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A NEWSLETTER TO EXPAND MARKETS FOR RECYCLED MATERIALS

LinkUp ramps up for reclaimed asphalt shingles trial

Of the roughly 17,000 tons of asphalt shingle waste generated in King County each year, it is estimated that only 1,000 tons are being recycled. With such recycling potential, asphalt shingles became one of the LinkUp program's focus materials in 2007. LinkUp is working with the recycling and paving community to champion the development of a hot mix asphalt (HMA) end market for post-consumer, tear-off recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) by securing and conducting a paving trial for the Puget Sound area.

One of the most promising uses of asphalt shingle waste is as an additive in HMA. Experts in several states have conducted field studies of roadways and trails paved with tear-off RAS. The results of the field studies have shown increased stiffness of the asphalt, decreased cracking, no effect on moisture sensitivity, decreased susceptibility to rutting and decreased optimum content of virgin asphalt cement. Based on these efforts, several states now allow the use of tear-off RAS in HMA.

The King County Solid Waste Division's (KCSWD) LinkUp program is leading a two-year study that will demonstrate the use of tear-off RAS in HMA pavement on a King County road. The trial will provide Washington state, King County and other jurisdictions valuable information for the development of tear-off RAS specifications for roadway construction.

In August 2007, LinkUp gathered stakeholders together to gauge the group's interest in a local HMA paving trial using recycled asphalt shingles. Stakeholders voiced significant support for a trial; and so LinkUp initiated the Shingles in Paving Demonstration project. In the fall of 2007, a project advisory group of shingle recyclers, paving contractors, departments of transportation and solid waste agencies was formed, and in May of this year King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) became a project partner by agreeing to provide a paving project for the demonstration. Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will develop the HMA mix design for the trial. Other support has included a contribution of funds from Seattle Public Utilities.

"We were pleased to have so much interest and support for conducting this paving trial," said Kris Beatty, LinkUp program manager. "Given current asphalt prices and supply concerns and the success other states have had using asphalt shingles in hot mix asphalt, it makes good sense for King County and its collaborators to be undertaking this study."

LinkUp is working to characterize the RAS product currently available and facilitate the development of a supply that will meet the demonstration project specifications.

King County Solid Waste Division (KCSWD), through a Request for Information, shared the draft RAS Material Quality and Supply Certification Specifications, collected information about the qualifications of RAS suppliers, and requested RAS test results and product samples. WSDOT will conduct preliminary testing on the RAS samples and will use that information develop an HMA specification for the demonstration.

Later this year KCSWD will issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify RAS suppliers that have product meeting the project specification. Suppliers approved through the RFQ process will be listed as pre-approved in KCDOT's 2009 North and/or South County Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay Invitation to Bid, which will be issued in spring 2009.

KCDOT is currently identifying candidate roads for the demonstration. The road will be selected by the end of 2008. Paving will take place in summer 2009.

King County focus

Turning landfill gas into energy: new King County project to create valuable energy resource.

Methane and carbon dioxide gas is collected at Cedar Hills Regional Landfill.

In February 2008, King County Solid Waste Division contracted with the renewable energy company Ingenco, LLC —doing business as Bio Energy (Washington), LLC— to convert landfill gas generated at the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill into pipeline quality natural gas for use in the Puget Sound region. As part of the project, Bio Energy is building a landfill gas processing facility at the landfill.

Currently landfill gas from Cedar Hills is collected in a series of pipes and burned in a high-temperature flare. Once the gas-to-energy project is complete in early 2009, the landfill gas will be captured and processed into natural gas and distributed through an existing natural gas pipeline that runs adjacent Cedar Hills.

By capturing the methane gas and converting it to natural gas the Solid Waste Division is tapping a valuable energy resource and protecting the environment by avoiding harmful greenhouse gas emissions. This project will capture the gas created by the nearly one million tons of garbage going into the Cedar Hills Landfill each year and put it to a beneficial use.

Landfill gas consists of about 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide. Both methane and carbon dioxide are considered greenhouse gases. Methane gas has 21 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide gas does. Greenhouse gas emissions from Cedar Hills will be reduced by more than 60 percent through this project. Carbon dioxide emissions alone will be reduced by roughly the equivalent of taking 22,000 average passenger cars off the road each year.

The project is currently in the construction stage. During the winter and spring of 2008, the proposed project underwent an environmental impact review and public comment period. The result of those efforts were published in a report in June.

It has been determined that the project will not have any adverse impact on the environment if proper mitigation efforts are taken. Mitigation efforts will include noise abatement, wastewater effluent control, air emission control, development of an emergency response plan and spill control measures.

The Solid Waste Division expects the landfill gas-to-energy project to be in full operation by the first quarter of 2009.

Industry voice

Total Reclaim challenges itself to process some of the most difficult materials for recycling. Soon they will be adding expanded polystyrene (EPS), commonly known by the trade name Styrofoam, to that list of materials. EPS takes up 248,000 cubic yards of King County landfill space each year and was recently named LinkUp's newest priority material.1

eNewsLink met up with Craig Lorch from Total Reclaim to discuss how and why they became involved and some of the ins-and-outs of recycling EPS.

Why did Total Reclaim decide to focus on EPS recycling?
We felt it would fit well with our existing customer base and could be a good service to add for them. It also might help us expand our customer base. Our mission is to deal with hard to manage materials – some regulated, some not regulated.

Why do you think EPS is a worthwhile material to invest in?
There's a huge volume of it. Everybody hates it. It's really the quintessential difficult-to-manage material. It's really terrible, but it's also wonderful because it is relatively easy to recycle and there's a big market for it. A tremendous amount of materials are made of EPS. Recycling EPS can help with a lot of waste diversion.

Hopefully we'll be able to create a solution for some larger processors of polystyrene. The primary goal is to create a mechanism for diverting waste especially for some bigger businesses that can really benefit from it. It's an expensive product to store and locally there haven't been a lot of options.

What challenges do you foresee in processing EPS?
Transportation is the biggest challenge. It's so light that it's expensive to move and difficult to store. There's no density, just a lot of volume. Making it cost-effective is a big challenge. There are also some technology challenges like processing equipment efficiency. The current process has a lot of steps. It needs to be made more efficient. Products are best when they only have to be touched one time to be produced.

What are some local companies doing to make and/or market products made of recycled EPS?
Our first challenge is to take the material to pellet form. Once it is in that form there are plenty of markets. Its uses range from baseboard molding that you might pick up at your local home improvement store, reels that hold wire, televisions, the list goes on. There are so many uses – it's really amazing.

How is the King County LinkUp program assisting in your efforts to start recycling EPS locally?
They're helping to identify potential commercial sources of the EPS – companies who are large generators of the material. They're researching potential locations for collection sites and they created messaging to convince people to remove EPS from the waste-stream. LinkUp is also helping to find potential end markets.

Fast facts

Asphalt Binder Monthly Cost Index - West and East

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) tracks the price of virgin liquid asphalt for purposes of paving contracts. The Asphalt Binder Monthly Cost Index is established by WSDOT using the average of the current price of asphalt cement furnished by Poten and Partners, Inc. for the Pacific Northwest. This information is one indicator of the increasing value of recycled asphalt shingles.

Source: Western average based on Poten and Partners, Inc. weekly average for the Seattle, WA area. Eastern average based on Poten and Partners, Inc. weekly average for Eastern WA and Northern ID.

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Foot notes:
1. Expanded Polystyrene Research memo. Prepared by Cascadia Consulting Group. Nov. 21, 2007.
2. News Radio KLBJ, June 16, 2008

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