The St. Louis – Jefferson Solid Waste Management District is a regional agency that was created in 1993 to assist the public, private and nonprofit sectors in establishing and expanding waste reduction and recycling. The District includes the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County. For more information visit www.swmd.net or call 314-645-6753.
Medical Equipment Donation Drive
Saturday, May 6, 2017, 9 am – 2 pm
Do you have medical equipment that is not being used? Do you need medical equipment?
Now there is HELP…
Fourteen Designated Walgreen’s Sites
For a list of locations, contact St. Louis HELP
at 314-567-4700 or www.stlhelp.org
West Contracting Recycles Asphalt Materials
N.B. West Contracting (“West Contracting”) has grown significantly since it opened its doors in 1956 to service the asphalt needs of the housing and commercial construction boom in the St. Louis Area. West Contracting started installing driveways and parking lots and gradually became involved in municipal, state, and federal highway projects over the years. They have two convenient offices to service St. Louis and the Eastern Missouri region.
West Contracting operates three (3) asphalt plants located in Pacific, House Springs, and Bourbon. During the “spike” of crude oil pricing in the mid-2000’s, West invested heavily in their plants to accept Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and roofing asphalt shingles (RAS). Reclaiming and reusing existing asphalt pavement and shingles reduces the amount of virgin asphalt cement needed for the construction of new roadways.
Asphalt Pavement is made up of 95% aggregate and 5% asphalt cement. When reclaimed asphalt pavement is incorporated into new pavement the asphalt cement in the old pavement is reactivated becoming part of the “glue” that holds the new pavement together. Other industries’ waste products such as roofing shingles, rubber, tires, glass, and foundry sand can also be incorporated into asphalt mix designs producing high quality pavements. Recycled asphalt pavement reduces the use of virgin asphalt and rock and preserves landfill space. Taxpayers benefit by stretching tax dollars while allowing state and local governments to keep more roads in better condition. Most of the roads you drive on today are comprised of nearly 20%- 30% recycled materials!
In 2011, West Contracting received a grant from the St. Louis Jefferson County SWMD to help pay for a portion of a portable screen deck to fractionate RAP much more efficiently than the “standard” way of simply crushing it. West operates three roto-milling machines and brings millings (RAP) from the roadways to these plants, and break the millings down to a usable size to incorporate into a new hot mix asphalt.
The hot mix asphalt industry has been leading the nation’s recycling charge. In fact, RAP – Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement – ranks as America’s most recycled and reused material. Asphalt is 100 percent recyclable, and more than 100 million tons of asphalt pavement are reclaimed every year. To put that in perspective, that’s approximately twice the tonnage of the amount of recycled paper, glass, plastic and aluminum combined! It is America’s most reused and recycled material!
For more information or quotes please see www.nbwest.com or call 314-962-3145.
Remains, Inc. – Leader In Textile Recycling
For More Than 30 Years
The U.S. generates an average of 25 billion pounds of clothing, footwear, accessories, towels, bedding, drapery, etc. each year. Of the textiles discarded, 3.8 billion pounds are recovered for recycling and reuse; roughly 12 pounds per person per year. The textile recycling industry is constantly growing to divert massive amounts of waste from landfills.
A local textile recycler, Remains, Inc., has been consolidating and processing larger and larger volumes and varieties of materials for more than 30 years. Each week, Remains processes 5 tractor-trailer loads of materials for recycling, reuse, repurposing or by converting them into fiber for new markets. The ever-growing volume of discarded textiles warrants a better awareness of the importance of recycling clothing. Now, with it more convenient to donate and recycle clothing, it’s much easier to participate and help decrease the impact of textile waste.
Remains purchases and receives materials in many ways, such as buying excess materials from thrift stores and by facilitating fundraising events. Schools, churches and charities receive money for the weight of clothes, shoes, purses, belts, etc., collected from clothing drives. Donations are also accepted at drop-off boxes located at Remains. Remains also processes post-industrial textile materials from local and nationwide companies.
Sponsoring fundraising events is quite easy for the participating organizations. Remains transports their trailers to each event location and picks them up whenever and wherever necessary. Clothing and shoe collection events can take place for any duration, such as weekends or for several weeks.
So, what happens once the materials get to the recycler? Remains consolidates and bales the materials by type for the end-use market. Within 30 to 90 days (or less), further sorting, disinfecting (depending on end-use), baling and shipping is complete. With Remains’ wide range of customers, more clothing gets reused or repurposed than by the average textile recycler. What happens after it leaves the recycler? Generally, 45% of clothing is reused or recycled; 30% is repurposed into wiping cloths; and 20% is converted back into fiber for various industrial applications, such as home insulation, carpet padding and filler for automobile seats. With the ever-growing opportunities and creative uses, more than 90% of collected textiles is kept out of landfills.
To learn more about fundraising events, industrial recycling, recyclable items in general, or if you have an idea for a new endeavor, please call 314-865-0303 or visit www.remainsinc.com. Remains wants to hear from you.
Local Government Recycling Information
- City of St. Louis – www.stlouis-mo.gov/government (Departments & Agencies, click Recycling)
- Jefferson County – www.jeffcomo.org (Services, click Recycling)
- St. Louis County – www.stlouisco.com/HealthandWellness /RecyclingandWasteManagement
- St. Charles County – www.sccmo.org/861/Recycling