The Philadelphia Phillies, Global Spectrum and Citizens Bank Park have set a goal of diverting 20 to 25 of the cardboard, plastic, glass and aluminum used this season, building upon a 15 percent recycling rate in 2008. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the goal is part of a broader program, titled “Red Goes Green,” which this year will include new food items, merchandise and promotions at Citizens Bank Park to raise environmental awareness.

“To achieve their recycling goal, the Phillies emphasized they won’t just need help from the fans, but that the increase in recycling tonnage has to come from within. Currently, the Phillies’ staff is undertaking efforts to include DC batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, scrap metal, vinyl material and carpeting/flooring material. Barstools already have been refurbished by recycling upholstery.

In addition, the Phillies will try to fill all of the stadium’s energy needs through renewable sources, as the organization did last season.

Many recycling programs refuse to accept rigid plastic bottle caps in regular curbside collection because of their tendency to contaminate other plastics and difficulty in sorting them out. Indeed, it is easy for even diligent recyclers to overlook these tiny bits of plastic. But those little bits add up, not to mention the hazards they pose to wildlife.

According to the Chicago Green Lifestyle Examiner, salon and beauty product maker Aveda is specifically targeting rigid polypropylene plastic caps for recycling. The green-minded company, based in Blaine, Minn., is accepting the caps at all of its stores and is encouraging schools to run cap-collecting programs. Aveda will use the material in its redesigned packaging, which it expects to debut later this year.

The following firms recently joined the Washington-based Waste Equipment Technology Association: Grapevine, Texas-based Scott Distribution LLC (dba Scott Containers SPC Capital Inc.) and Phoenix-based Leadpoint Business Services.

Thanks to cheap disposal costs, scant regulation and a growing abundance of landfill space, South Carolina is fast becoming a favorite repository for out-of-state trash. According to the Washington-based National Solid Wastes Management Association, South Carolina ranks ninth in importing trash, behind Virginia and Georgia in the Southeast. Pennsylvania is No. 1. But an Associated Press report says South Carolina, with several huge new landfill projects on the horizon, is at risk of becoming the nation’s go-to dumping site.

It is no surprise that conservationists, residents and politicians are strongly against such a fate for the state, and are calling for a moratorium on all new landfill construction until a way can be found to limit trash imports (while preserving the much-needed revenue they provide).

Lee County’s landfill — the state’s largest — illustrates the dilemmas facing local officials and residents. The dump takes in about 1.5 million tons of garbage annually, 65 percent of it from the Northeast, according to the state. It also accounted for the bulk of all garbage brought to South Carolina from other states last year.

“Financially, we would be in very tough shape without it,” said county treasurer Wayne Capell.

On Tuesday, a state Senate panel will consider a statewide moratorium on landfill permitting. The bipartisan measure would halt any potential expansion or creation of landfills until 2011. Given the plight of state and local governments in the current economy, it’s only natural that they would jump at the easy revenue dangled by waste companies wanting to build or expand landfills and other states wanting to ship out their trash. Is there a way to still capitalize on this revenue while balancing the interests of residents and the environment?

We’ve been hearing about the recycling crash for a while now, but as the world’s biggest importer of recyclables, it’s worth noting how hard it is hitting China. According to the New York Times, recyclables from around the world, once a fuel for fevered manufacturing, are now simply stacking up in mountainous piles across the country, worth less and less every day:

“Everything was moving along just fine until October and then we fell off a cliff,” said Bruce Savage, a spokesman for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, a trade organization that mostly represents American waste processing companies.

The United States exported $22 billion worth of recycled materials to 152 countries in 2007. Now the organization estimates the value of American recyclables has decreased by 50 to 70 percent. Western dealers say they are grappling with mounting stockpiles whose value in many cases continues to sink. To make matters worse, Chinese importers have been demanding to renegotiate contracts drastically downward. In some cases, they are refusing to accept shipments they already have a contractual obligation to take.

Will recycling recover when the economy recovers, or are the wounds currently being inflicted on the markets irreparable?

We interrupt this blog to bid a fond farewell to our associate editor, Chris Carlson, who this week finds himself out in the wide world. During his roughly two-year tenure at Waste Age, Chris did stellar news gathering and reporting and was just plain fun to have around. His contributions will be sorely missed. We wish him all success in future endeavors!

After years of virtual dormancy, the waste-to-energy (WTE) sector may be on the verge of something of a renaissance. And, ironically, it is rising environmental concerns that may spark the industry’s rebirth.

More than a decade ago, construction of WTE plants came to a standstill as cheap tipping fees and fuel prices increased the appeal of landfilling waste. The opposition of environmentalists and residents concerned about the plants’ emissions also played an important role in halting the industry’s momentum.

However, in early March, a bipartisan group of 15 U.S. senators sent a letter to Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate energy committee, urging him to include WTE in an upcoming bill’s definition of “renewable energy.” The bill would establish a national renewable energy standard. The letter writers include such high-profile legislators as Chuck Schumer of New York, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

“It would only help us meet our clean energy production goals to think broadly abut what types of energy are considered renewable, understanding that stringent environmental standards must remain paramount in any such assessment,” the letter states. (To view the letter, visit the Integrated Waste Services Association’s Web site at www.wte.org.)

And in a report released in a January, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum listed WTE as one of eight renewable energy sources that will provide a “meaningful contribution” to a “future low-carbon energy system.” (To view the report, called the “Green Investing Report,” visit www.weforum.org.)

According to a Wall Street Journal article in late 2008, proposals for new or expanded WTE plants have still met with public opposition due to environmental concerns. However, the industry maintains that the facilities now use much more stringent emission control technologies. If indeed that is the case and enough of the public can be convinced, the WTE industry could be on the verge of playing an invaluable role in tackling the problems of global warming.

The Walt Disney Co. has unveiled a slate of ambitious environmental goals, including cutting companywide greenhouse-gas emissions in half during the next four years, and reducing electricity consumption by 10 percent over the next five. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the company also stated its intention to achieve zero solid waste production.

The announcement comes as part of Disney’s comprehensive “Corporate Responsibility Report,” and will primarily impact the company’s theme parks, resorts and cruise ships, which, according to internal figures, account for 91 percent of the company’s total greenhouse-gas emissions and 73 percent of its electrical use.

Among the most substantial pledges Disney makes are its environmental commitments. In addition to reducing or offsetting greenhouse-gas emissions and cutting electricity consumption, Disney says it aims to reduce the amount of solid waste it sends to landfills by 50 percent by 2013 and to increase support for the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund each year for the next five years. (Disney donated $500,000 to the fund in 2008.)

Disney says the reductions are interim steps toward long-term goals of achieving zero net direct greenhouse gas emissions, reducing indirect emissions through electricity consumption and eliminating all solid waste.

Are these goals actually achievable, or is this just posturing to get the company in line with the green trend? Should other companies follow Disney’s lead?

You know an odor has to be bad to make garbage workers nauseous. But that’s exactly what happened recently on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. According to KITV-TV, the victims were two three-man crews working in the towns of Puhi and Hanapepe. Paramedics were called to treat the six workers, and one had to be taken to a local hospital.

“Although we don’t yet know the source of the foul odor, we want to remind the public not to put any hazardous waste in their trash for curbside collection,” Troy Tanigawa of Kauai’s Public Works Department told KITV-TV. “Proper disposal methods should be used.”

A new study released by the Saint Consulting Group shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that landfills are the single most opposed development in the United States. The Saint Index is a survey of U.S. attitudes about local real estate projects. A landfill is the most reviled type of proposed development when it comes to a person’s hometown, followed closely by a casino.

According to the index, 78 percent of American adults oppose a landfill project in their community, and nearly as many oppose a casino (77 percent). An aggregate quarry is opposed by 62 percent. The good news is that the surveyed adults were more willing to keep an open mind about new development projects given the slumping economy.

Waste Age offers guidance on how to establish your landfill as an asset to the community and how to be a good neighbor. What are some ways in which your waste firm strives to be a good neighbor?