This case study comes from Ben Sparks, out of our Oakland recycling location:

“Green Planet 21 is installing an auto-tie baler at a large supplier (they asked not to be named, but they make parts for Tesla so they’re very busy).  They have been using 2 cardboard compactors, 3 days/week each, for about 26 loads per month.  By baling, they will reduce their freight to 3 flatbed loads per month.  This results in a freight savings of $11,615 per month, which is almost 3 times the cost of the monthly baler lease payment.  That’s pretty good on its own, but I also calculated the reduction in CO2 emissions as it relates to their cardboard recycling program.  

To calculate CO2e, the EPA recommends a factor of 161.8 grams per ton-mile.  A loaded rolloff truck weighs 28 tons, and a loaded flatbed is 40 tons, so its not quite a straight-line calculation on 26 trips vs 3.  The round trip is 65 miles.  Once you’ve multiplied all the ton-miles per gram, you divide by 1,000,000 to convert from grams to metric tons.

I found that their current system is producing 90.45 metric tons of CO2e per year.  The new system will produce 14.91 metric tons. So by changing from compacting to baling, they’ll reduce cardboard-recycling related carbon emissions by over 75 metric tons per year. “

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Undoubtedly, businesses and industries are increasing day by day. Due to this, industries are producing different waste types that may be hazardous. Industries manufacturing metal, paper, electronic, and chemical products need recycling to alter the wastes into valuable products again. The amount of waste generated is increasing exponentially.

More and more people are becoming aware of the present and future problems related to waste management, such as health risks due to the accumulation of hazardous wastes. Consequently, it has become crucial for organizations in industrial sectors to reduce waste generation and provide proactive solutions. This is why Waste Management and Recycling industries are running at their best in the world.

However, very soon, all the waste will be washed away with the help of waste management and recycling solutions. Many industries and businesses have joined their hands with these waste management and recycling companies to recycle their waste products so that they can save themselves from the dangerous aftereffects. So here is some piece of advice that every industry or business should consider and take one step ahead towards the environment.

Re-evaluation Of Recyclable Waste

All businesses indeed produce recyclable waste intentionally or unintentionally. Many industries, such as automotive, restaurants, education, and healthcare, produce these recyclable waste products.

Moreover, they also produce a lot of unwanted packaging materials. The Recycling industries are eager and excited to recycle waste to maintain the world in the best way. The waste management industries always try to recycle waste into useful products again.

So once a year, businesses should reevaluate how much waste they produce. They can also perform a visual audit as it is the best way to determine the recyclable material. However, having this tracking system in your business is a good idea as it will show your dedication to nature.

Use More Recycled Product

An organization should increase the rate of using recycled products. It is essential to measure the performance of any business towards the environment. However, businesses can also make it mandatory for employees to use recyclable materials. Many waste recycling management companies can help you recycle waste products to make them valuable again.

So as an entrepreneur, one must also contribute to the environment and bring societal improvement. Material like plastic does not decompose; you can recycle it and use it for other purposes. Throwing these unused plastic products is not good for the environment, so use them whenever possible. However, there are recycling industries that can do it for you in a better way. 

Investment In Shredders Is A Good Idea

The waste shredder can be a significant investment as it helps reduce the waste and unwanted material from the industries. These shredders process the unwanted product and convert them to a smaller size. They help in making the trash lighter and easy to carry. In this way, it will also reduce the workforce required to dump the waste material.

So, investing in a shredder is a good idea if you are running a business. Same you can do with the shredders. If you have a large volume of unused documents or the documents that you have converted as a soft copy, then shredding is a good option as you can’t dispose of these documents anywhere, so this will let you dispose of them quickly.

Sometimes you may also have waste materials like cardboard, aluminum, plastic, and unwanted waste wires which cannot be recycled. You can discuss this with other businesses who deal in this work as they might guide you on how to do copper cable recycling or recycle other unwanted material.

Let Your Employees Contribute

The employees are part of your business family. You have all rights to involve them and ask them to use recyclable products. You should not just restrict them to the use of recyclable material, but you can encourage them to sustainability and opt for ways to minimize wastage. You should begin this first and inspire others in your company to follow in your footsteps.

So if you want to reduce waste, encourage your employees to find ways to prevent wastage, recognize their efforts, and inspire them to engage more with the environment. It will be a great idea to involve them in your recycling efforts as adding more brains to any process can result in innovative ideas, and you can come up with new recycled product ideas. You can also educate them about the best ways to use recycled products. Give them responsibility and show them how harmful non-recycled materials and waste products can be to the environment.

Review Your Re-evaluate Program

It is sensible to evaluate the waste management and recycling program every time you complete one year to determine your program’s effectiveness and make required changes. The best thing is, if you do this, then industry experts will also help in this task as they know about the effects of waste treatments on the environment. 

Moreover, you can also let them know about the goals you want to achieve and the outcomes you expect from the program. Thus, keeping track of all the activities involved in waste management is a good idea. This will help you evaluate your program’s effectiveness and find out the mistakes you have committed in this process. 

In this way, you can check whether they are keeping in line with your goals and outcomes or not. This will allow you to make better arrangements for future plans and how to improve the implementation.

Final Words!

Today’s world is surrounded by waste produced along with other valuable products. Before starting your business, it is essential to plan for waste management. Making a blueprint and presenting it before the authorities will be appreciable. Moreover, you should also involve your staff in this process as they are the ones who have to carry out these tasks effectively. 

Remember, every step you take toward saving the environment, the better it will be for your business. You can reduce waste and hazardous products through responsible actions. If you don’t take action now, you will definitely feel sorry tomorrow for not doing it today.

The post Waste Management And Recycling In Industrial Sector: A Better Approach! appeared first on greenplanet21.

Whether you own a business or a building, you are creating more scrap metal than you ever think of. Many businesses just throw their extra scrap metal. Isn’t there a better way to deal with it? Obviously, there is. You can choose to recycle scrap metal and assist the planet towards sustainability. Here we have come up with the reasons to recycle scrap metal in your business that will clarify all your doubts. Let’s get started. 

Revenue – This is the foremost advantage of getting the metals scrapped. There are many industries that produce plenty of scrap metal. It includes manufacturing, construction, building, and whatnot. But if you deal with any different business than the mentioned, odds are your business is producing more scrap metal than you might think. For instance – window frameworks, drink containers, electronic scraps, plumbing components, and whatnot. So, get the scrap metal recycled and earn money from it. 

Environment – In addition to the revenue, recycling scrap metal helps the environment tremendously. There is no denying the fact that we are living on a planet where natural resources are decreasing day by day. It is our responsibility to use the resources cautiously so that they can also benefit the coming generations. Recycling scrap metals saves natural resources and uses less energy than mining. Besides, it leaves more space in landfills. Recycling metal will help you steer clear of the challenges and difficulties with the environmental laws. More people are now attracted to the concept of the sustainable movement. So, your business should also adopt measures of sustainability to attract more customers. 

Conserves energy – The more energy your business uses, the more it will emit carbon dioxide gas during production. No wonder renewable sources are readily producing the needed energy, but is this energy enough? No. With the help of recycling, mining uses only a small percentage of resources which is more sustainable. The metal production process includes the extraction of raw materials, their transportation, processing, and refinement. And every stage of this process uses a lot of energy. In fact, nearly 10% of all the manufacturing energy use happens during the production of steel, iron, and aluminum. 

According to studies, recycling aluminum metal saves a massive 95% of the energy which is required to produce the same amount of the metal from its natural source. 

You would be surprised to know that with the help of recycling, the steel industry conserves energy that is equal to giving power to over 18 million homes a year. 

The process of mining includes the energy for mining, processing, and then transporting. So, there is high consumption of energy which produces high levels of carbon dioxide. 

While, scrap metal recycling uses less energy than mining and emits lower carbon dioxide levels. 

Economic situation – An excellent economic climate benefits every business, no matter its location. Taking the help of shredding services phoenix will help you experience the benefits of recycling and shredding to make this planet a better place to live in. Recycling helps in giving a kick to the economic climate and generates employment opportunities. The recycling sector has generated innumerable jobs throughout the USA. Regional businesses can give a push to this increase by considering recycling their scrap metal. Here are some things that you need to consider if you decide to sell your scrap metal –

1. Clean the scrap metals before giving them for recycling. It is advisable to assign this task to professionals as they can do it quickly and efficiently. 

2. Tell the professionals to sort the metal. It will determine the price you will get at the end. 

Save money – Recycling scrap metals comes with financial advantages. It has the power to bring down production costs. And every business wants to save as much money as it can. So, follow the recycling procedures and save a lot of money. 

Avoid toxic leaks – Electronic waste can wreak havoc if your business doesn’t follow the right methods to process it the right way. For instance – if your laptop finds its way to the landfill because it was not disposed of correctly, substances like lead from the batteries can leak into the soil. Don’t think about just one laptop but imagine if all the laptops would start leaking toxic substances into the water system. So, avoid toxic leaks by recycling the scrap metals. 

To make a long story short

Recycling scrap metals isn’t only beneficial for the environment but for your business and economy as a whole. It is always better to rely on a professional team for the recycling of scrap metal. Making efforts toward recycling of scrap metal is one of the excellent ways to progress in the economy. So, contribute towards it and let your business flourish. 

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Green Planet 21 has been working in Reno/Sparks since 1999.
Having grown into the need for a larger location, we are building our third facility on Byars Lane in Sparks, NV. Scott Graves, with 22 years in the sustainability world, works with Green Planet 21 in Nevada to provide recycling services for paper, cardboard, plastics, and more.
Graves says, “Lets solve your recycling problems today!”

Scott Graves has worked with a large .com company that moved into the USA Parkway industrial area. He saved them 7,000.00 per month in disposal costs and created a new revenue stream by recycling what they had been previously discarding as trash. “Not only did we save them money, we increased their diversion ratio while helping them be more sustainable,” said Scott.

Reno’s business base is growing rapidly with the expansion of distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing facilities. Reno is a boomtown and it has a chance to grow in a sustainable manner, to handle scrap and all other waste streams responsibly. We already work with many clients to maximize their scrap value and bury as little as possible in the local landfill.

When people who have not been there lately think about Reno, they might imagine the historic Mustang Ranch brothel or a gambling scene not as fancy than the one in Las Vegas. They might remember when Reno had 2000 people living in tents downtown through the winter. They might think of having fun skiing at Tahoe or the tragic history of the Donner Party.

Five years ago, the area east of Reno was a stark desert with rocks, low vegetation, and wild horses running freely. This year there is lots for them to eat and they can graze right near our compactors. We want to help preserve this delicate environmental balance.
Tesla is building what will be one of the largest factories in the world to produce lithium batteries for the new S3 automobile. Other companies have large facilities there. The wild horses got there first. Every company has the opportunity to coexist harmoniously with the natural world.

Green Planet 21 is providing sustainability services to Tesla suppliers and others in the Area. The wild horses roam free around our compactors, balers, and trailers. Green Planet 21 supports the Nevada ethic of rugged outdoor living, while providing good jobs in manufacturing industries. Along Route 80, many new factories have gone up recently east of Reno to manufacture goods and to support all the human activity moving into the area. Some produce or assemble for Tesla. Tesla plans to produce 450,000 S3s next year so they need a lot of batteries, components, and parts for their sustainable cars.

For more information, visit the Reno Chamber of Commerce site, http://www.reno.gov/business/reno-s-economy

See Scott Graves explain possible ways to handle your cardboard scrap here:

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Clean U.S.scrap cardboard is in demand as a recyclable commodity around the world because of its exceptional qualities. Watch these videos to see what this looks like.

Green Planet 21 works within a global system to recycle cardboard over and over. Every year, the U.S. uses goods protected by many millions of tons of cardboard.In these two videos, President Steve Sutta talks about cardboard recycling and how cardboard is made.

Prized around the world for strength and high quality, U.S. cardboard has strong long fibers. At the beginning, producers mix 65% virgin fibers from wood pulp with 35% recycled paper fibers. Cardboard boxes can be used multiple times before they are recycled. For example, Frito Lay, a client in Indiana, uses their cardboard boxes five times for shipping packages of snacks. When the boxes are no longer crisp and clean and strong, Frito bales and ships the scrap cardboard for recycling.

Contact a national representative or your nearest facility for more information.

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In this new video, Paul Simonetti takes us inside the warehouse of System Beauty. System Beauty is a third party logistics provider exclusive to the beauty industry. Therefore, the Company provides clients with logistics and shipping for beauty products. Beauty products fill the entire warehouse of System Beauty.

CEO M.C. Johnson explains, “Quite often throughout the year, System Beauty requires the service of a destruction company.” We use a destruction company for many reasons. Retailers return products that are damaged or unsellable. Moreover, returned products may have expired. Further, instances of manufacturing defects do occur. “It is critical for us to have a great destruction company such as Green Planet 21 to make sure those products don’t get out to market.“

Green Planet 21 processed the entire 26 pallet load by lunchtime. We crushed these products for total destruction. The baler applies enormous crushing force. As a result, the beauty product containers burst. The liquids soak into the packaging as the products are baled.

At Green Planet 21, we destroy many types of products. There are several methods we use to crush, shred or slice products. For various destruction projects, we use powerful shredders capable of reducing material to bits that are smaller than 5/8ths of an inch. Large guillotines to slice and reduce flexible products like tee shirts, rolls of material, or large soft plastic containers. Depending on the client needs, we alternatively separate the cardboard for recycling.

To learn more about product destruction and creating an ever more sustainable business, call us today.
Contact Us

To visit the website of System Beauty

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Our customer delivered the drones to us for product destruction. Product destruction is a service we provide when products cannot be sold. Customers want to recycle as much waste as possible. It may be that the product does not work, there were production mistakes, packaging problems, returned products no longer sellable, or, for some other reason that the distribution centers or manufacturers are storing unsellable goods. Our customers do not want any of their products that do not meet quality standards to leak out into the marketplace and potentially damage their reputation or the brand associated with their manufactured products. When we destroy product, we recycle as much as possible of the materials involved.

Gordon Rogers, the CFO of Green Planet 21 has long been supportive of Clausen House. He currently serves as the President of the Board for the local Oakland non-profit that works to help developmentally disabled adults live more independent lives. Gordon saw that this destruction project could become a job training lab for Clausen House. The pilot program for training in recycling was developed with Clausen House Executive Director Jaynette Underhill and Supported Employment Director Veronica M. Santana of Clausen House and Avi Pogel and General Manager Michael Swernoff of Green Planet 21.

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Product destruction goes like this:
A customer contacts us because they merchandise they cannot sell. Most of their manufacturing goes well but a few of their gadgets don’t work. Something fell off the assembly line and became dented. Possibly, the packaging came out printed incorrectly. Or, someone else has produced a low-quality knock-off of their trademarked line. They have captured those low-quality knock-offs and need to destroy them. There are lots of reasons but the need is there.

When you need product destruction, we can do it. When a customer arranges delivery of flawed products or overstocked goods, we can slice, shred, or crush them. Sometimes, we need to partially disassemble packaged goods in order to recycle paper or cardboard, or plastic.

Product destruction is often superior to tossing flawed products into a dumpster and hoping they get to a landfill. The producer is liable for unintended outcomes. Dumpster divers do dive in for attractive items to sell on Ebay or Craig’s List. Actually taking the step to destroy the product may be the best choice.

Want to learn more?
Contact us now!
Read this article in Recycling Today.

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Green Planet 21 is in the recycling and sustainability business. We work with our customers to maximize recyclables that they generate in their plants so that they landfill as little as possible and move towards their sustainability goals. There are many types or grades of scrap materials for cardboard and paper and plastic recycling. The useable scrap from our clients’ production processes is segregated at the source location then prepared for the global marketplace. 70% of what Green Planet 21 collects for recycling is old corrugated containers (OCC.) The OCC we sell to paper mills in the U.S. and around the world is both clean and of the highest quality. We do not ship garbage. What we collect and ship out is consistently of superior quality, the cleanest, most reliable product. Our product is such that 113 pounds of old cardboard recycles into100 pounds of new cardboard. By contrast, it takes 140 pounds of OCC gathered domestically in China to produce the same 100 pounds of paper linerboard for new corrugated boxes.

As of March 1, 2018, China, the destination for 30% of U.S. scrap exports, began requiring shipments with a prohibitive or contaminant rate of less than .05%. What does this mean? In a 2000 pound bale of recyclable OCC, there can be .05% of other material, the materials that often come attached to the cardboard, like the plastic wrap on top of a case of beverage containers.

Our used scrap cardboard is baled in 2000-2600 pound bundles prior to shipping. Less than ten pounds of that bale can include something that is not cardboard, a bit of plastic that was stuck to the cardboard, some shipping tape, a piece of plastic strapping or a scrap of baling wire that was accidentally included. It cannot include waxed cardboard, mixed paper, broken glass or anything tainted with food. Any shipments with the aroma of garbage will be rejected.

Over the past 30 years, 30% of U.S. scrap was sold to China for goods production because China has little oil and few forests, basically no raw material resources. During the 90’s the U.S. recycling industry made some errors in judging what was considered recyclable. There was a cost benefit impacting the idea of what a recyclable commodity is which included greenhouse gases and carbon offsets. Now, China’s leaders are restricting imports in order to diminish pollution in the form of byproducts from manufacturers. The Chinese government initiated Operation Green Fence (OGF) in Feb 2013 to enforce 2006 and 2010 regulations and also to implement new, stricter regulations beginning in April 2013, regulations that effectively changed the US recycling business by demanding higher quality commodities. The Chinese government has now changed the playing field again by demanding different specifications for importing recyclables to feed those mills. They have effectively incentivized the domestic collection in China while dis-incentivizing imported material. This is no longer an economic model but a political one. The most recent restrictions on imported recyclables ban several plastics and mixed waste paper, aiming to reduce contaminants and improve the environment in China.

China has modern, well designed, and efficient paper mills. For example, they have the capacity to treat the water and return it cleaner to the source than it was before they pumped it into their mill or before it is returned to a river. People knowledgeable about the paper making business and the recycling business are not driving these changes.

The Chinese government embarked on National Sword beginning in 2017 and now China is dictating product specifications. It is NOT a Capitalist free-form marketplace. It is a “Wild West” scenario that is roiling the recycling markets worldwide. Further, there is a new government policy, a ten-month program of special actions called Blue Sky being enforced by people who do not have the benefit of understanding the paper business, what is needed to make new material. Traditionally, over the past four decades, all sides negotiated the market and deals were accepted or not. The current situation is a one-sided deal that impacts how we work and our relationships with our customers in a high stakes, future-changing way.

Both our clients and the public must become knowledgeable about how the recycling markets function. In the West, Green Planet 21 has been working with large manufactures setting up and meeting sustainability goals. At Green Planet 21, we know that source separated commodities have the highest value. We continue to process and sell waste paper, an array of clean, high quality source-segregated post-industrial materials. We work with our source clients to ensure that what we ship out is high quality in the extreme.

Green Planet 21 is not involved in curbside recycling. The curbside recycling that most municipalities across the U.S. rely on produces a mixed mess that destroys the value of the recyclables. Curbside mixtures contain glass, many types of plastics, hybrid container packaging, and even food. The quality of recyclables produced is too contaminated to create a reliably clean and desirable product. The sorting and cleaning labor is not attractive to workers and the labor costs are considerable. Much of the material from curbside, single-stream collection will no longer be recycled. In the U. S., we have been underpricing disposal. Those cost will go up as we bury more in landfills and the waste companies raise landfill rates. Our collection systems will require massive refinement in order to recycle municipal wastes. Green Planet 21 is in a unique position to accommodate the changing market conditions and will continue to be a leader in recycling and sustainability.

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