The right shape is key to recycling in this NJ county

Sorry, yogurt. You no longer make the cut 

Michelle Brunetti reports for the Atlantic City Press: 


The Atlantic County Utilities Authority is getting pickier about which materials it will accept for recycling, in response to an ongoing crackdown by China on what types of materials it wants.
Now, only plastics #1 and #2 that have necks smaller than their bases will be accepted for recycling, said ACUA Communications Manager Sara Verillo.
“The explanation we have been given is, even though some plastics have the same number, they still may have a different chemical makeup,” said Verillo. “Bottles, jugs, and containers of a similar shape (smaller top, larger bottom) are most likely to be made of high-density polyethylene or colored HDPE, which is what manufacturers want the most.”
The authority also can no longer accept shredded paper, pizza boxes, wrapping paper or tissue paper, aerosol cans or paint containers.
China is the world’s largest importer of materials for recycling, taking 48 percent of the world’s plastic waste in 2015, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. For about two years it has been rejecting bales of materials considered contaminated by mixing of materials or food waste sticking to them.
The company that handles the processing and marketing of recyclables for ACUA, Republic Services, decided it was time to ask residents to stop recycling items China will consider contaminants, even if they are marked like other items, she said.
Plastic items that are still good for recycling include soda and water bottles, ketchup and salad dressing bottles, and detergent jugs, she said. Lids should be removed and thrown into the trash, and bottles rinsed.
“That covers a lot of the plastics we use,” Verillo said.
A smaller number of plastics — yogurt containers, for example — will not be accepted anymore, she said.

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Philadelphia prisons say ‘Lock it Up’ to food waste


The following news release was issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

PHILADELPHIA (December 11, 2018) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the City of Philadelphia Department of Prisons for its food recovery achievements that include composting 44,344 tons of wasted food in 2017, which saves the city approximately $28,000 in landfill fees.
“EPA is proud of the way the Philadelphia Prison System has developed an innovative program to reduce food waste,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “Through EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, EPA partners with municipalities, businesses, nonprofits, and other entities to reduce the amount of food in landfills and help them save money on waste disposal.”

The city received special recognition for its achievements nationally under the data-driven category.  Along with the composting, the Prison System’s food recovery program provides inmates with hands-on job training in horticulture and urban gardening onsite at the Orchard Program located on property behind Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center on State Street.

Since 2016, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons has maintained a comprehensive vocational training program for participating inmates. Under the program, the Department of Prisons has partnered with Temple University in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to provide classroom instruction for participating inmates in composting and urban land care.

The city was among more than 1,000 governments, businesses and organizations nationwide that participated in the 2017 EPA Food Recovery Challenge. Nationwide, Food Recovery Challenge participants diverted nearly 648,000 tons of wasted food from entering landfills or incinerators in 2017, nearly 214,000 tons of which were donated to people and animal feed.

For more information on the Food Recovery Challenge, visit: http://www2.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food.



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NJ legislation would create a food-waste task force


(TRENTON) – Legislation creating a 12-member panel tasked with finding ways New Jersey can reach its goal to reduce food waste 50 percent by 2030 has been released by the Assembly Appropriation Committee.

Sponsored by Assembly Democrats Linda Carter, Daniel Benson, and Pedro Mejia, the bill (A4705) was among 14 comprehensive measures released by the Assembly Human Services Panel working together to put an end to hunger in the state.

“Forty percent of the food produced in the United States ends up uneaten and tossed into the garbage each year,” said Carter (D-Union). “As one in 10 residents in New Jersey faces food insecurity, more than 400 pounds of food per person is lost or wasted. It’s a shame and we must figure out actionable steps to prevent and reduce food waste going forward.”

Legislation was signed into law in 2017 establishing a food waste reduction goal of 50 percent by 2030. The law requires the DEP, in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, to develop a plan with public input to accomplish this goal, yet the plan has not been developed.

This legislation takes the next step and would establish the New Jersey Food Waste Task Force within the Department of Human Services to be responsible for identifying and examining the factors that lead to food waste in the State, and identifying strategies, policies, and legislative and executive actions that may be used to:

     * prevent food waste;

     * increase food donations;

     * provide consumers with education on food storage;

     * lower unreasonably high cosmetic standards for fruit and vegetables;

     * cease or significantly reduce the rejection of marginally imperfect-looking food;

     * build Statewide systems to distribute surplus edible food to charities;

     * eliminate unnecessary State statutes or regulations that contribute to food waste; and

     * modify “best by” food labels consistent with uniform national standards, to inform consumers of the latest possible date food can be safely consumed.

The work undertaken by the task force would supplement and be consistent with existing efforts and commitments to reduce food waste, including food donation efforts, composting efforts, date labeling efforts, and effective inventory management practices, which have been, or are being, undertaken at the national level pursuant to a uniform, nationwide model.

 The task force would be required to submit a report no later than one year after organization to the Governor and the Legislature, providing its findings, and recommendations for legislative, executive, or other action as may be appropriate to reduce food waste in this State. The task force would expire upon submission of its report.

The bill will now go to the Assembly Speaker for further consideration.


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Bill would protect NJ farmers with firewood-sale side gigs

TRENTON, N.J. – The Assembly Agriculture Committee approved legislation today sponsored by Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths protecting a farmers’ right to sell firewood.

“Farming has evolved through the years, and farmers have had to adapt to those changes by expanding their sources of income,” said Space (R-Sussex). “Penalizing farmers for selling firewood regardless of whether they grew the trees themselves is ludicrous. Now that enforcement officials are imposing lumberyard regulations on these family farms, we need to clarify that law.”

The measure (A157) amends the Right to Farm Act that regulates farm practices. It allows a farm or farm stand to sell firewood obtained from property other than the sellers without being considered a lumber yard under municipal zoning regulations.

“We should not be doing anything to make an already challenging job more difficult,” said Wirths (R-Sussex). “Farming is a vital industry for New Jersey which is why it’s known as the Garden State. It’s absurd that our hard-working farmers have to be concerned about receiving a citation for selling firewood on their farms.”

The bill was prompted by a Mount Olive farmer who received a zoning violation for selling wood obtained off-site. His family had been doing so for decades, but the town’s zoning officer determined it was a logging operation and lumberyard.

The Agriculture committee unanimously approved the legislation last session, but it never received a floor vote.


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This city of 15 million is sinking rapidly, maybe irreversibly



It’s the most populous city in Western Asia, and it’s sinking into the ground at an alarming rate.


Peter Dockrill reports for Science Alert:


Tehran, the capital of Iran and home to some 15 million people in total across its greater urban footprint, is a victim of dramatic subsidence, new research reveals, which is causing the region to sink by more than 25 centimeters (almost 10 inches) annually in some parts.

Using satellite data, researchers at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam analyzed the extent of subsidence in the Tehran region between 2003 and 2017.

Thanks to a technique called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which can detect extremely subtle changes in ground deformation over time, the team identified three distinct areas where the ground is sinking by more than 25 centimeters per year.

In areas of more moderate subsidence, like the land in the immediate vicinity of Tehran international airport, the sinking is still considerable, at about 5 centimeters annually.
What’s the cause of this widespread instability? A history of accelerated influx and the attendant overuse of natural resources.

“In recent decades, rapid population growth combined with urban and industrial development has increased the need for water supplies in the Tehran Plain,” the authors explain in their paper.

“As a result of extensive groundwater depletion, the plain has been undergoing rapid land subsidence.”

This subsidence in Tehran has been the focus of much prior research, but the latest data put the sinking in greater context.

Read the full story

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Regulators play ‘whack-a-mole’ with substitute chemicals

Manufacturers have responded to increasing regulation by introducing chemical alternatives that have not been fully vetted, scientists tell NJ Spotlight roundtable

Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:

water quality test

New Jersey’s nation-leading efforts to protect the public from a class of toxic chemicals in drinking water are being threatened by the emergence of substitutes that may be just as hazardous to human health, experts argue.
At a public roundtable on PFAS chemicals, hosted by NJ Spotlight last Wednesday, scientists said chemical manufacturers have responded to increasing regulation of the chemicals by New Jersey and other states by introducing so-called short-chain alternatives, such as the chemical Gen-X, that serve the same purposes but have not been fully vetted by regulators.
Although the substitutes have not been subject to the same rigorous evaluation as the original chemicals, there are signs that they are equally toxic, according to the chairman of New Jersey’s Drinking Water Quality Institute, a scientific panel that advises the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Many times, these have not really been tested on rodents, they have not gone through a full toxicity screening,” said Dr. Keith Cooper, a Rutgers University toxicologist. “Some of the early studies that have been done on Gen-X, it seems to be extremely toxic as well,” Cooper told the meeting at Camden County Community College.

Keith Cooper

Rutgers University’s Dr. Keith Cooper
He said the short-chain compounds have similar mechanisms to long-chain PFAS chemicals such as PFOA and PFOS. “The toxicity may still be present even though they are only present for a shorter period of time,” Cooper said.


Not enough research

But because of a shortage of research on the new chemicals, scientists and regulators know “very little” about the shorter-chain PFASs, he said.
New Jersey regulators are in the process of placing some of the nation’s strictest limits on three of the longer-chain chemicals — PFNA, PFOA and PFOS — because of their links with illnesses including cancer, immune-system and thyroid problems, low infant birth weight, and elevated cholesterol.
As a class, PFAS chemicals have been used in consumer products like nonstick cookware and flame-retardant fabrics since about the 1940s. Even though PFOA and PFOS are no longer made in the United States because of an agreement between manufacturers, they are widespread in the environment because they are designed not to break down; they have been found more commonly in New Jersey water sources than in many other states.

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A possible solution to the challenge of regulating the new short-chain chemicals could be to regulate the whole PFAS class, said Anthony Matarazzo, senior director of water quality and environmental management at New Jersey American Water, the state’s biggest water utility.

‘…a lot of the same health effects’

Anthony Matarazzo, senior director for Water Quality and Environmental Management, New Jersey American Water
“Recognizing that PFOA and PFOS are being targeted, industry quickly changed to a short-chain replacement,” based on the belief that it would be eliminated by the body faster, Matarazzo said. “But what they did find was that it has a lot of the same health effects as the legacy PFASs.”
Regulating the entire class rather than just individual chemicals would mean that scientists could avoid playing “whack-a-mole” to respond to new chemicals as they emerged, he argued.
In response to the new concerns, New Jersey American Water is cooperating with state officials to look at the substitute compounds at a couple of its locations, Matarazzo said.
Meanwhile, DEP officials are evaluating the DWQI’s recommendations on PFOA and PFOS but at a pace that clean-water advocates say is much too slow.
It took the DEP four years to adopt the DWQI’s recommendation for PFNA, which has set a national benchmark for regulating the chemical, said panelist Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the environmental group Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and a long-time advocate for tougher limits on the chemicals.

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