Land, Waste and Emergency Management Innovations
Year 2007 Innovations Pilots
You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s PDF page to learn more.
This page provides links to non-EPA Web sites.
You will leave the EPA.gov domain and enter another page with more information. EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of information on that non-EPA page. Providing links to a
non-EPA Web site is not an endorsement of the other site or the information it contains by EPA or any of its employees. Also, be aware that the privacy protection provided
on the EPA.gov domain (see Privacy and Security Notice) may not be available at the external link.
2007
- Focused on four priority areas:
- Restore contaminated properties to environmental and economic vitality
- Increase America’s homeland security
- Promote stewardship and resource conservation consistent with the Agency’s Resource Conservation Challenge
- Encourage voluntary efforts to clean up sites
- Five projects were selected:
- City of McAllen “Save the Greens” Resource Recycling, Recovery, and Composting Pilot Project.
- Closing the E-Design – E-Scrap Loop
- Creating a National Reuse Marketplace: A Search Engine Uniting Materials Exchanges
- Innovative Use of Recycled Materials to Increase Beneficial Use of Construction and Demolition (C&D) Debris Fines
- Project PURE: Promoting Understanding of RFID and the Environment
- Awarded more than $355,500 to innovation projects
- Grants were the method of funding
Project Highlights
- Approximately 20 percent of the City of McAllen’s municipal solid waste is now being diverted from landfills or incinerators through the recovery of yardwaste and green food waste.
- From 2007 to 2010, the city collected 5,166 tons of organic waste for composting; sold 52,660 cubic yards of compost; used 5,481 cubic yards of compost for various city development projects; and saved $89,114 by diverting 5,166 tons of food waste from landfills.
- The city leveraged $50,000 in seed money to set up and implement this composting pilot project, including $9,000 from Walmart and $40,000 from the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council for collection bins, signs, dumpsters, biodegradable bags, training and community outreach.
- This "Save the Greens" pilot project won both the 2008 Texas Environmental Excellence Award and the 2008 Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Composting Program from the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling.
City of McAllen Public Works Department - Recycling Division Full Circle "Save the Greens" Resource Recycling, Recovery, and Composting Project
Sponsor: EPA Region 6 - Fiscal Year: 2007
Partners: Globe Supermarket (McAllen, Texas), Ruben’s Grocery (McAllen, Texas), Sustainable Agronomics Association (Edinburg, Texas), Texas Cooperative Extension (Edinburg, Texas), Texas Vegetable Association (Mission, Texas)
Challenge: The population of the City of McAllen, Texas doubled between 1980 and 2005. This resulted in a significant increase in the amount of waste generated and landfilled with costs to the city reaching over $2.3 million per year. To divert recyclable material from the landfill, McAllen implemented a curbside recycling and yardwaste collection program. More than 85 percent of the yard trimmings collected was turned into compost, but the compost lacked vital nutrients resulting in a low quality end product with little market demand. In turn, McAllen had a difficult time recuperating program costs due to the low quality of the compost.
Opportunity: Adding green food waste (e.g., vegetable and fruit scraps) to compost is a proven method of improving its quality. While successful on a small scale (e.g., residential), large or commercial scale composting operations would require a large and continuous supply of green food waste to produce high quality compost. Championing a commercial scale model allows municipalities to sell their compost and increase revenue or offset program costs, as well as divert an additional portion of the waste stream from landfills.
Approach: The city set up a partnership with a local Walmart to collect its unsold produce, designed and implemented a training program for Walmart employees on best practices for managing food waste, and developed a community outreach education packet on composting in both English and Spanish. The collected green food waste was then processed into nutrient-rich compost and sold to residents and local food producers, who used it to grow produce for sale locally.
Project Update: The "Save the Greens" pilot project is now an established city program that new businesses continue to join. The city currently collects green food waste from 25 local businesses. In addition, every Walmart in Texas now has a composting program modeled after the "Save the Greens" project.
Additional Information:
Closing the E-Design - E-Scrap Loop
Sponsor: EPA Region 10 - Fiscal Year: 2007
Partners: National Center for Electronics Recycling; Resource Recycling, Inc.
Overview: The objective of this project was to build a mechanism for the active, two-way exchange of actionable information between the front and back ends of the electronics product life-cycle chain of commerce. The project focused on computers and monitors because those products have the most active end-of-life economy and because the EPEAT program, which provided a basis for much of this work, had focused initially on that product set.
Project Highlights
- Developed the search engine to browse available items from eight Materials Exchanges in the Northeast.
- Since the website launched, there has been more than 1,840 unique visitors and 63 successful exchanges worth more than $24,000.
Creating a National Reuse Marketplace: A Search Engine Uniting Materials Exchanges
Sponsors: EPA Region 1, EPA Region 2 - Fiscal Year: 2007
Challenge: In 2009, Americans produced about 243 million tons of municipal solid waste. Materials Exchange – websites that connect those with unwanted products with people who are seeking them – help address this problem by facilitating the recycling and reuse of items that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills. There are several active Materials Exchanges; however, each one is unique in its access and offerings, which limits the effective reuse of materials.
Opportunity: A single, national Materials Exchange network would allow users to search for materials across participating networks, thus maximizing their use. The increase in visibility for these networks would increase the probability that materials will be reused and products would be diverted from landfills.
Approach: Project partners identified five Materials Exchange networks in the Northeast willing to participate in the Reuse Marketplace pilot project. The Northeast region provided several well-established individual networks to serve as a geographical pilot for the launch of a national marketplace. Launched in January 2010, the Reuse Marketplace Network is a Web-based network that allows users to search for materials across all five independent networks. The new website was designed to increase reuse of materials by streamlining access and promoting opportunities to locate and purchase materials. Materials Exchanges in the Network included computer/electronics/appliances, construction/salvage materials, office equipment/furniture, and industrial equipment.
Project Updates: Since January 2010, the Reuse Marketplace has created greater exposure and increased participation for the eight Materials Exchanges. The Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) is developing a plan for a larger national network based on the pilot project. The program will focus on retaining the current Exchanges and seeking additional Material Exchanges to join as participants. NERC also is focusing on promoting the Reuse Marketplace at events and seeking funding options to support the network.
Additional Information:
Innovative Use of Recycled Materials to Increase Beneficial Use of Construction and Demolition (C&D) Debris Fines
Sponsor: EPA Region 1 - Fiscal Year: 2007
Partners: Waste Management of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Overview: This project entailed exploring whether coal ash, wood ash, and/or crushed concrete could be utilized economically as an amendment for C&D debris fines to attenuate the production of hydrogen sulfide in a beneficial-use application.
Project Pure: Promoting Understanding of RFID and the Environment
Sponsor: EPA Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery - Fiscal Year: 2007
Partners: EPC Global; Resource Recycling, Inc.
Overview: Triggered by the increasing problem of e-waste, the project sought to develop an innovative way to encourage a cradle-to-cradle approach in the handling of electronics products in the U.S. Specifically, the project aimed to identify ways in which the use of RFID tags within the production and distribution system for electronics products could reduce the environmental footprint of said products by minimizing the need for materials, facilitating reuse, and improving the efficiency of recycling while providing economic and operational benefits for those involved in the life cycle of electronics.