2011 C&D Recycling Forum: A World of Change

Green building targets and scorecards have provided more material for C&D recyclers in the past few years while a pending lawsuit addresses a potential threat to access to those materials.

Attendees of the C&D Recycling Forum, held in Baltimore in late September, heard presentations addressing each topic at a session called “A World of Change.”

Speaker Joanne Wiley, compliance officer with C&A Carbone, West Nyack, N.Y., provided insight into that company’s history of litigation contending flow control measures enacted by New York counties and towns.

Her message to those in attendance, in part was, to beware because their city or county could be the next to enact such a measure.

C&A Carbone sounds was the plaintiff in a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States in an effort to overturn a flow control measure in Clarkstown, N.Y. That effort cost C&A Carbone millions in legal fees before being decided in C&A Carbone’s favor, according to Wiley.

The company finds itself engaged in a new $1 million-plus lawsuit that has again reached the Supreme Court, this time in a effort to overturn a flow control measure in Rockland County, N.Y. (See “Impeded Flow” at Recycling Today.com hyperlink to http://www.recyclingtoday.com/rt0911-flow-control-law-recyclables.aspx.)

Wiley emphasized two points: 1) waging these legal fights is worth it in her estimation; “It has to be done,” and; 2) attendees should not be complacent and think it won’t happen where they conduct business.

Legislators and government agency directors talk to each other and learn from each other, she emphasized. If flow control measures are upheld in court and can provide a new revenue stream to government districts in tough times, the phenomenon is likely to spread, she warned.

Wiley noted that the concept had spread well beyond New York already, with the city council of Dallas preparing to vote on a measure in late September that would dictate that all solid waste collected in that city be dropped off at either transfer stations or the landfill operated by the city. She urged attendees to contact her at jw05050@aol.com if a flow control law was being proposed in their market region.

Speaker Zack Glenn, environmental specialist with Integrated Waste Analysts Inc. (IWA), Elkridge, Md., provided attendees with an overview of what his company has learned working with customers who seek LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification on building projects.

LEED, the rating or scoring system overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council, offers credits for landfill diversion of construction and demolition scrap; for the establishment of an ongoing recycling program in a new or renovated building; and for the use of recycled-content building products.

Glenn indicated that mixed C&D recyclers are a key part of helping project managers attain the C&D materials diversion points and, depending on the extent of their operations, may also be able to help on the other fronts.

Glenn noted that the LEED system also offers “innovation credit” points and that IWA has helped clients earn this credit by recycling pallets, carpet or EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam.

He also indicated that IWA has found a role helping national or multi-national firms coordinate their LEED-related activities across regions. He said IWA also relies on local and regional recyclers such as those in attendance to help these large companies earn their LEED credits.

The 2011 C&D Recycling Forum was Sept. 25-27 at the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center in Ellicott City, Md.