Location: Mullica Hill, Gloucester County, NJ
Attendees
- Gregory Sharp, Wade Environmental
- Allen Winn, Burlington County
- Matt Hood, Burlington County
- John Cannata, Sussex County
- Jack Sworaski, Camden County
- Ken Atkinson, Gloucester County
- Diana Vigilante, Somerset County
- Laura Macpherson, Morris County
- Alain Fortier, Monmouth County
- Virginia Lamb, Monmouth County
- James Witte, Focus Recycling Systems
- Carole Tolmachewich, Middlesex County
- Fred Stanger, Middlesex County
- B. Ellie Arnould, Passaic County
- Rich Baroch, Bergen County
- Ralph Davis, NJ DEP
- Mary-Jo Kennelly, Clean Venture Inc.
- Chris DiVirgilio, Camden Co. Bomb Squad
The meeting was called to order by Ken Atkinson at 10:25 a.m.
Introductions
Fred Stanger made a brief presentation. He was one of 3 people in NJ to receive a package from the EPA seeking applicants to apply for a grant to fund a clean up of pesticides from farmers known as a ‘Clean Sweep’ program. He was not sure ANJHHWC was permitted to apply (since then has received the go ahead) but wanted feedback on whether it’s worthwhile to pursue.
County Update
Gloucester County has held one Recycling/Reuse day on 4/24 and had 368 cars and collected over 40,000 lbs. of material at a cost of $13,900. They had an HHW on 5/1 and had 682 cars and collected over 75,000 lbs. of material at a cost of $21,500. They plan to have 2 more Recycle/Ruse Days and 1 more HHW day this year and plan to add 4 Recycle/Reuse days for 2000. Wade Environmental is their current contractor.
Middlesex County has held 3 HHW days so far and has 4 more scheduled. 1,635 cars came through the first 3 events. Clean Venture/Cycle Chem is their contractor, bid on a per car basis @ $0.00 / car with a flat fee of $27,333.00 per event. The permanent paint and paint related products program has collected 125,417 lbs. of material between Jan. 1 and June 30. Their contractor is Focus Recycling Systems at 36.99 cents / lb.
Sussex County held one HHW event on 6/5 and had 417 cars and collected between 25 and 27 tons of material. They are holding a 2nd event in November. Their contractor is AETS on a per pound basis @ 49 cents per lb.
Monmouth County has accepted over 200,000 lbs. of material at their permanent facility since the beginning of the year. They pay 8 cents per pound for transportation/disposal. They average 100 cars per week and they are a week behind in scheduling appointments (very busy!). They held 1 HHW day in April and are holding another one later this year.
Camden County has held 2 HHW days and collected 123,000 lbs. of material at 34.6 cents / lb. They also had 1 paint only day and collected 8,000 lbs. at 25 cents / lb. Their contractor for both events is Clean Venture/Cycle Chem. They plan to have 2 more HHW events and 3 more Paint only days.
Passaic County has held 2 HHW days and had 971 homeowners and 16 businesses attend. A total of 50.5 tons of material was collected by Clean Venture/Cycle Chem at a rate of $26 per car. There will be 1 more HHW day in the fall.
Morris County has accepted over 100,000 lbs. of material at their permanent center in one year from 800 cars (including businesses). They charge their residents who bring latex paint. Their contractor is AETS on a per pound basis @58 cents / lb. They also had 2 HHW days and had 1200 participants at $38/car contracted out to Remtech (who is being bought by Clean Venture/Cycle Chem.)
Somerset County has held 2 HHW events and had 1,569 participants at $27/car. Their contractor is Radiac Research Corp. They plan to hold 2 more events.
Burlington County has taken in over 200,000 lbs. of material at their permanent facility so far this year, equating to about 1,700 cars. They are open Tues. through Sat. Two thirds of the material is from DPW’s. They also have been seeing out of county residents show up i.e. Mercer and Camden county residents who are charged by weight per waste stream.
Bergen County has held 1 HHW day and serviced 2,400 cars at $26.96 / car and their contractor is Radiac Research Corp. They also held 1 paint only day, a new venture, and serviced 410 cars without much advertising at 33 cents / lb. with a $2,000 set up fee and that contractor is Focus Recycling Systems. They plan to have 1 more HHW event and 3 more paint only events for 1999.
NJ DEP – Ralph Davis- Based on national trends, and tying in with the National Task Force on Mercury, the DEP is suggesting that we pay particular attention to the amount of mercury we are collecting at our events. That also means to pay attention to the amount of fluorescent light bulbs being collected, if applicable. We might be asked to give data on quantities collected in the future.
Mr. Davis is also examining the wording in our contracts with regard to keeping track of this ‘unregulated’ waste (HHW being exempt from RCRA, etc). Please send him a copy of your bid specs if you have not yet done so. He suggested 5 ways to improve your contracts:
- Require that HHW that would be considered hazardous to be treated as hazardous
- Have bidder include in submittal a list of the TSD’s that will be used
- Require Cert.of Disposal/Destruction and/or copies of all outgoing manifests and withhold a meaningful amount of payment until you get them (ie. 10-20%)
- Make contractor solely and totally responsible for packaging, transporting, and disposal.
- Use hazardous waste manifests
Vendor Chat
- Gregory Sharp from Wade Environmental reported having secured contracts with Gloucester, Cumberland, Atlantic and Salem counties. They are waiting for a general permit to begin operating in Philadelphia as a consolidation point.
- Mary Jo Kennelly from Clean Venture/Cycle Chem has been very busy attending Southern NJ HHW events including Camden, Ocean and Cape May counties. She is now located in Camden at the oil/water and oily solvents processing facility previously owned by Remtech. You can reach her at (856) 365-5544 or via fax at (856) 365-0801. (editors note, So. Jersey has a new area code!)
- James Witte of Focus Recycling Systems mentions that Focus has entered their 4th year into the business since starting in 1995. They have contracts with Middlesex and Bergen counties for paint recycling/disposal. They have been doing door to door HHW collections, including Estate sale situations. They are searching for an investment partner and want to concentrate on creating a 100% post consumer paint product and bring the costs to recycle paint closer to the costs to solidify/landfill paint. They are also seeking to relocate their operations from NY to NJ. They do not deal with radioactive and medical wastes.
Video
ANJHHWC is interested in looking into having a video produced on HHW and members seem interested in pursuing the idea. Costs could range from $5,000 to $20,000 and it was suggested to limit it to 15 minutes, and target 6th grade through adults. Perhaps supplement with activity guide/books/wheels. A sub committee will be working on this. Anyone interested in participating should call Carole Tolmachewich at (732) 745-4170.
Lunch: sponsored by Wade Environmental and the GCIA
Camden Co. Bomb Squad
Chris DiVirgilio from the Camden Co. Bomb Squad / Sheriff’s Office made a presentation regarding his experiences in working with explosives. Some common explosives are fireworks, chemistry sets, black or flash powder, ammunition, picric acid and ether. If you can prevent it, don’t move the material and instead have the Bomb Squad go to the location, it’s much safer. You can utilize NJ bomb squads from the following locations: Atlantic City, State Police, Bergen Co., Hudson Co., Newark, Morris Co., and Jersey City. These folks receive technicians level training by the Military and FBI and receive a formal refresher course every 3 years by the FBI. You can reach Chris by calling (856) 374-6235 or via e-mail at c4cmdv@aol.com.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 1:00 pm. and those interested went on to tour the PSE&G facility in Paulsboro with regards to computer reuse/recycling/demanufacturing.
Upon arrival at PSE&G, the DEP was there hand delivering PSE&G’s certificate to operate. The NJDEP is planning to add consumer electronics (CE) to the Universal Waste Rule, specifically Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT’s) and PSE&G has been a participant in the feasibility study to support that decision.
Our tour of the facility was conducted by Jim LeCates, IR Specialist with PSE&G, and you can reach him at the Gibbstown office at (609) 224-1639 or via e-mail at jlecat@pseg.com.
PSE&G’s 55,000 square foot warehouse holds all surplus materials generated within the company including computers and light bulbs.
The computer program started out as an in house program to fully utilize their own resources. When a computer entered the Recovery Center, it was sent back out to a PSE&G employee who could use it. The program has expanded to giving computers as donations or sold. PSE&G hires a contractor to test the computers which takes about 1.5 hours to complete. The computers slated for demanufacturing are sent out various contractors.
Bonus Minutes
Day two of the ANJHHWC conference found a few members touring the NJ State Aquarium. It was a very interesting ‘back stage’ tour, and here are a few facts to ponder.
The main tank at the Aquarium holds 760,000 gallons of Camden tap water with 80 tons of Morton Salt and 25 tons of other salts and minerals. It’s maybe third largest, after Epcot, Monterey, and possibly Baltimore. The water temp is between 63 and 68 degrees F. The ‘glass’ at the main viewing area of the tank was manufactured by Mitsubishi in 3 pieces which is 6 5/8 inches thick. It’s not glass at all, but plastic (like Lexan?) and only the water pressure is holding it in place.
Each year sharks kill about 5 people worldwide, but humans kill over 100,000 sharks. (who’s more dangerous?). The 2 types of sharks in the main tank are Sand Tiger and Sand Bar (sp?).
There are over 100 different tanks all together at the aquarium and each has it’s own filter system and lighting, and temperature control.
Ken Atkinson knew the question of the day – “What was the name of the robot shark in Jaws?” Come to the next ANJHHWC meeting to find out the answer.