Organics

Phoenix-based Republic Services has announced that the Oregon Recycling Association has recognized its Pacific Region Compost (PRC) facility in Corvallis, Oregon, with the Recycler of the Year Award. The award was presented at the Association of Oregon Recyclers’ annual conference in Gleneden Beach, Oregon.

“The Pacific Region Compost facility is stronger today because of our community partnerships and our customers,” says Greg Brummer, Republic Services area president. “Together, we are enabling communities and local businesses throughout Oregon to achieve their sustainability goals for generations to come.”

In 2010, the PRC became the first Oregon compost facility to be approved for type 3 organics composting, including proteins, dairy and all food scraps. As the largest composting facility in Oregon, the PRC processes more than 120,000 tons of residential yard waste, residential organics and commercial food waste each year, producing a nutrient-rich compost used for area agricultural, landscaping and gardening purposes.

“Companies like Republic Services are leaders in making steps toward a more sustainable system of materials management and are celebrated for their efforts,” says Amy Roth, resource director of the Association of Oregon Recyclers. “We hope their example influences others to strive for a better future where environmental impacts of our consumer choices are minimized.”

Through its predecessor companies, Republic has served the Corvallis area for more than 40 years. Republic employs 320 people in Oregon’s Benton, Linn and Marion counties, serving more than 100,000 residential customers. It also owns and operates a landfill, four transfer stations, seven recycling centers and 170 collection trucks in the area.

LA Sanitation and Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) have announced the start of an organics waste recycling pilot program at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

As part of ongoing efforts for the city of Los Angeles to achieve its goal of zero waste and reducing the use of landfills, the pilot program calls for the collection of food waste from a sit-down restaurant, a fast-food restaurant and a coffee house in Terminal 8 and an airline lounge in Terminal 7.

The program’s effectiveness will be analyzed to determine the needs for all of the 108 food service establishments within LAX’s nine terminals.

Airport staff will collect the food waste from the pilot program locations for pick up by LA Sanitation, which will then transport the material to a facility where it will be recycled and converted into renewable natural gas and used as fuel. Residual solids and liquids from the process will be made into “beneficially reusable” products, such as soil amendments.

“This partnership with LAWA underscores LA Sanitation’s commitment to environmental sustainability,” says LA Sanitation Director and General Manager Enrique C. Zaldivar. “We continually work to increase the recycling of solid waste and its reuse in a beneficial way; organics processing is the new frontier in solid waste management.”

California Assembly Bill 1826 (AB 1826) requires businesses that generate 8 cubic yards of organic waste per week to have an organics recycling service in place. To ensure compliance with AB 1826, the city of Los Angeles adopted the Sustainable City pLAn (Mayoral Directive No. 7) and the Los Angeles City Zero Waste Franchise System (Council Motion 14-1432).