north carolina recycling and materials management section ... · recycling and materials management...
TRANSCRIPT
North Carolina
Recycling and Materials Management Section
Wendy Worley, Section Chief
Recycling and Materials Management Section
Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service
NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
Recycling in North CarolinaA State Update
NC SWANAApril 2018
A Year of Changes… and more changes
Staffing Changes
Legislative Threats
Market Changes
Presentation Overview DEACS – what’s changed, what’s the same
Annual Reports – how public program data can help advance recycling in NC
Update on Recycling in NC
A Brief on Recycling Market Changes
DEACS – Free Tools & Assistance
DEACS – Recycling Program
• Provide technical and financial assistance to ▪ Local governments
▪ Recycling businesses
▪ Waste generators (manufacturers, commercial businesses, etc.)
• Staff Special Focus Areas▪ Organics
▪ State Agencies / Colleges / Universities
▪ Outreach & Education
▪ NC Green Travel
Despite a year of change… Our staff was hard at work
6 Local Government Networking Meetings and Infrastructure Tours
NC Manufacturing Zero Waste Networking event
With CRA & SC Commerce, Recycling Business Connections event
Grant Cycles
Carolina Plastics Recycling Coalition
Annual Local Government Reporting Cycle Data collection & analysis
Anti-contamination Toolkits and participation in regional messaging stakeholder meetings
Technical support on market challenges
Collegiate Recycling Annual Report
Local Government Annual Reporting
• NC § 130A-309.09A establishes that local governments report annually to NC DEQ
• Annual report to include: Info about public education programs on recycling
Amount of solid waste collected and disposed
Amount and types of materials recycled
Costs of solid waste programs and the methods used to finance those services
• Data gathered through annual reporting process is foundational to the work of state recycling program in NC
Local Government Annual Report
• Distributed as a fillable PDF, communities complete electronically and return via email attachment
• Responses imported into SQL databaseData becomes available for
▪ Analysis
▪ State reporting
▪ Technical assistance
• State dataset contains report responses going back to 1999
Recycling Tonnage:
• Asks communities to report by program
• Curbside
• Drop-off
• Other
• Asks communities to report by materials (allows for reporting of “commingled”)
• Form automatically calculates totals (reducing error)
Form Highlights
Quality Control
• Key ingredient to a high-functioning dataset
• Every report reviewed by staff for accuracy and consistency
• Data compared to previous years, outlier responses verified, and corrected accordingly
• Staff review should catch red flag and call local staff to verify
Example of Quality Control:
Town of Stoneville, NC Curbside
Recycling Tonnage
Fiscal YearCurbside Recycling
(Tons)
FY 2011-12 24.25
FY 2012-13 40.91
FY 2013-14 43.24
FY 2014-15 55.56
FY 2015-16 34.86
FY 2016-17 671.34
• Data can be used to evaluate program performance (for communities and state system)
• Supports the discovery and establishment of metrics
• Allows for the measurement of change over time
• Data can be queried for customized analysis
• Powerful tool for technical assistance and to support decision making
• Examples to follow about how data can be put to work supporting community programs
The Importance of a Dataset
Using Data to Help Communities Make Case for MRF Development
• MRF: the chicken and the egg Communities need access to a MRF to have BMP
level recovery system, but need a critical mass of recovered tons to justify investment in a MRF
• State data can be used to help communities make the case for a MRF
• Example: southeastern NC
NC MRFs – in approx. 2014
• Modern MRFs need a critical mass of local tons
(~25,000 TPY)
• MRF operators need confidence that a critical
mass of material exists to justify investment
NC MRFs – in approx. 2014
• Southeastern NC last metropolitan area
without easy access to MRF
• New Hanover County and City of Wilmington
want to lure private MRF operator to help
increase recycling program efficiency and
effectiveness
Proving the Tons are Available
• State data about public recycling program tonnage in adjoining counties compiled and shared with county staff
County (including
municipalities within)
Annual Community
Tonnage, FY 2013-14
New Hanover County 16,227
Bladen County 537
Brunswick County 7,886
Columbus County 324
Pender County 2,543
Total 27,517
• With tonnage data in hand, county staff are able to build confidence among private MRF Operators
Spring 2016: Recycling Works Newsletter
Using Recycling Data to Support Economic Development
• Data about recovered materials can validate business decision making
• Enough material to justify investment?
• Support from a state can demonstrate commitment to recycling businesses
• Case Study: Eggers Group
Wood Tonnage
County
#
Convenient
Centers
ALAMANCE COUNTY 1
ALEXANDER COUNTY 7
ALLEGHANY COUNTY 1
ANSON COUNTY 6
ASHE COUNTY 5
AVERY COUNTY 7
BEAUFORT COUNTY 11
BERTIE COUNTY 5
BLADEN COUNTY 17
BRUNSWICK COUNTY 4
Public Facilities
MaterialDescription Company City
Mixed C&D Processing A-1 Sandrock, Inc .- Greensboro Greensboro
Mobile Recyclers -- Wood Waste
Wood Waste -- Pallets
Mixed C&D Processing AAA Hauling Of NC Fayetteville
Wood Waste -- Pallets
Mixed C&D Processing Abbey Green Winston Salem
Wood Waste -- Pallets
Mixed C&D Processing Advantage Waste Recycling & Disposal, Inc. Mount Holly
Wood Waste -- Boiler Fuel
Mobile Recyclers -- Wood Waste American Property Experts, Inc. Wilmington
Wood Waste -- Boiler Fuel
Wood Waste -- Manufacturing Scrap
Wood Waste -- Mulch
Wood Waste -- Pallets
Wood Waste -- Sawdust and Bark
Wood Waste -- Boiler Fuel Andrews Wood Products, Inc. Lenoir
Wood Waste -- Manufacturing Scrap
Wood Waste -- Sawdust and Bark
Wood Waste -- PalletsBuffaloe Wood Waste Recycling Facility &
LCID LandfillRaleigh
Wood Waste -- Sawdust and Bark
Private Facilities
Fall 2017: Recycling WorksNewsletter
Bringing
770 Jobs to Davidson County!
Planned Investment = $700 million!
Data to Establish & Track Metrics:Curbside Recycling is Still Growing
328 Curbside recycling programs
Three new communities with curbside
– Ocean Isle Beach, Ranlo, Stanfield
45.8% recyclables are collected by curbside recycling programs (excluding yard waste)
Recovered “Traditional” Recyclables
• Markets fluctuate (like the overall economy)
• Until recently recyclable commodity trends have been favorable
• China’s National Sword Policy• Banning imports of mixed paper and mixed 3-7
plastics
• Setting extremely low bale contamination specifications
Recycling Markets & Pricing Update
Fiber / Paper Recycling Pricing
What can communities do?Increase the Good Stuff – Reduce the Bad Stuff
• Improve quality
•Plan for market swings
• Educate & Re-educate the Community• What to recycle?• What NOT to recycle?
•Use DEACS Support
State Recycling Grants AvailableSupports Programs & Markets
• Local Governments
– Away From Home
– Curbside in unincorporated areas
– HHW
– Hub and Spoke
– Food Waste
• Recycling Businesses
– MRF Upgrades
– Food Waste
– Domestic processing of materials affected by China policies (mixed paper and #3-7 mixed plastics)
DEACS Support & Tools
Regional / Common Messaging
Free Outreach Tools “What’s Acceptable
List”
Anti-Contamination Graphics
Anti-Contamination Social Media Toolkit
OutlookIt may be challenging times, but we can get there together.
We want to hear from you -- let us know how we can help your community or your business.
Thank you!
Wendy Worley, Section Chief
Recycling and Materials Management Section
Phone: 919-707-8136