Today's Topics:
A Caution to Entrepreneurs
sham recycling (2 msgs)
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Loop-Detect: GreenYes:98/11
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Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 09:44:47 -0800
From: Pavitra Crimmel <precycle@sonic.net>
Subject: A Caution to Entrepreneurs
This is a very good issue. What, after all, is the point of saving the
environment if we
then abuse the people.I think employee management is one of the most
difficult things
to do. Recyclers have a tendency to be very materials oriented and not
people oriented
and people who work in factory like conditions are often at the lower end
of the wage
scale and are often of a very different mind set than the idealistic
recyclers.
In the fifteen years that I have run a recycling center, it has always
been the people
who work there who have been both my greatest problem and my greatest joy.
Meaningful work can truly transform people, but it takes a lot of time
sometimes, a lot
of patience. One also has to be very very careful of labor laws, sometimes
employers
who don't know the law can be done in by one irrascable employee.
I would certainly suggest that there should be more attention paid to this
subject, at
the various conferences we all go to, because it has always been my
feeling that while
we all talk about our programs, we rarely talk about the human element,
which is the
part that can frequently do the whole program in.
At Garbage Reincarnation, we ran into some serious difficulties a while
back. We
needed a new CEO. We did a search and of course imagined that we would
find
someone with lots of recycling experience. In the end we hired someone
with
personnel experience. In meeting him, I realized that it was this
experience we most
sorely needed. And while it was strange having someone at the helm who
knew very
little about the business of recycling when he first came, it has proved
to be an
excellent decision.
Pavitra Crimmel
Garbage Reincarnation
RecycleWorlds wrote:
> The 1/14/98 Wall Street Journal has a front page article, "Loosing
> Faith: Personnel Disorders Sap a Factory Owner of His Early Idealism."
> It documents tostory of Alan Robbins, an Akron, Ohio, well-intentioned
> entrepreneur, who set up a plastic lumber factory to convert recycled
> milk jugs into park benches in the seedy downtown to do good while
> making money. According to this story, he started out with a very
> employee friendly, employer supportive, shop, and was the subject of
> so much abuse by employees he retrenched to as rigid, hierarchal plant
> as the most insensitive employee.
>
> It reads very much like the story of Earth Care Paper, a recycled card
> maker, that was very successful and employee democratic, and
> ultimately, to avoid bankrupcy, was sold for its mailing list.
>
> I'd recommend the article not to discourage a search for new forms of
> management, but rather to educate future entrepreneurs who want to do
> better by their employees that simple good intentions are not
> sufficient. Indeed, these two examples seem to suggest that just good
> intentions inevitably lead to disillusionment and, if the business
> survives, to just as hidebound management as the most uncaring
> employer.
>
> I wonder if anyone has any solid ideas to offer in this vein?
> ____________________________________
> Peter Anderson
> RecycleWorlds Consulting
> 4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
> Madison, WI 53705-4964
> Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
> E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 10:20:45 -0600
From: Bill Carter <WCARTER@tnrcc.state.tx.us>
Subject: sham recycling
The field operations staff at the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission are developing a guidance document regarding sham
recycling. Their concern is a proliferation of facilities that charge lower
tip fees than area landfills and accumulate large amounts of materials of
questionable recyclability, such as mixed demolition debris. The problem
is that Texas law (adopted in 1991) exempts a facility from all regulation
as a solid waste storage, processing, or disposal facility as long as it
receives materials that are in some sense separated (not mixed waste)
and claims that a substantial part of the materials it receives will be
recovered for recycling. No proof is required. There is a strong potential
that "sham artists" will at some future time leave the state of Texas with
an expensive clean-up mess.
I am looking for references to "sham recycling" rules or guidance
documents from other states. I know New Jersey either passed
legislation or adopted rules some years ago to combat sham operations,
but I do not have any recent rules/guidance/legislation.
All the best,
Bill Carter, Program Specialist
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
Recycling Section, Office of Pollution Prevention & Recycling
MC114 P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711-3087 USA
(512) 239-6771
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 14:02:36 -0600
From: "Cloutier, Chris" <chris.cloutier@moea.state.mn.us>
Subject: sham recycling
I think you have reason to be concerned. Minnesota had several instances
of these "sham recyclers". One very well-publicized instance involved a
firm that took all of Northwest Airlines carpet and seats that were
replaced. The material ended up in some barns that were rented out and
then the "recyclers" skipped town. Similar incidents with mixed paper
and residential carpet.
MN did not pass any rules or regulations to govern this. Local officials
did an excellent job educating their citizens that folks who wanted to
rent space in barns to "store recyclables" were probably gonna dump and
run.
Chris
> ----------
> From: Bill Carter[SMTP:WCARTER@tnrcc.state.tx.us]
> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 1998 10:20AM
> To: GreenYes@ucsd.edu
> Cc: awatts@tnrcc.state.tx.us; ccorse@tnrcc.state.tx.us;
> ethomas@tnrcc.state.tx.us; ocarrill@tnrcc.state.tx.us;
> rramones@tnrcc.state.tx.us; wraine@tnrcc.state.tx.us
> Subject: sham recycling
>
> The field operations staff at the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
> Commission are developing a guidance document regarding sham
> recycling. Their concern is a proliferation of facilities that charge
> lower
> tip fees than area landfills and accumulate large amounts of materials
> of
> questionable recyclability, such as mixed demolition debris. The
> problem
> is that Texas law (adopted in 1991) exempts a facility from all
> regulation
> as a solid waste storage, processing, or disposal facility as long as
> it
> receives materials that are in some sense separated (not mixed waste)
> and claims that a substantial part of the materials it receives will
> be
> recovered for recycling. No proof is required. There is a strong
> potential
> that "sham artists" will at some future time leave the state of Texas
> with
> an expensive clean-up mess.
>
> I am looking for references to "sham recycling" rules or guidance
> documents from other states. I know New Jersey either passed
> legislation or adopted rules some years ago to combat sham operations,
> but I do not have any recent rules/guidance/legislation.
>
> All the best,
>
> Bill Carter, Program Specialist
> Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
> Recycling Section, Office of Pollution Prevention & Recycling
> MC114 P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711-3087 USA
> (512) 239-6771
>
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End of GreenYes Digest V98 #11
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