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THE
PULSE
Newsletter of the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries
Volume 17, No. 1, January 2012
President’s Message | SWITCH OUT | Teksmed | Fast Facts
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
 With a fresh new year ahead of us, now is the ideal time to re-evaluate and reorganize. I’m sure many of you have recently planned your budgets for the year ahead, and finding ways of saving is foremost in all our minds. CARI is always looking for ways to help its members save money by focussing on costs common across our industry.
To date, 23 CARI members have joined the NASCO-OP purchasing co-operative and are now saving when purchasing their equipment and supplies. NASCO-OP recently declared a 2.0% patronage dividend for 2011, further reducing the costs of purchases members made at the cooperative. Membership in NASCO-OP is free to CARI members, and well worth looking into.
CARI members receive a 2.4 cents/litre discount on gas or diesel with the Petro-Canada SuperPass. The price of fuel is always rising, but this program is one way to reduce those costs.
Many members are already taking advantage of CARI’s group rates for Property and Casualty Insurance with Cowan Insurance and for Health Benefits Insurance with Agro Insurance. This year, CARI is working on a new cost-saving service for a common costly issue: workers’ compensation. Our Board recently decided to look into ways to help members with this issue and have begun developing a possible program with TeksMed Services. TeksMed helps companies to manage compensation claims and helps employees return to work quickly, which saves both time and money. The article below offers more information about this valuable new service.
 These programs and services are meant to make doing business less resource-intensive and more economical. We all buy fuel and equipment. We all need insurance. And unfortunately, we all have to manage workers’ compensation claims. Why not consider participating in one of CARI’s cost-saving programs this year? The more members participating in a program, the greater the cost-savings for all.
Bertrand Van Dorpe
CARI President
SWITCH OUT
Switch Out has reached a major switch collection milestone: over half a million mercury switches have been recovered and properly managed since the program began in 2001. That’s equivalent to 425 kilograms of mercury.
CARI members have been active supporters and participants in the Switch Out program, contributing greatly to the program’s success. And this success has not gone unnoticed. Summerhill Impact recently won a Minister’s Award for Environmental Excellence from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for work on the Switch Out program. The award recognizes initiatives that show excellence in pollution prevention, stewardship and environmental community building.
This month, those recyclers that actively participated in Switch Out last year will receive a ‘matte story’ about the program that they can share with their local newspapers. This article is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to removing mercury from the scrap steel supply chain and get recognition for participating in an award-winning program.
For more information about the Minister’s Award and the switch collection milestone, please visit the News section of the Switch Out website www.switchout.ca/news/index.aspx.
With the new year upon us, it’s time to take an active approach to an old problem.
Every CARI member has to deal with the in-house management of workers’ compensation claims (WSIB), and these claims are often expensive and time consuming. With that in mind, CARI is pleased to announce the development of a new cost-saving service for its members with TeksMed, a Canadian company specializing in managing workers’ compensation claims.
TeksMed Services has been in the business for close to 20 years. They manage billions of dollars in payroll on behalf of some of the largest corporations in Canada each year. Their primary focus is on reducing time loss by proactively managing every injury claim with the board on your company’s behalf. The customized, physician-approved Return-to-Work (RTW) plans are key to reducing your exposure to exorbitant workplace injury costs. Additionally, with access to MRIs, CT scans, specialist consultations and even surgeries at no extra cost, TeksMed has been able to cut medical wait times from more than half a year to just days.
TeksMed will soon begin contacting CARI membersfirst in Ontario, and then across the country. This service is designed to save you time and money, so we encourage you to give it strong consideration. For more information please visit www.teksmed.com.
FAST FACTS
- U.S. companies that imported 25,000 pounds or more of any scrap metal in 2011 will likely need to report to the EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act Chemical Data Reporting Rule. Recyclers who meet the definition of “small manufacturer or importer” are exempt, but non-exempted facilities must file an electronic report for each reportable metal between February 1 and June 30, 2012. More information about the Rule is available at www.epa.gov/cdr
- According to the Japanese Plastic Waste Management Institute, Japan recycled 77% of its plastic in 2010. The list of recyclable items includes boxes, cases, cups, containers and plates, trays, tube-shaped containers, lids and caps. Labels on Japanese food wrappers and PET bottles instruct consumers as to whether an item needs to be treated as plastic waste.
- A town in Illinois recently passed an ordinance requiring scrapyards to submit their transactions to local law enforcement authorities once a week, and to maintain records of all transactions for two years. Recyclers who accept cash payments will have to record additional information about the sellers and the material sold. The new ordinance also allows police to enter a scrapyard without notice to search for stolen material. Recyclers in possession of material police have probable cause to believe is stolen will have to apply a 30-day tag-and-hold to the material. The recycler will be free to sell the material if no action is taken after 30 day.
- All new Sprint cell phones will have to go through a certification process to improve reparability or recycling, the company recently announced. The new process will minimize the use of glues, inks, labels and plastics, and eliminate the use of plastic laminate. New phones will use vegetable-based or low volatile organic compound (VOC) inks and water-based or other environmentally friendly adhesives. Manufacturers are also encouraged to use modular design, thereby improving a device’s reparability and recyclability.
- US Steel Canada has begun conducting audits and on-site visits to ensure its suppliers are operating in compliance with the Canadian Steel Producers Association’s zero-mercury policy. Under the policy, suppliers are required to demonstrate they have a program in place to identify, remove, track, and properly dispose of all sources of mercury in the scrap they sell to CSPA member companies.
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