The Port of Seattle has introduced a centralized off-aircraft recycling system at the Seattle Tacoma airport that the airport says will reduce waste sent to landfills, improve ramp safety, decrease air emissions and save more than $250,000 each year.

"Our goal is to recycle 50 percent of our waste by 2014. This will take us to another major step toward that effort," says Elizabeth Leavitt, director of Planning and Environmental Programs at the Sea-Tac’s airport.

To accomplish the reduction goal, six pairs of large capacity (30 cubic yards) computer-monitored compactors have been installed at locations for all airlines to access. The compactors allow more collection, while computer-monitoring provides alerts when they are full, reducing the amount of pickup trips by 75 percent.

The system has resulted in 89 fewer pickups per month and could reduce pickups to as few as one or two per month at most locations.

During this past March when the program began, an additional 12 tons of recyclables were collected.

The program also includes financial incentives encouraging airlines to recycle. Each airline has a key card to access the system which records how much is deposited in separate compactors designated for trash or recycling. Using the recycling compactor is free of charge. Plus, credits are given for the ratio of recycling versus trash to reducing annual bills.

A campaign to heighten recycling awareness of recycling on college campuses, called RecycleMania, came to a conclusion late last month. RecycleMania, which ran from Jan. 17 to March 27, challenges students, faculty and staff to increase on-campus recycling rates. Through the program, in its 10th year, more than 84.5 million pounds of recyclables and organics were recovered from 607 colleges and universities across the country.

Colleges and universities chose to participate in one of two divisions, Competition or Benchmark.

The Competition Division houses the traditional competitive rankings based on standard tracking and reporting criteria. The Benchmark Division allows schools to unofficially compare themselves with other schools and promote RecycleMania on campus without the formal reporting requirements of the competitive ranking.

Within each division, schools participate in any of eight categories. In addition to these main categories, schools also compete in targeted material categories to see who can recycle the most paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, and food waste on a per capita basis.

The “Grand Champion” top three finalists, determined by the percentage of overall waste that is recycled over 10 weeks, were:

• California State University-San Marcos (71.82 percent) – San Marcos, Calif.

• New Mexico State University (69.05 percent) – Las Cruces, N.M.

• American University (64.90 percent) – Washington D.C.

The “Per Capita Classic” top three finalists, determined by total pounds of recyclables collected per person over 10 weeks, were:

• United States Coast Guard Academy (81.75 pounds) – New London, Ct.

• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (63.14 pounds) – Needham, Mass.

• Colorado College (60.8 pounds) – Colorado Springs, Co.

The “Waste Minimization” top three finalists, determined by the lowest overall amount of waste (recyclables and trash) per person over 10 weeks, were:

• North Lake College (6.17 pounds) – Irving, Tex.

• Harford Community College (7.87 pounds) – Bel Air, Md.

• Santa Monica College (8.13 pounds) – Santa Monica, Calif.

The “Gorilla Prize” top three finalists, determined by the highest cumulative weight of recyclables over 10 weeks, were:

• Rutgers University (2,541,093 pounds) – Piscataway, N.J.

• Harvard University (996,760 pounds) – Cambridge, Mass.

• Stanford University (888,884 pounds) – Stanford, Calif.

Targeted Material (pounds per person over 10 weeks)

Paper:

• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (30.71 pounds) – Needham, Mass.

• Westfield State College (23.89 pounds) – Westfield, Mass.

• Medical University of South Carolina (21.64 pounds) – Charleston, S.C.

Corrugated Cardboard:

• Kalamazoo College (25.23 pounds) – Kalamazoo, Mich.

• Union College (23.14 pounds) – Schenectady, N.Y.

• Rutgers University (20.41 pounds) – Piscataway, N.J.

Bottles and Cans:

• Ursinus College (19.44 pounds) – Collegeville, Pa.

• Kalamazoo College (16.29 pounds) – Kalamazoo, Mich.

• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (15.45 pounds) – Needham, Mass.

Food Service Organics:

• Johnson & Wales University-Denver (41.79 pounds) – Denver, Co.

• United States Coast Guard Academy (37.49 pounds) – New London, Ct.

• Middlebury College (29.31 pounds) – Middlebury, Vt.

The RecycleMania competition is a program of the RecycleMania Steering Committee, in coordination with the College and University Recycling Coalition. Program management for RecycleMania is provided by Keep America Beautiful in coordination with the U.S. EPA's WasteWise program. RecycleMania is made possible through the sponsorship support of The Coca-Cola Company, American Forest & Paper Association and Keep America Beautiful.

SMS Mill Services LLC (SMS) a division of Scrap Metal Services LLC of Burnham, Ill., has signed a definitive agreement with ArcelorMittal Plate LLC for a multi-year contract to process scrap at its Coatesville, Pa., steel mill.

According to a news release from SMS, it will provide AMC with services that include on-site transport of processed scrap to the electric arc furnace (EAF) mill, specialized scrap processing and alloy testing services.

SMS currently also has a long-term agreement to provide mill services to ArcelorMittlal at its Burns Harbor, Ind., integrated steel mill. Scrap Metal Services LLC operates scrap processing facilities in Burnham, Ill., and Hammond, Ind.

“We are extremely excited about the opportunity to develop a partnership with AMC by providing new and innovative solutions to jointly improve the cost structure, operating efficiencies and overall performance of all the processes,” says Jeffry Gertler, CEO of SMS.

Larry Coe, president of SMS Mill Services, LLC will be responsible for all activities relating to the start-up, transition, and operations of the facility in Coatesville in conjunction with his responsibilities at the ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor facility, according to the news release.
 

Summit Materials LLC, a building materials company headquartered in Washington, D.C., has completed the acquisition of Cornejo & Sons Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas.

Cornejo & Sons is involved in producing sand and gravel, asphalt and ready mix concrete, as well as paving, construction, recycling and C&D landfill services. The management staff of Cornejo & Sons will remain in place.

“We are delighted to expand our presence in Kansas with the addition of Cornejo & Sons, a first class operation. I look forward to working with Ron Cornejo and Marty Cornejo to grow the business and provide new opportunities for Summit and its customers,” says Tom Hill, CEO of Summit.

Ron Cornejo, CEO of Cornejo & Sons notes, "We are pleased to join forces with Summit Materials so that we can continue to grow our business. Partnering with Summit Materials allows the Cornejo family and our employees the opportunity to grow dynamically as the economy improves. It also allows us to offer more products, services and value to our clients and communities.”

Cornejo & Sons is comprised of five companies: Cornejo Construction, Concrete Materials Co., Construction Demolition & Recycle and Allmetal Recycling.

Summit Materials was formed last year to develop and grow a business in the aggregates and heavy-side building materials sector through strategic acquisitions. This is the third acquisition for Summit since it was formed. This past September, Summit acquired Hamm Inc., an aggregates, landfill, asphalt and construction company in Perry, Kansas. In February, 2010, Summit acquired Hinkle Contracting Co., an integrated materials and construction business headquartered in Paris, Ky.