Search Results for: used paint

Eight states now have used-paint recycling laws. NJ governor urged to join them.

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Blog Editor

Last week Washington became the eighth state to adopt a law that makes paint manufacturers responsible for the cost of collecting and recycling leftover house latex and oil paints.

“This new law will help protect the environment by making it easy for Washington residents and businesses to recycle leftover house paints that pile up in our basements, garages, and storage facilities,” said sponsor State Rep. Strom Peterson. “The program also will save money for towns and taxpayers by freeing up resources currently dedicated to processing unused paint through local household hazardous waste programs.”  

The Association of New Jersey Household Hazardous Waste Coordinators (NJHHWC), which has been the lead organization pushing similar legislation in New Jersey, seized on news of the Washington State enactment. In a letter, Association president JoAnn Gemenden urged Governor Phil Murphy to endorse the ‘paint stewardship’ legislation that now is law in the eight other states.

New Jersey’s current paint bills, S2815, and A4382, offer a “vast improvement over the current disposal options of landfilling, incineration at waste-to-energy facilities, or the exorbitant expense of county household hazardous waste collection programs,” Gemenden wrote.

Angela Anderson, president of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR) which also supports the legislation, agreed. “The beauty of the legislation is that paint manufacturers would be able to utilize a voluntary network of retailers for used-paint collection and/or New Jersey’s established system of municipal and county recycling centers, she said.

Model paint legislation, supported by the paint industry, has been enacted in Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia. 

In New Jersey, the legislation has been heard and released by the environmental committees in the both the Senate and Assembly and currently sit in the finance committees in both houses.

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NJ lawmakers advance plan to reuse unwanted paint, save counties money

The expanded program, paid for by a new fee on paint purchases, would require collection sites within 15 miles of 90% of residents

The bill requires paint producers or their representatives to develop and implement a stewardship plan that promotes reuse and recycling.

JON HURDLE reports for NJ Spotlight

About those half-empty paint cans that have been languishing in your garage for years: Do you put them in the trash, fill them with kitty litter and take them to the local dump, or just empty the contents down the drain?

The answer should be  “none of the above,” according to supporters of a bill that was approved by a large bipartisan majority, 57 to 20, in the Assembly on Monday, is now headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and then, backers hope, to the governor’s desk.

Bill A-4382 would boost the reuse and recycling of unwanted architectural paint by starting a collection program funded by a fee charged on every can of paint. It aims to boost the current rate of collection by towns and counties, which currently pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to dispose of the material.

And it would require producers, distributors and retailers of paint to participate in an “architectural paint stewardship program” as approved by the Department of Environmental Protection. The bill defines architectural paint as any interior coating that’s sold in cans of five gallons or less; the definition excludes industrial or specialty coatings.

“Paint recycling is a huge problem,” said Dennis Hart, executive director of the Chemistry Council of New Jersey, a trade group that represents paint manufacturers. “Everybody in this state and across the country has cans of paint in their basement or garage. They don’t know what to do with it; they either leave it there or try and pawn it off on the next homeowner, or they throw it in the trash and it ends up in the environment.”

The bill requires every paint producer or its representatives to develop and implement a stewardship plan that promotes reuse and recycling by arranging for collection, transportation, burning for energy recovery, and disposal using environmentally sound practices.

“We think it’s a good step forward,” said Hart. “It’s an industry-supported program that says: ‘We want to be proactive in managing the product cradle to grave.’”

A per-gallon fee

Hart said 10 other states plus the District of Columbia have already begun similar programs and have so far collected some 40 million gallons of paint, 85% of which has been reused. The fee that would pay for the program is expected to be 75-85 cents a gallon in the first year, when the volume of paint collected is likely to be greatest, he said. (The purchaser of the paint pays the fee.) After an initial rush of paint collections, DEP will review the fee to see if it’s the correct amount, Hart said.

The money would be used to pay the costs of private haulers or — if they choose to participate — local government agencies, who would be relieved of the current expense that’s borne by taxpayers, Hart said. The bill requires that the charge would not exceed the cost of running the stewardship program. DEP would also be paid for its oversight from the fee revenue.

Any producer, distributor or retailer who fails to comply would first get a written warning and then be fined $500 to $1,000 for each subsequent offense, according to the bill.

Hart said that in Ocean County where he lives, he can take unwanted latex paint to a municipal hazardous waste collection point where it is picked up by the county at an annual cost of some $200,000.

Under the proposed reform, there would be collection sites within 15 miles of 90% of all New Jersey residents; a site will be established for every 30,000 people. Collection sites would include hardware stores that would be incentivized to participate by attracting can donors who may then become customers, Hart said.

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NJ paint stewardship, enviro-funding in committee Nov. 26

The New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy Committee will meet at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2018, to take up the following bills:


S2815 – Requires paint producers to implement or participate in paint stewardship program.

S3049 – Appropriates $28,883,557 in 2003 and 1992 bond act monies for loans for dam restoration and repair projects and inland waters projects.

S3110 – Makes supplemental appropriation of $50 million from General Fund to DEP and adds language provisions concerning the use of certain environmental settlement monies for natural resource restoration projects.

SCR118 – Urges President and Congress to require interstate natural gas pipelines constructed in N.J. to conform with N.J. regulations for intrastate natural gas pipelines.


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Court abides those painted ponies in a Jersey Shore swap

Conservationists tried to block trade, which brings almost 70 acres of land to Toms River, by arguing Green Acres property should not be ‘diverted into private hands’ in Seaside Heights

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

carousel seaside heights

A state appeals court yesterday upheld a disputed deal that transferred 1.37 acres of municipally owned beach property in Seaside Heights to the owner of a local pier to allow it to be rebuilt following Hurricane Sandy.
The transaction allowed the borough to obtain and preserve a historic wooden carousel and acquire a 67-acre tract in Toms River adjacent to a park in exchange for the sliver of beach owned by the municipality.
The case is the latest in which Green Acres-protected property has been disposed to promote other interests — in this case, parts of a public beach at one of the more popular tourist attractions at the Jersey Shore traded to a private developer.

Proceed at your own risk

As it happens, the developer, AFMV, went ahead and rebuilt the portion of the damaged pier at its own risk as the case was litigated. The pier has reopened with new amusement rides on the contested sliver of beach.
The transaction had been challenged by the American Littoral Society, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, and two local residents and consolidated into one appeal by the court. The latter portion of the case was dismissed on a technicality.
Essentially, the conservation groups contested actions by the state Department of Environmental Protection and State House Commission in approving the deal, arguing they lacked authority to do so under Green Acres statute and regulations and failed to consider common-law public trust doctrine.
“We don’t like to see Green Acres land, which is supposed to be protected and preserved, to be diverted into private hands,’’ particularly public beaches, said Andrew Provence, an attorney for the conservationists. “It’s the best type of parkland we have. Here, in this case, it was traded.’’
In a 35-page decision, the court said it found no merit in the appellants’ argument. “We are limited to deciding whether the agency’s decisions are lawful; it is not our role to second-guess the wisdom of [the] agency’s policy choices,’’ the court found.

Merry-go-round museum

The court, however, did modify one aspect of the State House Commission’s decision, ruling that the carousel be built in a museum on a boardwalk-fronting parcel owned by the developer to ensure public access to it. That ensures the transaction involves replacement land in transfers, not just personal property, to comply with state law.
The historic carousel, one of only four wooden carousels remaining in New Jersey, was cited by the DEP as the “determining factor’’ in its decision to approve the transfer. Described as an “irreplaceable historic asset’’ by the agency, it features wooden animals carved between the 1890s and 1910s during the golden age of carousels.
The conservation groups argued the DEP and the SHC acted beyond their authority because their acquisition of personal property to be housed indoors is beyond the mandate of the commission’s and department’s Green Acres program.
The court found otherwise, noting the Garden State Preservation Trust Act authorizes the use of land to preserve historic properties, including historic objects. The court also contended the public will continue to have ample beach access on the borough’s remaining 33 acres of publicly owned beach.

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Wheel weights, paint recycling and dredging bills advance

lead wheel weights


The New Jersey Assembly’s Environment and Solid Waste Committee this afternoon approved and released the following bills:


A-261, sponsored by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), prohibits the installation and sale of wheel weights containing lead or mercury. The bill also prohibits sale of new motor vehicles equipped with wheel weights containing lead or mercury. The bill was released on a 5-0 vote.  Here’s what the sponsor had to say about it 


A-1373, sponsored by Assemblyman Tim Eustace (D-Bergen), requires paint manufacturers to establish a recycling program for used consumer paint. 


The bill was released on a 4-1 vote with a paint manufacturers organization and several recycling and environmental groups in support.  


A-4152 , sponsored by Assemblyman Bob Andrzejczak(D-Cape May), limits application of DEP shellfish habitat rules for certain dredging activities.

The bill would eliminate the current requirement for pre-dredging testing for shellfish habitats when the dredging would be undertaken in limited areas near marinas. The bill would not apply to new development or to an expansion of any water-dependent development.  A person dredging would have to obtain all other required state and federal permits and approvals for the dredging.


The legislation was released 5-0. 
  
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NJ Governor weighing merits of paint recycling legislation


[Modified on January 14 to clarify program costs]

If Gov. Chris Christie signs S-1420 (Beach), a bill sent to him last night after final passage in the state Assembly, New Jerseyans will soon have a way to recycle used indoor or exterior paint (five gallons or less) under a program to be administered and promoted by paint manufacturers.

The legislation requires paint manufacturers to “develop and implement a plan for an architectural paint
stewardship program that is designed to minimize public sector
involvement in the management of post-consumer architectural paint
by reducing its generation, promoting its reuse and recycling, and
negotiating and executing agreements for its collection, transportation,
reuse, recycling, burning for energy recovery, and disposal using
environmentally sound management practices.” 

In establishing collection sites, the plans would “use of geographic
information modeling, such that at least 90 percent of State residents
have a permanent collection site within 15 miles of their residence,
that permanent collection sites be established for every 30,000
residents of a population center, and that collection sites be distributed
to provide convenient and equitable access for residents within each
population center.”

Program costs would be covered by a ‘paint stewardship assessment’ added by retailers or distributors to the cost of each can of paint covered by the program.


Similar programs are in effect in Canada, California and Oregon.



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What caused the BP oil disaster in the Gulf?

Still wondering what caused the BP oil rig to explode on April 20, triggering a seabed rupture that continues to spew more than 200,000 gallons each day into the Gulf of Mexico?

A worker on the Deepwater Horizon who jumped into the sea to escape and an engineer hired by the Obama administration to investigate the disaster combine to paint a picture for 60 Minutes that points the finger of blame squarely at BP.

It looks like the disaster could have been prevented had warnings of equipment problems been heeded and had BP not overruled Transocean on a crucial decision.

To start the video, click on the triangle in the lower left corner of the screen.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

If that didn’t make you sick, consider BP chief executive Tony Hayward’s recent comment that “the overall environmental impact will be very, very modest.”

Related:
Information on BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf
In the oil spill disaster, a huge opportunity?

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Want to help the environment and save a few bucks, too?

 New Jersey WasteWide Business Network


For several years, we’ve been hearing bits and pieces about a group called WasteWise,
but we never got around to attending one of their meetings until last week.


What we discovered was an organization that is free and easy to join and exposes businesses, local governments, universities and any other interested parties to money-saving ways to help the environment through recycling, product reuse, and sustainability.


If that sounds a bit boring, the presentations were not. The audience of close to 150 learned about the recycling of worn out televisions and computers and those cans of used paint piling up in your basement or garage. They also viewed a interesting slide show of unexpected new uses for old materials–from super-sized truck tires to inflatable airplane escape ramps. 


Representatives of Darling Ingredients, located in Newark, NJ, explained how they turn used restaurant grease and animal parts into biofuel and ingredients for a variety of products, while another company provided money-saving tips on how to make your business more environmentally sustainable.


Check out  the short video we shot at the meeting by clicking the link or the headline under the picture at the top. In it, the NJDEP’s Steven Rinaldi explains what WasteWise is about and how you can be notified of future meetings.  

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Using social media to help kill an offshore wind project

Dr. Alison Novak

From Rowan Today

Leading up to November 2023, when Danish offshore wind energy (OWE) firm Orsted decided to pull out of two major projects off New Jersey’s coast, there was broad statewide support for the initiatives.

But popular support for the projects, which had been as high as 80 percent among New Jersey residents in 2019, eroded in the intervening years, and a change in sentiment likely driven by social media contributed to Orsted’s decision to back out, a Rowan University researcher has found.

Dr. Alison Novak, an associate professor in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising within the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts, believes the change in public support, which she said is now about 50 percent among all New Jersey residents and as low as 40 percent along the coast, was directly affected by X (formerly Twitter), and the ability for its users to interact with others around the world.

Writing in the journal Qualitative Research Reports in Communication last month, Novak found that the platform’s nature, which connects users through simple hashtags, enabled New Jerseyans to adopt a “globalization lens” in which they could study OWE projects elsewhere and compare them to those that were projected off the East Coast.

Based on an analysis of nearly 5,000 tweets, Novak found that many New Jersey X users became disheartened by various narratives, including that OWE companies overpromise and underdeliver in the construction of offshore windfarms, and that conservative positions often pushed by beachfront homeowners swayed public opinion against the projects.

“Users go online to negotiate the value of the proposed projects,” Novak said. “They want to know not just how this will impact my life but my children’s lives.”

Novak said conservative arguments related to the construction of wind farms, in particular that vessels used to scout locations and build towers, painted a false narrative that whales would be killed. Though the narrative was untrue, Novak said, it took hold.

Concerns about how the windmills will look, that they will negatively affect the aesthetics of the shore, were also distorted by conversations on Twitter, as were concerns about noise and how much the wind farms would ultimately reduce residents’ bills.

All of which weakened arguments for the projects, in particular how green energy initiatives like wind offset the use of planet-warming fossil fuels and that green energy projects produce good paying, long term jobs, Novak said.

The results of her study, conducted between 2020 and 2022, appeared in the article “Global discourses of protest and support of offshore wind energy,” April 17.

“I think the anti-wind group became a lot more active and better funded since 2020 (and that affected public opinion),” Novak said.

Novak, an expert on political strategic communication, digital media policy, and digital activism, said in addition to aesthetics, noise, and concern for marine life, opposition to the projects played upon homeowner fears that the windfarms could result in falling values for beachfront properties.

“It’s about a loss of agency, that the government, and international corporations like Orsted, were taking something away,” she said. “It’s a classic American discourse that draws on a very conservative talking point that goes back to the Revolution.”

Novak said that while Orsted reps were somewhat elusive about why the company decided to pull out, experts widely believe that concern about future state politics played a role. The current government, led by Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, supports offshore wind energy, but future administrations, particularly those led by Republicans, may not, she said.

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This company returns Wind Turbine Blades as park benches and picnic tables

By Coco Liu, Bloomberg

At first glance, the benches outside the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland seem unremarkable. But a closer inspection shows that their droplet-shaped shells aren’t made from wood or metal. A scan of the attached QR codes reveals even more: These benches used to be wind turbine blades.

Painted by local artists and weighing in at about 500 pounds (230 kilograms) apiece, the benches were crafted by Rocky River, Ohio-based Canvus, which will install 10 more in the same location later this month. Altogether, the dozen benches reuse roughly a quarter of a single 150-foot (45-meter) wind turbine blade.

Visitors to Every Child’s Playground in Avon, Ohio, will find products from Canvus’s nearby factory. Photographer: Brian Kaiser/Bloomberg

“We give this material a second life,” says Parker Kowalski, co-founder and managing director at Canvus.

Many more blades will soon need second lives of their own, as wind turbines installed in the early 2000s start to reach the end of their lifespan. By 2025, the trade association WindEurope estimates that 25,000 metric tons of wind turbine blades will be phased out each year in Europe alone, equivalent to the weight of more than 6,000 Hummer SUVs. Turbine manufacturers are working on making their blades recyclable, but for now, startups like Canvus offer a more immediate fix: repurposing them into new products.

At the end of a wind turbine’s life cycle, roughly 85% of its components — including the steel tower, copper wire, and gearing — can be recycled through established metal processing. But turbine blades are a more intractable challenge. Coated with epoxy resins, they cannot easily be crushed. Blades are also made primarily from fiberglass and lack the metals and minerals that attract recyclers.

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