OSWER Innovation Projects

Pilot Years

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Project Highlights

Approximately 20 percent of the City of McAllen’s municipal solid waste is now being diverted from landfills or incinerators
through the recovery of yardwaste and green food waste.

From 2007 to 2010, the city collected 5,166 tons of organic waste for composting; sold 52,660 cubic yards of compost; used 5,481
cubic yards of compost for various city development projects; and saved $89,114 by diverting 5,166 tons of food waste from landfills.

The city leveraged $50,000 in seed money to set up and implement this composting pilot project, including $9,000 from Walmart and
$40,000 from the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council for collection bins, signs, dumpsters, biodegradable bags, training and
community outreach.

This "Save the Greens" pilot project won both the 2008 Texas Environmental Excellence Award and the 2008 Environmental
Leadership Award for Outstanding Composting Program from the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling.

City of McAllen Public Works Department - Recycling Division Full Circle "Save the Greens" Resource
Recycling, Recovery, and Composting Project

Challenge: The population of the City of McAllen, Texas doubled between 1980 and 2005. This resulted in a significant
increase in the amount of waste generated and landfilled with costs to the city reaching over $2.3 million per year. To divert recyclable
material from the landfill, McAllen implemented a curbside recycling and yardwaste collection program. More than 85 percent of the yard
trimmings collected was turned into compost, but the compost lacked vital nutrients resulting in a low quality end product with little market
demand. In turn, McAllen had a difficult time recuperating program costs due to the low quality of the compost.

Opportunity: Adding green food waste (e.g., vegetable and fruit scraps) to compost is a proven method of improving its
quality. While successful on a small scale (e.g., residential), large or commercial scale composting operations would require a large and
continuous supply of green food waste to produce high quality compost. Championing a commercial scale model allows municipalities to sell
their compost and increase revenue or offset program costs, as well as divert an additional portion of the waste stream from landfills.

Approach: The city set up a partnership with a local Walmart to collect its unsold produce, designed and implemented a
training program for Walmart employees on best practices for managing food waste, and developed a community outreach education packet on
composting in both English and Spanish. The collected green food waste was then processed into nutrient-rich compost and sold to residents and
local food producers, who used it to grow produce for sale locally.

Project Update: The "Save the Greens" pilot project is now an established city program that new businesses continue
to join. The city currently collects green food waste from 25 local businesses. In addition, every Walmart in Texas now has a composting program
modeled after the "Save the Greens" project.

Project Highlights

Published the Closing the Loop: Electronics Design to Enhance Reuse/Recycling Value report that providesover 60 product design
element change recommendations that could be incorporated in EPEAT in two ways – either developed into new criteria or used to improve
existing criteria.

Developed a recycling Web application prototype, the “CTL Registry,” to house key information on product attributes and provide an open
channel for communication.

Challenge: Historically, the end-of-life management of electronic products (i.e., what is done with
products after their useful life is over) had been an afterthought for manufacturers and sellers. Although the Green Electronics Council had a
ratings system in place to evaluate electronic product designs for refurbishment and/or recycling (the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment
Tool, or EPEAT), there had not been an established method of communicating EPEAT-related product design features to end-of-life managers.
Conversely, there had not been an efficient way for end-of-life managers to suggest how electronics manufacturers can streamline recycling
and refurbishment. The electronics industry needed a comprehensive survey among end-of-life managers (e.g., recyclers, reuse operations,
asset recovery businesses, electronics resellers, shredding recyclers, and plastics reclaimers) to identify design changes for improving
recycling and reuse opportunities. Two-way communication also needed to be established between end-of-life managers and electronics manufacturers
to ensure continued feedback and collaboration.

Opportunity: Input from electronics refurbishers and recyclers on computer and monitor design features (the electronics at
the focus of this project) would allow for updated EPEAT standards to enhance the end-of-life value of these products. Equally important is
communication between electronics designers/manufacturers and end-of-life managers. Ideally, a new type of communications tool was needed to open
up communications channels and obtain feedback on design improvements from end-of-life managers.

Approach: The Green Electronics Council, in collaboration with the National Center for Electronics Recycling and Resource
Recycling, Inc. interviewed electronics refurbishers and recyclers from across the industry. The Council sought to determine design elements that
would enable computers and monitors to be disassembled for the most value. Participants provided feedback on manufacturer information that would
enhance end-of-life process efficiency and/or material values and how it should be communicated. Project partners defined product information
categories such as descriptions to allow inventory and sorting; location and removal instructions for components containing hazardous substances; and
identification of plastic resins to be separated for processing. This input was used to develop the “Close-the Loop (CTL) Registry,” a searchable,
Web-based resource for end-of-life managers to access information related to product disassembly and recycling. Eventually, the CTL Registry will be
expanded into a two-way information exchange system that will store feedback and suggestions from end-of-life managers in addition to the product
information provided by manufacturers.

Project Updates: The report developed for this project, Closing the Loop: Electronics Design to Enhance Reuse/Recycling Value
, has been well received both nationally and internationally and has provided the basis for examining ways to improve electronics recycling
design. The report was one of the primary sources that inspired a meeting of invited academic researchers with EPA Office of Research and Development
(ORD) staff to discuss research opportunities for e-waste with a focus on design for end-of-life. These actions led ORD, in cooperation with the
Green Electronics Council, to issue an “InnoCentive Challenge,” which is currently under development. The report was referred to frequently in the
development of “Design for End-of-Life” criteria for the new Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1680 electronic product
environmental assessment standards for imaging equipment and televisions. Additionally, the report has been referenced and used for program
development by the Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) Initiative at the United Nations University.

Challenge: In 2009, Americans produced about 243 million tons of municipal solid waste. Materials Exchange – websites that connect those with
unwanted products with people who are seeking them – help address this problem by facilitating the recycling and reuse of items that would otherwise be disposed of
in landfills. There are several active Materials Exchanges; however, each one is unique in its access and offerings, which limits the effective reuse of materials.

Opportunity: A single, national Materials Exchange network would allow users to search for materials across participating networks, thus maximizing
their use. The increase in visibility for these networks would increase the probability that materials will be reused and products would be diverted from landfills.

Approach: Project partners identified five Materials Exchange networks in the Northeast willing to participate in the Reuse Marketplace pilot project.
The Northeast region provided several well-established individual networks to serve as a geographical pilot for the launch of a national marketplace. Launched in January 2010,
the Reuse Marketplace Network is a Web-based network that allows users to search for materials across all five independent networks. The new website was designed to increase
reuse of materials by streamlining access and promoting opportunities to locate and purchase materials. Materials Exchanges in the Network included computer/electronics/appliances, construction/salvage materials, office equipment/furniture, and industrial equipment.

Project Updates: Since January 2010, the Reuse Marketplace has created greater exposure and increased participation for the eight Materials Exchanges. The
Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) is developing a plan for a larger national network based on the pilot project. The program will focus on retaining the current Exchanges
and seeking additional Material Exchanges to join as participants. NERC also is focusing on promoting the Reuse Marketplace at events and seeking funding options to support the
network.

Overview: This project entailed exploring whether coal ash, wood ash, and/or crushed concrete could be
utilized economically as an amendment for C&D debris fines to attenuate the production of hydrogen sulfide in a beneficial-use
application.

Project Highlights

Identify valuable and potentially dangerous components of an individual item, determine its service history, and automate its tracking and handling.

Led to the establishment of a consumer electronics end-of-life global interest group.

Created links to other related efforts, including EPEAT, which seeks to identify design changes that would improve the sustainability of electronic products
(e.g., using RFID tags to indicate special handling due to hazardous materials content).

Challenge:According to EPA estimates, only 18 percent of consumer electronics are recycled. It is crucial that electronics are appropriately managed
throughout their life cycle to minimize their environmental impact (e.g., increased landfill waste, potential release of hazardous materials during disposal). RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification) tags are increasingly being utilized to track consumer products such as computers from production to sale. However, they are not being used to
assist with materials management throughout the electronics life cycle, for example by conveying information about the presence of recycled or hazardous materials.

Opportunity: Project partners recognized the need to reduce the negative environmental impacts of electronics products while improving business processes and
economic performance. To achieve this goal, stakeholders involved in the consumer electronics life cycle (e.g., manufacturers, packagers, retailers, recyclers, tag manufacturers,
and environmental authorities) needed to come together to study and discuss the potential environmental benefits of using RFID tags and their impact on the supply chain.

Approach: Project partners met and interacted with outside experts to better understand the requirements and processes used by various parts of the computer supply
chain. This included both post-sale activities involving reuse, recycling, refurbishing, materials aggregation, and disposal, and the identification of the benefits and challenges
associated with using RFID to support product end-of-life recovery activities.

Project Updates: Spurred by the efforts of this project, GS1, a global supply chain standards organization and steward of the modern-day global barcode system,
established a global interest group in 2008 to examine the potential uses of Electronic Product Code (EPC)/RFID tags at the end of life processes for consumer electronics. Due to
competing priorities, the GS1 interest group has since been dissolved. In November 2010, the White House established the Interagency Task Force on Electronics Stewardship to prepare a
national strategy for electronics stewardship. Led by representatives from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, EPA and the General Services Administration, the task force
released the National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship in July 2011. The strategy details the Federal Government’s plan to enhance the management of electronics through the
product life cycle from the design to the eventual recycling or disposal of a product.