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Do you have questions about specific regulations, news, or issues you are facing regarding waste management? Send us an email with your question to: info@pureingenium.com. If it's chosen for publication in an upcoming issue of Sustainability Update, you'll get a Starbucks gift card -- and either way, you'll get your question answered!
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News to Support Your Sustainability Program
Recycle. Reuse. Recover. That's the goal for hazardous waste today -- and we're here to keep you informed of breaking news selected to help with your sustainability efforts.
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"Re-purposing" Benefits Emerging Life Science Companies
 On January 15th, Washington state life science companies got the opportunity to select from thousands of dollars worth of new and unopened laboratory consumables and small equipment free of charge. These supplies and equipment, available as a result of lab closures, were kept out of the landfill, and "re-purposed" for practical use.
Recipients included over 40 area life sciences organizations, primarily smaller, emerging companies, who reported that the event was, "Better than Christmas," and saved them thousands of dollars. One example of the success of the event for the community is the University of Washington, who plans to distribute up to 90% of the new supplies to local schools.
Donated by Ingenium, the company that conducted the lab closures, the supplies include pipettes, tips, Kim wipes, glass flasks, needles, syringes and more. Co-sponsors included the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA), University of Washington C4C, VLST Corporation, and Icogenex who hosted the event at their offices in the Freemont area of Seattle.
Ingenium plans to continue sponsoring these re-purposing events as supplies become available. To donate supplies or inquire about activity in your area, contact Heather at hdody@pureingenium.com.
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Mandatory "Take-Back Program for Pharmaceuticals
Alameda County, California recently passed an ordinance requiring drug manufacturers that offer their products for sale in the county, to establish individual or group "take-back" programs that must be producer financed and managed. The ordinance is modeled after laws in Australia and Canada, which require manufacturers and producers of medicines to be responsible for their disposal. It also is in the same vein as legislation currently in the works at the Federal level.
The ordinance had strong backing from most of the local and surrounding water authorities, along with most of the cities in Alameda County, several hospitals, and the California Nurses Association. As noted in a blog post on the Ingenium website, pharmaceuticals in the water supply are an emerging issue, so there was little surprise when water authorities and water quality advocacy groups such as Save the Bay fell in to strongly support the measure. It was also of no surprise that pharmaceutical industry groups opposed the ordinance. More ordinance and opposition details |
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Ingenuity in Paint Recycling
Recycling takes ingenuity and that is readily evident at Acrylatex, a latex paint recycler in Azusa, California. Acrylatex receives old latex paint, and uses it to produce products such as graffiti cover paint, airport runway paint, asphalt sealer, indoor and outdoor paint, and even a product called "Soft Rocks", a decorative landscape cover made out of dried latex paint. Some of the products in development there, which are currently confidential in nature, are even more exciting.
The recycling aspect doesn't stop at the paint. Acrylatex recycles all of the packaging as well. Plastics and metal pails are separated, and sent to respective recycling facilities. Of the more than 3,000,000 pounds of waste material received and processed at the facility, less than 5% of that ends up in a landfill, and the owner, Brian Brittain, has some ideas on how to get that down to 0%, achieving a complete landfill free recycling solution for waste latex paint.
Acrylatex is also a participant in the PaintCare California initiative, which provides consumers a free drop-off location for their post consumer paint. Home owners and small quantity generator businesses can drop off paint at Acrylatex and other participating PaintCare California locations at no charge. More on the PaintCare California can be found here
The term "recycling" can be a very loose term. Many companies throw that term around with little basis in fact, and a cursory look at their processes may reveal their definition of recycling may be a stretch. At Acrylatex however, turning 95% of received waste into a usable product meets anyone's definition of recycling. As Acrylatex would put it, it's not waste, it's a resource out of place.
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Let Us Help Someone You Know
If you know of a fellow professional who has waste management needs or questions, please feel free to tell them about Ingenium and have them contact Heather at hdody@pureingenium.com.
Together we will create a more sustainable world!
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