Nonmetallics

Casella Buys Tire Hauling Business

Casella Waste Systems Inc., Rutland, Vt., has entered into an agreement to purchase the hauling division of a Dallas tire recycler. Recovery Technologies Inc., Casella’s crumb rubber producing affiliate, will acquire the national hauling business from Waste Recovery Inc. The deal could give Casella the ability to add tire collection accounts with national retailers.

Book Destruction Division Formed

The Recycling Group, Indianapolis, has formed a new division, Guaranteed Book Destruction, that will specialize in collection, destruction and recycling of books. Common types of materials the company is accepting include manuals, textbooks and reference materials such as encyclopedias.

Society of Plastics Engineers to Hold Annual Plastics

The plastics division of The Society of Plastics Engineers is organizing the division’s 7th Annual Recycling Conference, ARC 2000. It will be held in Dearborn, Mich., at the Dearborn Hyatt, Nov. 7 to 10.

At this years’ conference, more student participation will be encouraged to enable the group to cultivate young professionals. The program will include five tracks: durables, consumables, technologies, transportation and electronics. For more information about the conference, visit www.sperecycling.org.

Farmers Encouraged to Recycle Plastics

Farmers in northwest England are being encouraged to recycle farm plastic waste, with park benches and garden furniture being some of the products manufactured as result of the project.

The project is being coordinated by Farming and Worldlife Advisory Council (FWAG). Farm plastic waste, most of which is produced during the making of silage, is causing farmers problems for disposal. The plastic does not rot if buried and it is illegal to burn it in England. Farmers have had few options but to stockpile the waste after the collapse of a nationwide recycling scheme three years ago.

“The Cumbria Farm Plastic Recycling Scheme is yet another example of how FWAG is coordinating a partnership approach toward environmental improvement in the countryside,” says Christopher Bourne-Arton, FWAG’s chairman.

The FWAG recycling scheme is a pilot project in Cumbria and is being used to assess the viability of expanding the project. During the first week of the project, 130 tons of plastic were collected.

Municipal Bus Fleet Using Re-Refined Oil

In Seattle, Wash., one of the nation’s largest metro transit fleets has begun to use re-refined motor oil, says Ron Sims, King County executive. Other King County agencies have been using re-refined oil in cars, trucks and large equipment, some since 1992.

Metro’s fleet includes about 1,140 diesel buses and 90 diesel-powered transit vans that log more than 35 million miles per year. Metro estimates that about 80,000 gallons of re-refined oil purchased from Lilyblad Petroleum will be used each year.

“The switch to re-refined oil in King County’s Metro Fleet is a win-win for the environment,” Sims says. “The best part is that motor oil can be re-refined over and over again.”

The oil is recycled by first cleaning the oil of any contaminants such as dirt, water, fuel and additives using a vacuum distillation. Then it is treated to make it suitable for the final product. The re-refined oil is then combined with fresh additives to make a finished lubricant.

Plastic Bags Banned in India

Poor trash collection and the harming of cows, sacred to Hindus, has prompted India’s largest state to ban the use of plastic bags. The action has caused businesses to protest.

Thousands of cows were dying each year after they attempted to eat the contents of littered bags. The cows often choked on the plastic bags after trying to eat the vegetable waste in them.

Complaints from business officials site that at least 15,000 people will lose their jobs in the state of northern Uttar Pradesh and the Luckanow capitol region. In Lucknow alone there are 90 factories that produce plastic bags that are likely to go out of business because of the ban, according to an Associated Press report.

The plastic bag ban has been supported by petitions filed in courts in several states. But judicial red tape has caused courts to take years to rule on the petitions.

Miller Brewing Switching to Plastic, Others Follow

Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, is switching more of its production to plastic bottles instead of glass, and several other beer makers may also follow the trend. Anheuser-Busch has also announced it will start marketing Bud Light and Budweiser in plastic bottles and Tetra Pak has announced that Swedish beer brewer Spendrups will also package beverages in plastic bottles.

Canadians have concerns that this packaging trend could follow from the U.S. and are wondering how it will affect recycling programs.

According to Product & Packaging Stewardship Review, Guelph, Ontario, Canadians consumed about 4.9 billion containers of beer in 1999, 78% of which were sold in refillable glass bottles.

If single use bottles were to be used, the result could be 154,000 tons of amber PET entering the Canadian waste or recycling stream. The beer industry has told Canadians that it does not plan to switch from the refillable to single use bottles.Although plastic bottles have been introduced into the U.S., glass still seems to prevail as beer manufacturers try to differentiate their product from others on the market. Glass still has some advantages over plastic, mainly being the flexibility of packaging size and configuration, helping brewers create a more distinct image for their drink.