Each year natural disasters challenge American communities. The National Science and Technology Council estimates these disasters cost the United States $52 billion per year in the form of lives lost and property destroyed.  Natural disasters can also generate large amounts of debris adding to the host of challenges for public officials.

The EPA has produced an updated planning guide for local governments and communities in various stages of disaster debris planning.  If you are just starting, this is a great resource.  If you need a checklist to make sure you’ve covered your bases this is also a great resource.

The link is posted below:

disaster_debrisplanning

Submitted by Robert Wadley, TDEC
Here is alternative to RBRC.org…

“Cary McQuaid” 8/7/2008 2:05 PM

Greetings,
My name is Cary McQuaid and I represent Metal Conversion Technologies. I would like to first thank you for this opportunity to quickly write to you about our company.

We here at Metal Conversion Technologies are very excited about the opportunity to provide a much needed service that offers both convenience and profitability with regards to battery recycling.

We recently were awarded contracts with several counties and municipalities in several states to recycle their rechargeable batteries (NI-CD, NI-MH, and LI-Ion). While working with these institutions on developing or expanding their recycling programs we realized that all municipalities and private enterprises should have the opportunity to profit financially from recycling their rechargeable batteries. As a result MCT has decided to make available to anyone interested in recycling and protecting the environment this great opportunity. For your consideration we are sending you some information about our company and recycling programs. To order “The Big Blue Box” please call 678-721-0022 and start recycling today.

We are committed to customer satisfaction. Please call if you have any questions or need more information.

Thank you,

Cary McQuaid

Metal Conversion Technologies, LLC
1 East Porter Street
P.O. Box 1026
Cartersville, GA 30120
678.721.0022
cary@metalconversion.com

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s mobile household hazardous waste collection service will be in Maury and Sequatchie Counties on August 23.

“Our household hazardous waste mobile collection service provides the people of Tennessee with a safe, environmentally friendly way to dispose of unwanted household chemicals and other potentially hazardous wastes at no cost,” said Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke.  “This service travels across the state holding collection events in local communities, and we encourage all Tennesseans to take advantage of the opportunity to utilize it.”

On Saturday, August 23, any Tennessee resident may bring his or her household hazardous waste to the following locations.  (Note that hours listed indicate the local time for each event.)

Maury County – Maury County Park in Columbia from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.  The local contact for this HHW collection event is Mike Sweeney at (931) 375-6400.

Sequatchie County – Sequatchie County Recycling Center / Ball Park, 219 John Burch Road West in Dunlap from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. The local contact for this HHW collection event is David Barker at (423) 949-3479.

For more info see the TDEC website here.

–Forwarded by Louis Bordenave, TDEC–

Louis forwarded this EPA Presentation describing materials found in commercial buildings. The presentation describes and quantifies potentially re-used or recyclable materials and looks at C&D reuse and recycling applications. See the attached PDF document for the complete resource.

recycling-im-in-buildings_2008-bu-summit

–Forwarded Waste Management Press Release–

July 16 — In its first direct-to-consumer offering, Waste Management Inc. has launched an online service to recycle universal household waste, including compact fluorescent lamps and batteries.

The Think Green From Home program, www.thinkgreenfromhome.com, allows consumers to order universal waste recycling kits, which include prepaid postage labels. The United States Postal Service has approved the kits to safely ship discarded CFLs and batteries. Waste Management hopes to eventually include household electronics in the service.

It is Houston-based Waste Management’s first service offered directly to household consumers. Typically, the integrated solid waste management firm, the largest in the United States, deals on a municipal and commercial contract basis.

“With the 2012 deadline for the use of CFLs, customers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to properly dispose of household universal waste and the Think Green From Home program makes recycling this waste as safe and convenient as possible,” said Rick Cochrane, senior business director for Waste Management’s LampTracker program.

The federal government has banned the sale of incandescent bulbs starting in 2012.

–Via Vivian Doyle, EPA Region 4–

As a result of the Feb. 2008 Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (KEEC) and TDEC conference entitled, “Green Development: Good for Water and the Bottom Line,” EPA-HQ gave TDEC and KEEC a grant to fund locals that are planning to implement green infrastructure demonstration projects.The primary goals of the project is to:

Inform city/county officials of the benefits of green development and the codes/regulations that can be implemented to encourage green development in their communities;
and Promote dialogue and exchange among developers, architects, contractors and state and local officials on the aspects of green development and its contribution to the efficient use and quality of waters.

TDEC developed a plan to partner with some other organizations and conduct competitive grant offering for municipalities. The recipients would use the funding to implement green infrastructure and LID practices in their communities.

Information on “best practices” identified through the grant program would be posted on TDEC’s green development website, http://state.tn.us/environment/greendev.

The TDOT and TVA’s Growth Readiness program confirmed their intent to participate as financial and administrative partners in demonstrating best practices.

Vivian M. Doyle, MSPH
Tennessee Watershed Coordinator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4
Atlanta, GA
doyle.vivian@epa.gov

A few of you have contacted me to point out my spelling error in yesterday’s post on John.  The link back to the article with corrections is here.

I miss John’s wit and humor and hope he would have had a good laugh at my expense over this one.

Apologies for posting such an ‘Onion worthy’ headline..

Counties Adopt Framework for Sustainable Production

July 23, 2008

The National Association of Counties on July 15 adopted the first national policy supporting a “framework” approach to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

“NACo’s adoption of the Extended Producer Responsibility framework is a great step forward for our environment,” said Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, Ramsey County, Minn. “Smart design protects the environment and saves money by preventing costly waste.”  See the full article here.

Those of you who are following the recent debates about contracting practices related to the Knox County Composting facility may be interested in viewing this editorial found in the July 28th issue of the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Deceased Knox County Solid Waste Director,  John Evans, has been named in comments that question the contractor’s business relation with the county.

This letter to editor puts the actions and integrity of the former director in perspective.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/letters-july-28/

–Forwarded from TDEC staff–

On July 15. 2008 the Solid Waste Directors Association met with TDEC-Solid Waste Management to discuss issues related to Waste Tire Manifesting in Tennessee.  The responses to the Association’s questions are posted here.  tire-questions-8-2008.

Questions or additional information can be obtained by contacting Joyce Dunlap at 615-532-0075 or by email at Joyce.Dunlap@state.tn.us