Waste Reduction at WasteCap... In an effort to reduce office paper waste at your office and ours, WasteCap utilizes an electronic newsletter. Past e-newsletters can be found on our website under the "E-Newsletters" tab. Check out our website at www.wastecapne.org for the latest events, publications, and new member listings for WasteCap Nebraska.

What's New for February 2007:

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WasteCap News

Looking For a Summer Environmental Intern?

The P3 Summer Intern Program places engineering and science students into Nebraska businesses to assist with pollution prevention, environmental management systems, and other environmental projects. This not only improves your environmental program, but is a wonderful learning experience to the students. For more information and registration, please visit www.p3.unl.edu.

Request for Annual Volume Reports

The 2006 Member Recycling Volume Report has been sent.  Please complete and return the surveys as soon as possible, as they are important in evaluating the effectiveness of the memoranda utilized by WasteCap members and measuring the amounts of material diverted from the landfill each year. These reports also allow for a more adequate description of your business’s complete recycling program (including some commonly missed items such as pallets, toner cartridges, refuse generation totals, and recycled content purchasing efforts.)  The compiled annual recycling volume will allow us to compare recycling efforts to past years and gauge the recycling progress of the WasteCap members as a whole.  Thank you very much to those who have already turned in their report. Please contact our office at (402) 436-2383 or [email protected] with any questions.  Thank you for your cooperation!

Upcoming Events

Environmental Compliance: A Comprehensive Primer

The American Society of Safety Engineers is holding a seminar on environmental compliance Tuesday, February 20th, at Mahoney State Park. The seminar will cover the major environmental laws and regulations, compliance strategies, and knowledge of additional resource and training. If you are interested in attending, or would like more information, please view the seminar brochure.

Climate Change: Causes and Responses Series

Climate Change: Causes and Responses sessions 3 through 7 will be held at the Unitarian Church in Lincoln, every Sunday from February 11 through March 11, at 7:00 p.m. Each session will feature a different topic and speaker, all focusing on the changes in our climate. Sessions are free and open to the public. For a full list of speakers and topics, please visit the Unitarian Church website. This series is presented by the Unitarian Church, the Bluestem Group of the Nebraska Sierra, and the Nebraska Humanities Council.

WasteCap Across Nebraska

WasteCap Hard At Work on 2007 Events

2007 holds a busy year for WasteCap Nebraska. We are planning several events throughout the state, and hope to see you there! Here is a look at what will be going on throughout the year.

Computer Collections

Computer collections are an opportunity for businesses to bring in their used computers and electronic equipment for recycling. So far, we have three collections planned:

Shred Day

In conjunction with Clean Your Files Week, we will be holding a shredding day in Lincoln. There will be three locations through the city, which households and businesses can take their documents for destruction and recycling. Shred Day 2007 will be held on April 28th from 9 am-12pm:

Cell Phone Drive

WasteCap is planning a cell phone and ink cartridge drive to tie into America Recycles Day:

Watch for more information about all of these events, as well as other events. Mention will be made in the monthly newsletter, and on the event calendar at www.wastecapne.org/events.

Electronics Update

New Microsoft Vista Software Could Be Electronic Burden

The Basal Action Network (BAN) has recently issued a press release stating that the Microsoft Corporation may have neglected to consider the repercussion of obsolete computers upon the release of their new Vista software. Studies show that many businesses with computers not meeting the requirements of the new system will simply discard the old computers for newer units. This could result in a mass of e-waste in smaller developing countries, which have little to no regulation. Jim Puckett, coordinator of BAN, stated, “Most developing countries have no infrastructure whatsoever to collect and recycle computers, so when they die they are simply dumped and burned”. To view the press release, click here.

Chevrolet Takes Hybrid One Step Further

In an effort to lessen dependence on petroleum, Chevrolet is designing a “plug-in” electric car, to join their hybrid Saturn Vue Greenline Edition. Unlike the Vue, the new Chevrolet Volt will use only plug-in electricity, for up to 40 miles, at which point a gasoline engine would take over. The electric motor will still involve some emissions, mostly used to generate the electricity needed to power the car, but the amount would be significantly less than a gasoline-powered vehicle. http://www.enn.com/invest.html?id=1536

California Proposes Ban on Incandescent Light Bulbs

LightbulbLegislators in California have recently proposed an act to ban incandescent light bulbs by the year 2012. The light bulbs favored, Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs), emit fewer carbon emissions and use less electricity than conventional light bulbs, resulting in a cut in greenhouse gas emissions. If put into action, price cuts may be placed on CFLs, increasing their purchase appeal. To learn more about the California Light Bulb Act, please view the MSNBC website.

In the News

Soy-Based Lubricants Gaining Popularity

Vegetable based lubricants, such as soy, canola, and corn are being used more, as petroleum based lubricants are being used much less. Because of the amount of runoff into streams and channels, the bio-based lubricants are much more environmentally friendly than their predecessors. The benefits are not strictly limited to habitat. Vegetable based lubricants have more slip, and tend to stick more to metals. The lubricants are cost competitive, but only make up a small part of the market currently. To learn more about vegetable-based lubricants, please visit this article.

Companies and Environmentalists Working Well Together

What was once a battle has now become a cooperative union. Large corporations and small businesses alike are working together to produce an environmentally pleasing outcome. The United States Climate Action Partnership partners companies, such as DuPont and General Electric, to name a few, all of whom are working towards carbon regulations in the U.S. To read more on this group, and other social and environmentally friendly associations, please visit this site.

Market Corner

Many recyclers base revenue payment for recyclables on a national index of pricing.  Many of our members are currently interested in how those prices are determined.  We have asked Midland Recycling to provide an overview of the pricing listed in our newsletter to provide a better understanding of how recyclers determine revenue.  Thank you to Tonya Bernadt, Business Relations Manager for Midland Recycling for providing this month’s overview.  We welcome other recycling companies to provide a guest market column as well.  We also encourage our members to directly contact their current and/or future recyclers to find out specifics on how their revenue is determined.

The Official Board Market (OBM) also referred to as the Yellow Sheet is a standard indicator utilized by recyclers throughout the country.  In this region most recyclers follow the Chicago region market values.  The values listed in this newsletter are the low side and high side of the market.  In parentheses is the amount that the market value for the specific commodity increased or decreased from the previous month.

The rebate a customer will receive from Midland Recycling is frequently based on the OBM values.  Other factors included in determining rebates are the volume of material received, if the material needs to be sorted, whether the material is loose or baled, ease and frequency of pick up, and if it is delivered to our facility or picked up by Midland staff.  For more details regarding Midland Recycling pricing structures contact Tonya Bernadt at (402) 476-8502.

  February – Chicago Region

Mixed Paper

$65-70 (+10)

Boxboard Cuttings

$50-55 (+10)

News

$85-90 (+5)

OCC

$85-90 (+20)

SOP

$135-145 (+10)

Sorted White Ledger

$225-235 (+10)
Material Abbreviations
OCC: Old Corrugated Cardboard
SOP: Sorted Office Paper		 Source: Official Board Markets