and identification were stolen from a parked car. Luckily, a good Samaritan found the passports while going through the trash in downtown Vancouver , allowing the three to take their trip.
How to Clean a Construction Site The construction process involves a large amount of materials and employees who are often working on a tight schedule. It’s no surprise then, that at the end of most projects the site is quite messy, full of debris, extra materials and dirt. Before the building can be considered complete, [...]
