In this issue

• Feature article
• King County focus
• Fast Facts
• Material highlights
• In the Loop

Material highlights

In 2012 LinkUp is focusing its market development efforts on three priority materials: asphalt shingles, carpet and mattresses.

King County expands use of RAS in pavements
In the interest of building more sustainably, King County continues to expand its use of hot mix asphalt pavements containing recycled asphalt shingles (RAS). The Parks Division used 45 tons for 6,000 square feet of parking lot repairs at its Aquatics Center. The Solid Waste Division is using the material on two projects—the Bow Lake Recycling & Transfer Station, currently under construction, and the Factoria Recycling & Transfer Station, for which construction begins in 2014, and for the pavement maintenance contract for all its facilities. Metro Transit is proposing two research projects involving RAS: one in 2012 to test the use of “RASphalt” under the heavy loads of Metro buses at one of its Transit facilities, and the other, to study the use of RAS in porous asphalt pavement.

Local jurisdictions to use HMA containing RAS
In recent months, LinkUp has reached out to local cities and counties in Washington to offer information about and assistance in using hot mix asphalt pavement (HMA) containing recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) for paving projects. To support local governments, LinkUp has made a Toolkit for Using HMA with RAS in Pavements available online. It includes material specifications and supplier information, contracting provisions, and other useful resources. So far, the City of Bellevue is planning to use RAS-modified HMA on a paving project this year, and Snohomish County is considering doing the same in 2013.

Update on Washington special provision to allow shingles in paving
As highlighted in the last eNewsLink issue, WSDOT has been working with the Washington Asphalt Pavement Association (WAPA) to develop a special provision to allow increased quantities of recycled materials in select paving contracts – including RAS. In March, Joe DeVol from WSDOT's State Materials Lab presented key elements of the draft special provision as part of WSDOT/WAPA's annual Asphalt Training Conference. WSDOT presented the revised special provision to paving industry representatives at the WSDOT/WAPA team meeting in April. The special provision is expected to be finalized in May. Because the effort is a bit behind schedule, it is unlikely that RAS will be used in select state paving contracts before 2013.

CalTrans to test HMA pavement containing RAS in 2012
The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans), will be conducting a paving demonstration in 2012 to test the use of recycled asphalt shingles RAS in HMA. For more information about the CalTrans paving demonstration, contact Hamid Moussavi.

Public purchasing contract includes carpet recycling
US Communities purchasing collaborative for public agencies, schools, and charities held two webinars during January to publicize the flooring contract put in place in December 2011. Empire Today, the winning vendor, explained they have developed recycling services nationwide in conjunction with this contract and now offer carpet recycling to all their customers. City of Seattle, which led the contracting process, and the Responsible Purchasing Network are planning a further webinar later this year. Learn more about the contract.

C3 develops products using recycled carpet materials
Creative Concrete Concepts (or C3), a local manufacturer of artisan concrete products for residential or commercial applications, has launched Agrestal—a line of wall tiles with highly unique designs. The product is manufactured from low-carbon cement and recycled materials, including calcium carbonate (limestone sand) from recycled post-consumer carpet. Agrestal tile styles mimic tooled leather, industrial rivets, woven baskets, rope and wood planks. Ameé Quiriconi, developer of locally manufactured Squawk Mountain Stone countertops (supported by LinkUp during development), is now applying her design skills to the C3 line of products.

SSB 6341 jobs through carpet recycling bill dies
A bill in the 2012 Washington State legislative session that would have created a statewide carpet recycling program and created jobs died in committee. The intent of Senate Bill 6341 was to create jobs in Washington, increase the amount of discarded carpet that is recycled throughout the state, and establish a reliable supply of recycled raw materials from recovered carpet to use to manufacture new products. The carpet recycling program would have been funded and operated by carpet manufacturers. SB 6341 was sponsored by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles. Learn more about the bill and carpet recycling on the NW Product Stewardship Council's website.

California carpet stewardship key developments
California passed its carpet stewardship law in 2010. Here are key developments since then:
Jul. 1, 2011 – Collection began of an assessment of $.05 per square yard on carpet sold in California.
Jan. 17, 2012 – CalRecycle conditionally approved the carpet stewardship plan submitted by CARE.
Jan. 26, 2012 – The Carpet Stewardship Regulation that clarifies statue and establishes administrative procedures became effective.

Here are future dates to be aware of:
Jul. 1, 2012 – CalRecycle will post notice on its website of carpet manufacturers that are in compliance.
Dec. 31, 2012 – CARE will resubmit an updated carpet stewardship plan.
Jul. 1, 2013 – CARE will submit the first annual report to CalRecycle.

Successful disposal ban of mattresses in Vancouver, B.C.
Three for-profit mattress processing businesses recycled an estimated 125,000 mattresses in the one year since Metro Vancouver, B.C. banned mattress disposal in Jan. 2011. This has saved almost 100,000 cubic meters (two to three months' worth) of landfill space, which is enough to hold about 74,000 metric tons or 7 percent of Metro Vancouver's 2011 garbage. Metro estimates they are successfully capturing nearly all mattresses intended for disposal as their ban diverts mattresses from transfer stations, landfills and municipal collection of illegally dumped pieces which are all accepted by the recyclers, regardless of the mattress condition. Less than 100 mattresses were rejected by recyclers in 2011 as too wet or soiled. Many other mattresses are being reused in transitional housing. For more information, contact Carol De La Franier or see Metro Vancouver's August 2011 Media Release (PDF).

Mattress stewardship legislation
Local governments in Connecticut spent $1.2 million in 2011 to dispose of approximately 400,000 mattresses, mostly through incineration. The expense and volume of mattresses led Connecticut and the Product Stewardship Institute to seek a solution with the mattress industry in a series of meetings and conference calls, culminating in the introduction of SB-89, which would have required mattress producers to create and finance a mattress stewardship program to recycle mattresses and relieve municipalities of the cost of disposal. SB-89 had a Feb. 22 public hearing with mostly supportive testimony, was amended to specify that costs be passed on to consumers, and passed the Senate but failed to move forward in the House before the session adjourned May 9.

In the California State Legislature a mattress recycling bill, SB-1118, passed out of committee on April 23 but was moved to the Appropriations “Suspense File” due to its fiscal impact. SB-1118 would require that manufacturers provide and arrange for the pickup of used mattresses for recycling, at no cost to consumers and public agencies, and allows manufacturers or retailers to recover their costs by incorporating a charge into the purchase price of a mattress. However, should businesses choose not to create their own industry-run solution and instead opt to pay for a government-run program, there would be a potential fiscal impact of “at least $700,000 in on-going costs... [to California] for the development and implementation of a state-run used mattress recovery and recycling program.” The bill must move out of the Suspense File by May 25 to remain active, according to the California Product Stewardship Council.

The Rhode Island General Assembly heard a mattress stewardship bill, S2399, on April 11, but Committee recommended that it be “held for further study.”

Industry to seek federal mattress recycling legislation
The International Sleep Products Association (ISPA), the mattress industry trade organization, announced that it is preparing to propose federal legislation that would "help create a national program for recycling used mattress parts." While a welcome effort, federal legislation could be challenging. Though product stewardship laws exist in various states in the U.S. for products including electronics, paint and carpet, there are currently no federal product stewardship laws, despite a number of considerable multi-stakeholder efforts to create federal legislation. Meanwhile, member countries in the European Union have individual laws and Canada has province-by-province laws.

In the Loop

WSRA's 32nd Annual Conference
WSRA held their 32nd Annual Conference April 29 – May 2 in Spokane to showcase the latest recycling, re-use, and waste reduction programs and technology. The conference included two presentations about LinkUp focus materials: carpet and asphalt shingles. For more information on the event, visit WSRA's Conference website.

City of Federal Way and Westside Baby recycle car seats
On April 28th, the City of Federal Way conducted a pilot partnership with Westside Baby for the Recycle Palooza Event and Family Green Fest. At the event the city worked with Westside Baby to collect car seats for refurbishment or recycling. If not reusable, car seats were broken down into their components and dropped off at Total Reclaim for recycling. Those that appeared reusable were checked by a certified car seat technician and are being distributed free of charge to local children in need. This pilot event was a success with over 50 car seats being recycled and 15 collected for reuse.

Resource Recycling article on carpet recycling
Read Carpet Recycling Successes Stack Up (PDF 468KB) in the April issue of Resource Recycling to learn about recent developments in carpet recycling in the Pacific Northwest. The article was authored by Shirli Axelrod, Seattle Public Utilities, Kris Beatty, King County LinkUp, and James Palmer, Washington State Department of Commerce.