           Home > News > News Item |
||||||
 |
*Photo opportunity 9 a.m. Friday, February 29, at DEM Headquarters lobby, 235 Promenade St. Providence. Beach Street entrance. News Release RI Department of Environmental Management 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908 (401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
DEM PARTNERS WITH BETTER SHRED IN PILOT RECYCLING PROJECT The pilot program comes on the heels of a re-invigorated commercial recycling initiative announced by DEM last month geared toward increasing recycling in the business sector. After reading a Providence Journal story about the re-invigorated initiative, and the lack of a comprehensive recycling program at DEM's Foundry offices, Christine Botts, disability business enterprise coordinator for the Governor's Commission on Disabilities contacted DEM about the availability of the funds and the new program was quickly put in place. "The timing of this offer was great," said Terry Gray, DEM Assistant Director for Air, Waste & Compliance, who noted that it had recently come to the Department's attention that much of the paper DEM staff had been segregating to be recycled had been, instead, routinely mixed with trash at collection, and disposed of as waste. "As an environmental agency, we found this to be unacceptable and have worked to come up with a solution. The funding offer will provide us with the opportunity to practice what we preach without financial resources from the Department and hopefully will lead the way for others to implement similar programs." Better Shred, at 9 a.m. on Friday morning will deliver and strategically place 17 new, 66-gallon lockable plastic recycling containers on wheels to DEM's leased offices within the Foundry Building on Promenade Street in Providence where approximately 320 DEM employees work. DEM staff will then routinely place all types of paper goods including bond and copy paper, newspaper, and periodicals, in the bins for shredding, except for paper used in wrapping or packaging food. When the bins are full, the paper goods will be picked up by Better Shred and transported to its facility in Cranston, where they will be shredded in a manner that complies with federal regulations under secure conditions, and sold for reuse. The funding for the pilot program comes from a $10,000 grant to the Governor's Commission on Disabilities from the RI Resource Recovery Corporation to educate state agencies on the importance of recycling and to divert paper from the landfill by recycling all confidential shredded documents. Other state offices involved in the program include the Department of Elderly Affairs, DCYF Juvenile Corrections, and the Disabilities Commission itself. DEM announced last month that, in an effort to increase recycling in the business sector, it has re-invigorated a commercial recycling program to help business comply with the state's mandatory recycling law and to help preserve landfill capacity. It has asked over 2300 businesses to report information about their waste stream and recycling efforts via a new on-line system at www.ri.gov. DEM will use the data to gauge the current level of recycling, identify what is working well and where improvements are needed, and to track recycling program. Key information will be incorporated into the second phase: a joint DEM and RI Resource Recovery Corporation sector-by-sector education and compliance assistant program set to begin in late spring. Rhode Island businesses generate approximately 60 percent of the waste buried in the state's Central Landfill, or about 700,000 tons a year. Despite a law requiring businesses to recycle, and businesses with more than 50 employees to implement recycling plans and report progress annually to DEM, the commercial recycling rate is estimated to be less than three percent. The planning and reporting process implemented in the past proved to be resource intensive for businesses. Recycling cost and convenience issues also prevented businesses from fully complying with program requirements. The revised program, with an automated reporting system, as well as a business assistance component, aims to address those issues. -30- |
|||||
For General Information 222-6800 • After Hours Emergencies 222-3070 • Disclaimer