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WasteRecycling Magazine: Winter Edition
Winter edition of WasteRecycling magazine
Product Roundup: Technology
The waste and recycling industry is getting smarter each day thanks to new and improved technologies coming into the market. Whether it’s technology to keep our drivers safe on the road, materials recovery facility (MRF) equipment to make our operations more efficient or innovations to prevent challenges such as fires and emissions leaks, these advancements are taking our industry by storm. In this product roundup, we highlight a few of these groundbreaking technologies and innovations.
Powered by Innovation
The world is always changing, especially when it comes to utilizing technologies and innovations to make everyday tasks easier. In this hyperconnected era, we rely on our smartphones, tablets, laptops and other devices to keep the world at our fingertips. Our reliance on technology for both personal and professional reasons has led nearly every industry to explore how various innovations can make a difference in the short and long term, and the waste and recycling industry is certainly no exception.
Q&A with TCYP Morning Meetup Speaker Joe Short of Short’s Brewing Company
The Traverse City Young Professionals (TCYP) is excited to welcome Joe Short, founder of Short’s Brewing Company (SBC), as its April Morning Meetup guest speaker on April 4 at 8 a.m. ET. During the Morning Meetup, Short will share lessons learned from starting a brewery from the ground up, what challenges and opportunities he’s faced along the way and how he continues to keep Short’s relevant in the competitive and growing craft beer market.
Q&A with TCYP Morning Meetup Speaker Eric Roberts of 20Fathoms
The Traverse City Young Professionals (TCYP) is wrapping up its 2023 Morning Meetup Speaker Series this month! On November 16 at 8 a.m. ET, Eric Roberts, executive director of 20Fathoms, will share lessons from his 30 years of experience in technology and operations and give insights into working with startups to achieve excellence and knock down barriers so they can grow and thrive.
WasteRecycling Magazine - Fall Edition
Fall edition of WasteRecycling magazine
Sustainability Partnership Game Changer Honorable Mention: Upcycle Arts
Looking to reduce the number of art supplies that end up in the waste stream, Upcycle Arts opened the first and only creative reuse center in Charlotte, North Carolina, in September 2020. With a mission to provide the community with reclaimed materials to transform into art, Upcycle Arts accepts donations of art supplies for the use of mixed media arts. These supplies range from standard art products like paints and canvases to other items like fire hoses and old bottle caps, all of which would have otherwise been thrown away.
Sustainability Partnership Game Changer: Clean Harbors
When it comes to achieving goals within the waste and recycling industry, it takes a team effort. This can be close collaborations between those in the industry or perhaps partnerships that extend beyond the industry and make a larger impact. No matter the team effort, there is power in partnerships.
Organics Management Facility of the Year WM’s Varick Centralized Organics Recycling Facility (CORe®)
As a leader in the waste and recycling industry, WM has many ambitious goals, one of which is to recover energy from food waste. To achieve this goal, WM patented a process called CORe®, an innovative solution that recycles pre- and post-consumer food waste into EBS®. EBS® is a high-quality engineered bioslurry product of organic feedstock used for co-digestion in municipal wastewater treatment plant anaerobic digestors. The CORe® process is currently being used in facilities in Los Angeles; Boston; Elizabeth, New Jersey; and Brooklyn, New York.
Organics Management Facility of the Year: Recology Ostrom Organics Compost Facility
Recology, a West Coast-based company, has evolved into a prominent commercial composter in the industry since establishing its first compost facility more than 25 years ago. Today, Recology owns and operates eight compost facilities on the West Coast that compost nearly 700,000 tons of organics each year.
Construction & Demolition Recycling Facility of the Year: WM Recycling Deerfield
Recognizing the need for a new construction and demolition (C&D) recycling facility in Southeastern Florida, WM built a $15 million, 5-acre facility called WM Recycling Deerfield in Broward County, which opened on February 21, 2022. The facility, which includes a 73,000-square-foot structure enclosed on two sides, accepts Class III waste, yard waste and C&D debris including wood, concrete, metal and cardboard from commercial and municipal customers.
Excellence in Recycling Public Education: American Waste Control
When it comes to recycling, education is of utmost importance, as recycling is not a one-size-fits-all solution and proper actions need to be taken to maintain clean recycling streams. Recognizing this, Oklahoma-based American Waste Control created its Feed Mr. Murph education program to help teach children and adults of all ages about the importance of recycling and providing for a cleaner environment.
Recycling Equipment Innovator of the Year: EverestLabs
Today’s era is marked by heightened environmental consciousness, which is leading to more recycling efforts and more material entering the recycling stream. Because of this, advancements are needed in materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to keep up with the uptick of materials in a safe, efficient and sustainable manner. Recognizing this need, EverestLabs developed RecycleOS, a solution that combines artificial intelligence (AI) software and automation to combat the lack of real-time operational intelligence data; labor challenges; and increased material recovery goals and revenue targets.
Recycling Facility of the Year: Murphy Road Recycling’s All American MRF
Recycling as we know it is changing—more materials are being accepted into recycling programs, more technologies are coming online and more infrastructure is needed to process the high volume of materials received. Recognizing these changes and needs, Connecticut-based Murphy Road Recycling transformed its single stream recycling facility from a 50,000-square-foot facility into a $40 million, 110,000-square-foot advanced recycling facility it calls the All American materials recovery facility (MRF).
NWRA Honors 2023 Recycling Awards Recipients
Each year, the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) recognizes companies, organizations or individuals who have made substantial contributions to U.S. recycling through partnerships, public education and innovations in recycling facilities. These companies, organizations or individuals are honored with NWRA’s Recycling Awards, which are intended to celebrate achievements and commitment as well as provide inspiration for others.