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Jump-start Your Recycling Program — save money
and achieve goals of management efficiency simultaneously! |
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Join the Greater Philadelphia Commercial Recycling
Council and help to ensure that the Greater Philadelphia region
continues to move toward a sustainable future in the 21st Century! |
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Waste Audits
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 Regulatory
Issues
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Commercial
Recycling Plan (NEW)
Pennsylvania
Universal Wastes
(back to Resources)
Philadelphia
 City
of Philadelphia — Commercial Recycling Regulations
The Greater Philadelphia Commercial Recycling Council can help Philadelphia
businesses come into compliance with Philadelphia solid waste regulations.
We can help you fill out your Recycling Plan. Download here a .PDF
copy of the NEW Philadelphia
Commercial Recycling Plan. We also provide waste audits and program
evaluations. E-mail us or give
us a call at 215-247-3090.
Commercial recycling regulations for Philadelphia require all businesses
that utilize a private trash hauler to do the following:
1. Prepare and submit a recycling
plan (a .pdf version of the Recycling
Plan may be downloaded here. You must send it to the City of Philadelphia
to be in full compliance with the law)
2.
Distribute information on the plan to all employees and/or tenants
3. Publicly
post the plan
4.
Separate recyclables up-front (before putting in trash)
5. Provide adequate recycling
containers to all building occupants
6.
Create an education program to communicate expectations, changes,
impacts, etc.
7.
Use a hauler or recycling company that is licensed by the City of
Philadelphia ( Licensed
Philadelphia Haulers )
8.
Make sure your waste service contractors have provided appropriate
containerization for keeping trash and recyclables separate during
transportation and processing.
•
MANDATORY
| MANDATORY |
| Commercial/Industrial/Government
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Apartments/Residential
|
Construction/Demolition
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| High
grade office paper |
Glass
food & beverage containers |
Ferrous
and nonferrous metals |
| Aluminum,
including cans |
Aluminum
cans |
|
| Corrugated
paper |
Steel
& bimetal cans |
|
Ferrous
& on-ferrous metals
(Except bimetal & steel cans) |
Newsprint |
|
| Garbage
(food waste & other organics) |
Motor
oils |
|
| Yard
waste |
Yard
waste |
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| Motor
oils |
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In addition to the recovery and recycling of mandatory materials
defined above, the City of Philadelphia also requires regulated
properties to choose two of the items below as part of their
programs.
• ELECTIVE
| ELECTIVE |
| Commercial/Industrial/Government
|
Apartments/Residential
|
Construction/Demolition
|
| All grades
of paper not recycled in Mandatory list |
Corrugated
paper and paper board |
Concrete,
sand and glass |
| Glass
food and beverage containers |
All other
grades of paper |
Lumber
and other wood |
| Plastics
|
Plastics |
Plaster,
drywall and other gypsum products |
| Steel
and bimetal cans |
Garbage
(food waste & other organics) |
Roofing
material |
| Textiles,
Tires and other rubber |
Textiles,
Tires and other rubber |
|
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For official municipal information visit the
City of Philadelphia's commercial recycling page, or call
the Philadelphia Streets Department Recycling Unit — Commercial
Recycling section at 215-686-5586 and ask them to send
you a copy of the city's commercial recycling handbook Recycling,
We Mean Business.
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to top)
Pennsylvania
ACT 101: Pennsylvania's Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling
and Waste Reduction Act
(adapted from the PA DEP web site, see below)
Who is participating?
Residential apartment complexes, commercial, institutional and
municipal establishments, and community activities within 415
municipalities that have at least 5,000 residents and a population
density greater than 300 people per square mile. Act 101 established
an original goal of 25% recycling for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
That goal was reached by 1999. State government has established
a new goal of 35% recycling.
ACT 101 REQUIREMENTS
Municipalities must write ordinances that require
commercial establishments to recycle:
 Corrugated Cardboard
High grade office paper
Aluminum cans
Leaf Waste
Other
materials required by local ordinance
Residential municipal recycling must include leaf
waste and at least three of the following:
Clear glass
Aluminum cans
Plastics
Newsprint
Leaf Waste
Colored glass
Steel
and bimetallic cans
Office Paper
Corrugated
cardboard
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Universal
Wastes
For more detail on PA's Universal Waste and for lists of service
companies, go to: DEP's
Hazardous Waste Management Homepage
 EPA
Universal Waste Rule
(adapted from the US EPA web site, see below)
Reinventing
Environmental Regulations
As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's)
commitment to reinvent environmental regulations, the Agency
recently issued the "Universal Waste Rule." This rule is designed
to reduce the amount of hazardous waste items in the municipal
solid waste (MSW) stream, encourage recycling and proper disposal
of certain common hazardous wastes, and reduce the regulatory
burden on businesses that generate these wastes.
By reducing administrative requirements, this rule is expected
to save companies more than $70 million per year in compliance
costs and reduce the amount of time spent on paperwork requirements
by over 500,000 hours per year. Administrative reductions also
would help encourage collection and recycling programs, thereby
reducing the amount of these common hazardous items that are
thrown into the trash by households and small businesses. Removing
these materials from municipal landfills and incinerators will
prevent a potential threat to public health and the environment.
This rule was promulgated by EPA as an amendment to the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations. States that
are authorized to implement the RCRA program are strongly encouraged
to adopt this rule.
What Are Universal Wastes?
Agricultural pesticides that have
been recalled or banned from use, are obsolete, have become
damaged, or are no longer needed due to changes in cropping
patterns or other factors. They often are stored for long periods
of time in sheds or barns.
Batteries
such as nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) and small sealed lead-acid batteries,
which are found in many common items in the business and home
setting, including electronic equipment, mobile telephones,
portable computers, and emergency backup lighting.
Cathode Ray Tubes, the video
display components of television and computer monitors, typically
contain lead. Mercury is contained
in several types of instruments that are commonly used by electric
utilities, municipalities, and households. Among others, these
devices include barometers, meters, temperature gauges, pressure
gauges, sprinkler system contacts, and parts of coal conveyor
systems.
Fluorescent
Lamps, which typically contain mercury and sometimes
lead, and are found in businesses and households. Examples of
common types of lamps include fluorescent, high intensity discharge
(HID), neon, mercury vapor, high pressure sodium, and metal
halide lamps.
An opportunity is available for non-profit organizations to
apply for a cooperative
agreement [PDF File, 18 KB] to create an outreach program
to increase recycling of mercury-containing lights, particularly
the fluorescent lights.
Thermostats,
which can contain as much as 3 grams of liquid mercury and are
located in almost any building, including commercial, industrial,
agricultural, community, and household buildings.
Who Is Affected By This Rule?
Businesses
Universal wastes are generated by small and large businesses
that are regulated under RCRA and have been required to handle
these materials as hazardous wastes. The Universal Waste Rule
eases the regulatory burden on businesses that generate these
wastes. Specifically, it streamlines the requirements related
to notification, labeling, marking, prohibitions, accumulation
time limits, employee training, response to releases, offsite
shipments, tracking, exports, and transportation. For example,
the rule extends the amount of time that businesses can accumulate
these materials on site. It also allows companies to transport
them with a common carrier, instead of a hazardous waste transporter,
and no longer requires companies to obtain a manifest.
Many industries strongly support this new rule because they
have identified easy collection of universal wastes as a priority
to ensure sound environmental management. This rule will make
it easier for companies to establish collection programs and
participate in manufacturer take-back programs required by a
number of states. Many large manufacturers and trade associations
are already planning national and regional collection programs
for their products.
In Pennsylvania small generators are not exempt from these universal
waste requirements. Go to: Hazardous
Waste Management - Fluorescent Lamp Recycling for more information.
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(back to Resources)
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