The state of Massachusetts throws out about 5.5 million tons of waste annually, but, of that, about 40 percent comprises “long-banned materials such as glass and metal containers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, leaves and yard waste, recyclable paper, cardboard and paperboard, certain plastic containers, wood waste and tires,” all of which can and should be recycled, Zero Waste Massachusetts says in a recently released report.

“There is no silver bullet; we must deploy several tactics to reduce waste,” the report says. “With a spotlight on this problem, public education, increased resources from [Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection], better infrastructure and a commitment from municipalities, state legislators, the governor and other decision-makers, we can vastly improve the problem of too much banned waste going to landfills and incinerators.”

The report cites successes on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts; in Seattle; in the state of Vermont; and in San Francisco where various measures have reduced the amount of material landfilled or incinerated.

Based on those case studies, Zero Waste Massachusetts recommends the state take the following steps to minimize the volume of material landfilled or burned:

• Hold waste haulers responsible. They should inspect trash bins and issue warnings and penalties to raise public awareness and change behavior.
• The state should devote more resources to waste ban inspections and issue more noncompliance orders to transfer stations and solid waste facilities to increase awareness and hire more waste band inspectors.
• The state should start issuing fines rules that are “sufficiently high to influence behavior changes” for noncompliance with disposal rules.
• Waste stream separation is needed. Cities and towns should distribute separate bins for recyclable materials, discarded food yard waste, and trash.
• Cities and towns should mandate the use of clear trash bags to make it much easier for haulers and processors to inspect materials. Waste facilities and haulers should be required to reject opaque bags.
• Wherever necessary, communicate with the public in multiple languages and through the use of clear visual aids.
• Reduce the amount of banned material that haulers can dump at solid waste facilities or landfills.
• Place lists of banned materials in visible places where business owners and residents can easily find them. In Massachusetts, too much data about banned materials and waste ban enforcement is “buried within the depths of unnavigable websites.”

“Our solid waste crisis requires that Massachusetts, along with the other states and cities … make better progress on reducing waste,” the report says. “Waste bans, properly implemented, reduce the amount of material sent for burial or burning. Waste bans are a critical tool to help us reduce the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with landfilling and incinerating waste, improve public health and prevent the need to build new solid waste facilities.”

The Solid Waste Association of North America’s (SWANA’s) Applied Research Foundation (ARF) has issued a report assessing the viability of electricity and other alternative fuels for solid waste and recycling collection vehicles.

According to a release from the association, the publication analyzes electricity, hydrogen fuel cells, compressed and renewable natural gas and ultra-low sulfur and renewable diesel in terms of their energy usage, well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions, fuel cost, total cost and stage of commercialization.  

The report, “Evaluation of Electricity and Other Alternative Fuels for Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Vehicles,” follows the ARF report released in March 2022, “Efficient Management of Waste & Recycling Collection Resources,” which presented tools and best practices for streamlining collection operations.

“Considering the environmental impact and rising cost of diesel, it is important to evaluate alternatives available for solid waste and recycling collection trucks, which are among the lowest fuel economy of all over-the-road vehicles,” states David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO. “This new report provides collection fleet managers with useful data and analyses for the fuel options currently on the market,” Biderman adds.

“We are proud to be able to provide this in-depth report on this important and timely topic,” says Jeremy O’Brien, SWANA’s director of applied research. “SWANA would like to recognize and thank the organizations that comprise the ARF’s Collection Group Subscribers who identified and voted on this topic as well as supported and assisted in the research.”

The full report is currently only available to SWANA ARF subscribers. To learn more about the report and to download the executive summary, click here.

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For more than 80 years, Asheville Waste Paper Co. Inc. has offered recycling services from its location in Asheville, North Carolina.

The family-owned business launched in 1941 after Carl McMahan, a garbage truck driver for the city of Asheville, noticed the city was sending what he believed was too much paper and aluminum to landfills that could be recycled. McMahan started collecting cans and paper at his home, and he eventually opened a recycling facility in Asheville.

Over the years, the company has stayed in McMahan’s family. He retired in 1962 and passed the business on to his son, Paul McMahan, and Paul eventually passed the business on to his daughter, Annette McMahan Pace, and her husband, Cam Pace. In 2020, Trey Pace and his wife, Gabe, became the fourth generation of the family to manage the recycling business.

Carl started the business by operating a hand-press baler out of a small storefront in town. Today, the company runs a recycling facility on a 2-acre site with two industrial-sized balers, an industrial-sized shredder, several trucks, a truck scale and a team of 13 employees.

Gabe describes the business as “a staple for recycling” in the Asheville community, and the company offers what she calls double-sorted recycling. In 2021, Asheville Waste Paper processed more than 15.3 million pounds of old corrugated containers (OCC) and other paper grades.

“We are one of the only non-single-stream recyclers in western North Carolina,” she says. “We offer shredding services to the public and accept recycling materials from businesses, offices and local families who will drop off their household recycling. We also handle the maintenance and installation of balers for local businesses.”

She continues, “Customer service and strong family values set us apart, and that’s what people find memorable about our company and what keeps them coming to us for their recycling needs.”

Keeping busy

Asheville Waste Paper is focused on processing OCC and other paper grades. Gabe says the company is always navigating the ever-changing market dynamics for recovered paper.

“Some months are really good and we have a lot go out. In months where prices drop, we hold material,” she says. “But even in the good times and the bad times, we’re still shipping material. We constantly find outlets to keep revenue coming in.”

The company has two balers it uses on-site as well as an industrial shredder, two guillotines and forklifts. About three years ago, Asheville Waste Paper decided to invest in an 8043HS-10T75 single-ram horizontal autotie baler from American Baler Corp., Bellevue, Ohio, to replace one of its balers, which made operations run much more smoothly with fewer maintenance demands.

In more recent years, Gabe adds that Asheville Waste Paper has seen increased demand for the company’s shredding services. She attributes the increased demand to the pandemic.

“With COVID, everyone was stuck at home. In 2020 when everyone was under quarantine, I feel that’s when a lot of households and businesses used that opportunity to do some spring cleaning,” she says. “We saw a nice influx of documents brought in for our shredding services.”

She says the shredding business has stayed consistently busy the past three years. The company operates a top-feed shredder from St. Louis-based Williams Patent Crusher and Pulverizer Co. Inc. to serve that business segment.

Keeping the family feel

Even though Asheville Waste Paper has grown in size over the years and invested in equipment upgrades, Gabe says the company has continued to sort material by hand rather than rely on equipment such as screens and optical sorters to help with processing.

“We are considered a double-sorted facility, meaning that when the material is brought to us, it is already sorted and then we pick through it by hand to ensure there [are] no contaminants, plastic or waxed coatings,” she says. “All materials we handle are sorted by hand even after they are brought in to us sorted to begin with. This allows us to only process and ship the cleanest materials possible.”

Gabe adds that Asheville Waste Paper clearly communicates what materials it can and can’t process to ensure lower contamination to make it easier on the company’s employees. She says, “We’ve started to get really strict about what’s accepted here. We have a huge sign posted on our yard fence that describes what can and cannot be left on the property. That in itself has really helped us.”

Although it can be particularly challenging for recycling businesses to find and keep workers to hand sort materials, especially in today’s tight labor market, Gabe says Asheville Waste Paper has retained most of its sorters for the past decade.

“We take amazing care of them,” she says. “These guys are the backbone of this company. We provide all their safety gear, OSHA [Occupational Safety & Health Administration] vests and new steel-toed boots each Christmas. We take care of them, making sure everything they need is provided as far as making their jobs safer and easier.”

Since becoming an owner of the company about two years ago, Gabe says she and her husband, Trey, have focused on finding unique ways to support the company’s sorters.

“For instance, in winter if it’s super cold, we make our guys come inside every hour to take a 10-minute break,” Gabe says. “We give them hand warmers and try to really make sure they have anything they need. They are in sun, rain, snow and wind. These people are the backbone of this company, so they are our top priority.

“We maintain a family feeling every day. We have a really close, tightknit group, and I think that is why some of [these sorters] have been here for 20 years or longer.”

Stora Enso says it has acquired Netherlands-based De Jong Packaging Group for a price tag of 1.02 billion euros ($1.04 billion). Stora Enso, based in Finland, describes De Jong as “is one of the largest corrugated packaging producers in the Benelux countries.”

Founded in 1996, De Jong Packaging makes corrugated trays and boxes with a focus for fresh produce, e-commerce and industry. The company has owned a containerboard mill since its acquisition of the De Hoop paper mill in the Netherlands last year. De Jong Packaging Group has 17 downstream sites in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Stora Enso says the move will “advance [its] strategic direction, accelerate revenue growth and build market share in renewable packaging in Europe. De Jong Packaging Group Its product portfolio and geographic presence will complement and enhance Stora Enso’s offering, especially in fresh produce, e-commerce and industrial packaging.”

With the acquisition, the Stora Enso Packaging Solutions division will “secure a platform for continued growth in key markets,” the firm says, adding that it considers the European corrugated packaging market as fragmented, with local presences key for sustainable growth.

If Stora Enso decides to proceed with the conversion of the Langerbrugge paper production site in Belgium to containerboard, which it is studying, “further synergies will be possible,” the firm says.

“In line with our strategy, we are investing in growing our market share in renewable and circular packaging solutions,” Stora Enso President and CEO Annica Bresky says. “De Jong Packaging has a solid presence in the corrugated packaging sector and an impressive customer base. Acquiring their operations supports our future strategic direction to advance renewable packaging solutions within Europe.”

David Ekberg, executive vice president of the Packaging Solutions Division at Stora Enso, says, “De Jong Packaging Group has a solid track record of growth in corrugated packaging, which combined with our experience in innovative design, digital solutions and sustainability services, will enable us to strengthen our offering.”

Henk de Jong, owner of De Jong Packaging Group and Ad Smit, CEO of De Jong Packaging Group, says, “We are proud of what has been achieved at De Jong Packaging Group and we now look forward to the next steps in our company’s journey. Stora Enso is well positioned to drive further growth in line with our common ambition.”

The acquisition of De Jong Packaging Group has been approved by Stora Enso’s board of directors. Stifel, Allen & Overy, and KPMG acted as Stora Enso’s advisors in the transaction, the firm says.