Examples

Resource Recovery Park

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The Monterey Resource Recovery (RR) Park was developed over the past decade by adding innovative reuse, recycling, and composting activities to an existing regional landfill. The District limits the site to compatible facilities that use recycled materials as feedstock. The 95,000-square-foot MRF accepts and targets materials not covered by area curbside recycling programs, such as C&D debris, wood waste, and yard waste. The MRF has achieved its goal of diverting 60 percent of incoming materials.

The Last Chance Mercantile resale facility is where reusable materials get their last chance before ending up in the Monterey Regional Landfill. This 8,000-square-foot building includes a room for processing materials for resale and indoor space for selling reused items (books, clothing, sporting goods, household items, and furniture). Building materials, plumbing fixtures (e.g., tubs and sinks), patio furniture, compost products, and other items are displayed outside on a paved two-acre yard.

Private contractors provide composting and C&D recycling services at the site. The District leases part of this publicly owned site to several local composting companies for a nominal fee. As part of the contract with these composters, the District requires them to use MRWMD organics as feedstock for their products. The District sells low-cost landscaping supplies made from recycled wood and yard waste at a retail facility onsite.

The District also contracts with the Granite Construction Company to process C&D materials onsite. Granite provides the District with a royalty of $0.50 for every ton processed at their facility. Granite uses most of the processed C&D material in area construction projects, such as a repaving of Cannery Row in Monterey using recycled base rock from the facility.

The District designed their facilities to have people "Drop and Shop" before the scales. Residents are encouraged to drop off their recyclable materials and reusable products before they pay tipping fees to dispose of wastes in the landfill. This creates a powerful economic incentive for residents to avoid their disposal fees by reuse and recycling. Residents can also buy low cost reused items and compost products there and obtain reusable paint, cleaners, and pesticides free of charge.

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Zero-Emission Park

Chaparral Steel and Texas Industries, Inc. (TXI) Cement Division, two Midlothian, Texas, manufacturing facilities owned by the same company, established the foundation of a zero-emissions park by forming a partnership to use Chaparral's steel slag in TXI's cement kiln to produce high-quality Portland cement.

The process allowed TXI to skip two energy-intensive steps. First, the process uses steel slag that has already been subjected to the high temperatures of the steel furnace, supplying the heat of formation of the slag's principal compound, dicalcium silicate, the building block for Portland cement. Second, by using lime that has already been calcined by Chaparral, TXI is able to skip a step that would have expended considerable energy and generated carbon dioxide.

This by-product sharing arrangement aims to eliminate waste by developing links between Chaparral, TXI Cement, and a nearby automobile shredding facility that provides scrap steel to Chaparral for new production. The end goal is to create enough linkages such that everything the steel mill produces will, in synergy with adjacent enterprises, be a useful product.

By adding slag to the cement manufacturing process, cement production has jumped 10 percent and energy consumption has dropped 10 percent, accompanied by a comparable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Chapparal-TXI partnership also spurred the creation of a new company, Applied Sustainability LLC, which assists businesses in identifying byproduct sharing opportunities.

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Virtual Eco-Park

The Brownsville Project takes a regional approach to exchanging materials and byproducts. As currently envisioned, the project will include not only industrial facilities, but also small businesses and agricultural partners. A database of companies in Brownsville and neighboring Matamoros, Mexico, has been developed and analyzed to identify potential materials exchange opportunities among companies. Cost-based data was added to the database, and a marketing plan will be developed to evaluate and recruit participants.

The Texas Department of Commerce and the Brownsville community have provided initial funding, and project leaders are working to secure long-term support. In particular, state officials will be working closely with project leaders to ensure that permitting procedures do not become a barrier to development.

Source: The above examples and definitions include excerpts from the California Integrated Waste Management Board's Resource Recovery Parks publication.