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** Here's a link to some info on milk carton recycling that may help . http://www.aseptic.org/School%20Recycling%20and%20Composting.shtml Recycling School Cartons: 1. Over the years, School Carton Recycling has proven to be challenging. Most schools have not been able to get the school cartons empty and dry enough so that the valuable paper fiber in the cartons is preserved and still suitable for a mill to buy. It requires on-going training not only for the children, but also for the custodial staff. It also requires diligent monitoring at each lunch period to make sure that the children are emptying out their cartons and that they are not throwing unwanted items in with the cartons. Despite these challenges, there are successful school programs that have been recycling cartons for years. For those of you who feel like you have the right stuff to conduct a successful school carton recycling program, please see listed below two wonderful individuals who have started and sustained successful school carton recycling programs for years! Their e-mail addresses are listed below, and you may contact them for pointers. We also have information on a rack drying system that has worked well in schools to get cartons empty and dry. We strongly suggest that you use this method to insure a more successful carton recycling program. (Please click on Rack Drying Method For School Cartons to download the document) We have also included a comprehensive School Recycling Guide and Curriculum that you can click on. Should you have any questions about setting up a milk carton and juice box recycling program, please e-mail one of the following individuals or visit their web site: Composting School Cartons: 1. For those of you who are feeling that school carton recycling may not be quite right for your school, we have some exciting news about school carton composting and not just composting cartons, but cafeteria food waste as well. In the spring of 1997, an innovative program was initiated by the Los Angeles Unified School District. It's goal? To test the feasibility of turning school milk cartons into rich, top-quality compost. Working with their waste hauler, The District has composted over 200 tons of milk cartons. Compost is the product of a natural process that breaks down green waste (leaves, twigs, grasses, etc.) and other organic materials into a beneficial soil amendment. Cartons are a perfect addition to the compost mix. Approximately 85% of the carton is paper -- an organic material. The remainder of the carton is polyethylene plastic. While plastic does not decompose, during the composting process it is reduced to very fine particles, which assists in keeping the compost loose. Composting milk and juice cartons is easy! Students are not required to drain and dry the cartons. In fact, depending on the program, cafeteria food wastes and other organics might also be included in the compost. A successful composting program requires a cooperative partnership between the students, the District, the recycling/waste hauler, and the composter. To assist school districts in developing this partnership, we have developed a "How-To" guide that you can click on and download. You might want to check out the following resources: 1. Food Waste Diversion in Schools: Final Report, http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/foodwaste/casestudies/contracts/2000/westcounty2 2. Report on the CIWMB School District Diversion Project, http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Schools/Publications/ Thanks, Kimya Lambert Buy Recycled Section California Integrated Waste Management Board State of California David Lupinski, Director of Recycling, Located in New York State davel@no.address http://www.wastenot.org OR Eileen Stamp, Recycling Educator, Located in the state of Oregon eileens@no.address Recycling Resources: Comprehensive School Recycling Guide School Carton Recycling Curriculum Rack Drying Method for School Cartons Papermaking from Cartons Waste Wise (A Resource Guide for Teachers) by e-mail request Hello all. This may be more of a rant than a question.... In the Puget Sound/seattle area, we can recycle milk cartons. I am not sure if this is a recyclable commodity nationally. I purchased a 1/2 gal of Safeway brand, organic milk yesterday (which I am supposed to be boycotting because they are not allowing their cows out to pasture - a requirement for labeling organic. But, I was in a pinch). As I opened the carton this morning, I noticed this round plastic spout & screw top lid, instead of the traditional and simple way of opening the carton. I am assuming this will cause some extra effort for recycling processors (and/or the diligent home recyclers that will make the effort to tear the plastic spout out). In addition, it obviously does not follow DfE principles and adds to the life cycle impacts of this packaging. Michelle Gaither, Technical Research Lead Pollution Prevention Resource Center www.pprc.org mgaither@no.address or gaithermj@no.address You may want to forward your concern to the Paperboard Packaging Council, the trade group for manufacturers of such cartons. The president is Jerome Van de Water, paperboardpackaging@no.address E. Gifford Stack, Manager, Outreach Solid Waste Bureau - New Mexico Environment Dept 1101 St. Francis Dr. Santa Fe, NM 87502 505/827-2653; fax 827-2902 e.gifford.stack@no.address www.nmenv.state.nm.us ***PASSWORDS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED WHEN POSTING MESSAGES TO EPPNET*** The University of Michigan conducted a limited life cycle analysis of milk packaging options in 1997. The following link leads to a 4-page EPA summary of the results: http://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/research/milkjuice.pdf. The study did not compare varying levels of post-consumer content, however found that the lightest-weight option (a flexible pouch) had lowest energy requirements and relatively low solid waste burdens. It concludes: "Refillable HDPE and polycarbonate bottles and the flexible pouch were shown to be the most environmentally preferable containers with respect to life cycle energy and solid waste criteria." Several other evaluations of packaging (including those conducted by the Tellus Institute and the Oregon DEQ) have documented environmental benefits associated with replacing virgin content with recycled content, but typically comparable or even larger environmental benefits by switching to the lightest weight packaging option. Recycled content and recyclability are important and worthwhile environmental criteria but when confronted with trade-offs, not necessary the most important criteria to focus on if one wants to optimize the environmental impacts of packaging choices. To Marie Kulick's last question, milk packaged for institutional users can come in several types of packaging, including retail-style packaging but also 5-gallon polyethylene bags inside rigid plastic crates. These are used in the "steel cow" type of milk dispenser featured at many institutional cafeterias. Our experience with bulk dispensers is that they typically save money for the user while significantly reducing solid waste generation. Good luck with your research. David Allaway Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Solid Waste Policy & Program Development 811 S.W. Sixth Avenue Portland, OR 97204 phone: (503) 229-5479 fax: (503) 229-6977 TTY: (503) 229-6993 Toll Free in Oregon: 1-800-452-4011 Marie Most important in containers is having them be made of the most environmental material possible and the most reusable possible along with the traditional health requirements of no effect on the food they contain. Ideal is 100% post-consumer content of a type of plastic (for those containers that absolutely have to be plastic--last choice if possible) that is readily recyclable in the majority of communities--basically no.1 and no. 2 plastics. Good luck and please share with us what you decide on---Sandra Sandra Cannon, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Technical Assistance for the U.S. Department of Energy Tel. 509-529-1535 -----Original Message----- From: bounce-30893-1326@no.address [mailto:bounce-30893-1326@no.address] On Behalf Of Marie Kulick Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 10:25 AM To: Environmentally-preferable products procurement Subject: [eppnet] Dairy packaging questions This is my first posting to the list serv and am very happy to have this resource available. I am developing a survey for dairy product suppliers that will address several sustainability issues most of which are related to production methods such as use of rBGH, but I would like to include a question or two about packaging. Can anyone tell me if there are issues specific to dairy containers or the packaging materials used to ship them that I should consider? Do you have any examples of questions a purchaser would want to ask their dairy product suppliers? If you do not know, the answer to these questions, can anyone tell me if the materials used to manufacture milk and other dairy containers for institutional scale products varies from the materials used to make retail containers (e.g. HDPE, PP and wax coated paper)? Marie Kulick, Senior Associate Food and Health Program Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy 2105 First Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404 Tel. (612) 870-3422 Fax. (612) 870-4846 mkulick@no.address http://www.iatp.org/foodandhealth --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GreenYes" group. To post to this group, send email to GreenYes@no.address To unsubscribe from this group, send email to GreenYes-unsubscribe@no.address For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/GreenYes?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- |
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