Location: Somerville, Somerset County, NJ.
Prepared by Fred Stanger (Hip-Hip double Horay for Fred!!!)

Attendees

County

  • Rich Baroch, Bergen County
  • Mark Vangieri, Bergen County
  • Fred Stanger*, Middlesex County
  • Carole Tolmachewich, Middlesex County
  • Joel Grimm, Monmouth County
  • Greg Hulse, Monmouth County
  • Larry Gindoff, Morris County
  • Laura Macpherson*, Morris County
  • Ellie Arnould – Tomb, Passaic County
  • Diane DeSanto, Passaic County
  • Diana Vigilante*, Somerset County
  • John Cannata, Sussex County
  • JoAnn Gemenden, Union County
  • Marian Swiontkowski, Union County

* indicates ANJHHWC officer

State – NJDEP

  • Robin Heston
  • Guy Watson
  • Frank Coolick
  • Dana Silverberg

Vendor

  • Greg Voorhees, Envirocycle
  • Dave Zimet, HESSTECH
  • Shane Thompson, INMETCO
  • Ed Nevins, JVC
  • Kara Kwiatkowski, Newtech
  • Gary Wohler, PSE&G

Other

  • Priscilla Hayes, NJ Solid Waste Policy Group, Rutgers University
  • Lisa Drake, NJ Commerce – Sustainable Business Office
  • Janet Cox, INFORM

Diana Vigilante began the meeting at approximately 9:50 a.m. with introductions.

Election of Officers

The following officers were elected:

  • Ken Atkinson re-elected at President
  • Diana Vigilante elected as Vice President
  • Laura Macpherson elected as Treasurer
  • Fred Stanger re-elected as Secretary

Congratulations officers! A special thank you to the dedicated service of Carole Tolmachewich who kept the books in order as Treasurer for the past three years.

Consumer Electronics – Take Back Proposal:

David Thompson of Panasonic and Frank Marella of Sharp gave a joint presentation regarding the idea of implementing a take back program for consumer electronics. The basic premise is that participating manufacturers will pay the cost to recycle their own brands of consumer electronics and it will be the responsibility of the government (at the various levels) to collect and transport the residentially generated material to the approved demanufacturing vendor(s) identified by the participating manufacturers.

The primary focus of the program is to capture and recycle CRT’s including TV’s and flat panel displays. The program will not include white goods, batteries or fluorescent lamps.

Issues to consider:

  • Identify the most problematic (toxic) consumer electronics and make sure the proposed program includes the items identified.
  • Some counties already have programs in place to recover consumer electronics.
  • We don’t want to undermine or under utilize the existing NJ based demanufacturers.
  • Consider developing a zero export policy (of whole units).
  • What to do with the other brands of consumer electronics that are collected, but not part of the program
  • The cost to transport to Envirocycle – the identified end market.

Another presentation will occur at the NJ DEP on Thursday April 5th where the county Solid Waste Coordinators and Recycling Coordinators will hear the program details.

Dry Cell Battery Recycling – Shane Thompson of INMETCO

Shane Thompson brought to ANJHHWC brochures and showed a 10 minute video demonstrating the recycling process at INMETCO located in Ellwood City, PA.

INMETCO mainly recycles nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium – ion and alkaline batteries and sends lead acid batteries to Exide, lithium to Toxco and both zinc air and mercury batteries to various mercury reclaimers. Silver oxide batteries are stored until there are enough to send them to a recycler.

INMETCO recently began a box collection program that allows generators that sort battery chemistries to send the batteries directly to INMETCO via UPS prepaid shipping containers. Each box is capable of holding approximately 30 pounds. Feedback from those in the audience that use the program was overwhelmingly positive. There is no box system in place for mixed dry cell batteries.

You can reach Shane Thompson at 724.758.2825 or sthompson@inco.com

Conferences

  • EPR2 (Electronics Product Recovery and Recycling) Conference and The Electronics Recycling Summit will take place April 17-19, 2001 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, VA presented by the National Safety Council (NSC) and the International Association of Electronics Recyclers (IAER). For more info contact the NSC at http://www.nsc.org/ehc/epr2.htm or the IAER at http://www.iaer.org/industryevents.htm You can also contact Candace Levitt from the NSC at (202) 293-2270 ext. 476 or levitt@nsc.org
  • ENTECH 2001 is being held on June 12 – 14 at the Atlantic City Convention Center. ANJHHWC was approached by EHMI (Environmental Hazards Management Institute) to be a sponsor. We agreed to participate which allows us free exhibit space. ANJHHWC will also be having our 2nd Quarter Meeting in conjunction with ENTECH 2001 so mark your calendars now!
  • For more information you can contact ether Kathy Mandsager or Nancy Hellmann of EHMI at (603) 868-1496 or visit EHMI on the web at www.ehmi.org.
  • The national Hazardous Materials Management conference sponsored by SWANA and NAHMMA will take place on September 4-8, 2001 in Portland, OR. For more info contact SWANA at 301-585-2898 or www.swana.org or NAHMMA at www.nahmma.org

 Pending Bills / Legislation

Priscilla Hayes talked about several bills including:

  • A2958 which proposes to ban CRT’s (cathode ray tubes) from the waste stream. The bill mentions HHW collection events / facilities as the outlet for CRT’s but without any funding mechanism. Priscilla is setting up a meeting to meet with Jones, the bill sponsor. Please contact Priscilla if you are interested in attending the meeting.
  • A3250, introduced March 1, 2001 is sponsored by Albio Sires (Hudson) and Leonard Lance (Warren, Hunterdon and Mercer) proposes to ban the sale of mercury thermometers.

You can view the progress and content of the bills by visiting the NJ Legislature web page at: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us You can search for specific bills by their number. In the above two cases, you must also type the letter A.

Education Campaign

The development of the education campaign has slowed to a crawl and it is now anticipated that HHW Awareness Month will occur in 2002. Three slogans that are in the running are:

  1. Put Household Hazardous Waste in its Proper Place
  2. Make Your Home Hazard Free – Shop Wisely, Dispose Properly
  3. Haste Makes Household Hazardous Waste… Put it in its Proper Place

Please contact Carole Tolmachewich if you are interested in joining the subcommittee at (732) 745-4170 or mcdswm@superlink.net

Vendor Chat

There were no HHW vendors in the audience.

Solid Waste Policy Group Update

Visit http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~wastemgmt/ or contact Priscilla by calling (732) 932-9155 ext. 233 or hayes@aesop.rutgers.edu

NJDEP Update

Robin Heston reported that there is a new reviewer for the NJ Universal Waste Rule. The rule may be proposed in 3-6 months. Robin also reported that the US EPA is publishing a proposal regarding CRT’s expected by late summer / early Fall.

County Update

  • Atlantic: Contact Monica Dubler at (609) 272-6921 or mdubler@acua.com
  • Bergen: Bergen County will be holding 3 HHW events at $29.99 per car with Clean Venture as the vendor. They will also hold 3 paint only events at 43 cents per pound with Radiac Environmental as the vendor.Bergen County also received permission from the DEP to open a recycling depot in order to collect computers. The computers and related equipment is collected and stored in a 20’ enclosed container and can be used by residents, public works, libraries and schools. The drop-off is free to residents but not for businesses.For more details contact Rich Baroch at (201) 807-8696 or Mark Vangieri at (201) 807-5823 or bergensoldwaste@aol.com
  • Burlington: Contact Ann Williams at (609) 499-5317 or email Allen Winn at awinn@home.com
  • Camden: Contact Jack Sworaski at (856) 858-5241 or sworaski@co.camden.nj.us
  • Cape May: Contact Tony Moncman at (609) 465-9026 or moncmanag@cmcmua.com
  • Cumberland: Contact Dennis DeMatte Jr. at (856) 825-3700 or ddematte@ccia-net.com
  • Essex: Contact Michael Onysko at (973) 857-2350 or monysko@essexutil.com
  • Gloucester: Contact Ken Atkinson at (856) 478-6045 x 14 or katkinson@gcianj.com
  • Hudson: Contact Nick Staniewicz at (201) 795-4555 or recycle@hcia.org
  • Hunterdon: Contact Gloria Schellhorn at (908) 788-1110 or recycle@co.hunterdon.nj.us
  • Mercer: Contact Louis Calisti at (609) 278-8100.
  • Middlesex: Will hold 7 one day HHW events during 2001 at $23,787 per event. Four bids were received for 2001 and Radiac Environmental was awarded the contract. The Paint Drop-off Program will cost 41 cents / pound for 2001. The contractor, Focus Recycling Systems has been absorbed into Clean Venture Inc. and the contract will be serviced by Clean Venture out of their Camden office. A ninth drop-off location will be added beginning April 2001. Middlesex county continues to have a contract with Curbside Inc. / Safety Kleen for the Home Collection of HHW in the amount of $17,500 for one year which includes 100 pick ups at $125 each and 100 pick ups at $50 each (the home owner pays the balance). For more details contact Fred Stanger at (732) 745-4170 or mcdswm@superlink.net
  • Monmouth: Monmouth County generated 460,000 pound at their permanent facility last year at a cost of 11 cents per pound Last year two different vendors were obtained for the permanent facility. For 2001 Clean Venture/Cycle Chem will be handling the lab pack and paint waste and there’s a no landfill policy. Clean Harbors will be handling the flammable gas and Monmouth County is being paid 10 cents / gallon for used motor oil. Antifreeze is at no fee and crushed used oil filters are sold for a nominal price. Two one day HHW events will be held in 2001 at a cost of 82 cents per pound with Radiac Environmental as the contractor. For more details contact: Alain Fortier at (732) 922-2234 ext. 11 or afortier@shore.co.monmouth.nj.us
    Greg Hulse at ghulse@shore.co.monmouth.nj.us
  • Morris: Morris County will be holding 2 one day events in 2001 at a cost of $69.62 per car with Clean Venture as the contractor. Computers will be accepted at the first event but for a fee. There will also be a $5 fee for propane tanks. The permanent facility accepted 1,422 people and 75 tons of material during 2000 at a cost of $100,373. The contract for this year had to be re-bid. The current contractor is Onyx Environmental. For more details contact Laura Macpherson at (973) 631-5109 or lmacpherson@mcmua.com
  • Ocean: Contact John Haas at (732) 506-5047 or ocrecycles@ameri-com.com
  • Passaic: Passaic County plans to hold 2 one day HHW with Clean Venture as the contractor. Passaic also plans to hold 4 one day events to collect computers / electronics. For more information please contact either Diane DeSanto at (973) 305-5738 or Ellie Arnould-Tomb at the same number or arnouldtomb@earthlink.net
  • Salem: Contact Melinda Williams at (856) 935-7900 or mwillscua@mindspring.com
  • Somerset: Somerset County will be holding 5 HHW single day events during 2001. Radiac Environmental Services will be the contractor at $28 per car. Somerset County supplements the HHW program with the First Saturday of the Month Program, where residents can bring recyclables, used motor oil & filters, anti-freeze and tires. For more details contact Diana Vigilante at (908) 231-7681 or vigilant@co.somerset.nj.us
  • Sussex: Sussex County will be holding 2 events in 2001 at 53 cents per pound with Radiac Environmental Services as the contractor. For more information contact John Cannata at (973) 579-6998 x107 or cannata@hotmail.com
  • Union: Union County will be holding 4 HHW single day events in 2001 at a price of $31.40 per car with Radiac Environmental Services as the contractor. Union county will be supplementing the HHW program with an electronics program. For more details contact either Marian Swientkowski at (908) 654-9890 or mswiontkowski@unioncountynj.org or JoAnn Gemenden at the same number above or jgemenden@unioncountynj.org 
  • Warren: Contact Bill Carner at (908) 453-3601.

Next Meeting

In conjunction with ENTECH 2001, which takes place June 12-14 in Atlantic City.