Waste Companies Pitch Universal Waste Disposal for Commercial Customers

Some everyday items like batteries and light bulbs can be of particular concern to commercial generators as they are regulated in the U.S. under the federal universal waste program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies four specific categories of materials as universal wastes: batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment and mercury lamps. These everyday wastes can be hazardous if not properly handled, thus leaving the generators to find the proper channel for disposal.

That channel, of course, is waste hauling companies like Republic Services, Rumpke and Waste Management, who along with their solid waste and recycling businesses, handle the collection and disposal of these potentially hazardous wastes.

Recently, Republic Services Inc. reached out to commercial customers to remind them that the new year is a smart time to replace batteries in fire alarms, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, as well as replacing fluorescent light bulbs and lighting ballasts. 

Republic offers two solutions for businesses to discard items that contain mercury, lead or other hazardous materials that should not be thrown away with regular waste.

"We understand that businesses are operating at a faster pace than ever before," Sue Klug, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement. "Keeping up with compliance requirements for universal waste items can be time consuming and burdensome.”

Republic Services offers businesses two solutions for the responsible management of universal waste items, as well as compliance with regulatory requirements. Through its

mail back kits, which are designed for businesses with smaller quantities of universal waste items, companies pack universal waste items in prepaid and pre-addressed government-certified tri-layer packaging to ensure safe shipping. Republic also provides those customers with a certificate of recycling to validate regulatory compliance.

For businesses with larger quantities of the waste, Republic offers a pack-up and pick-up program that includes a proposal for approval based on the universal waste generation of the business. This allows the larger generators to schedule a pickup date and time, and allows them to package the materials prior to that pickup. The waste is loaded onto Republic trucks and transferred to the nearest facility for proper recycling.

Whenever possible, universal waste items can be repurposed into new materials, the company says.

According to the EPA, newly manufactured batteries are made from as much as 80 percent recycled materials. In addition, according to Fresh Energy, a Minnesota-based not-for-profit environmental policy organization, more than 95 percent of an LED light bulb can be recycled. 

Other waste haulers, too, are helping customers to navigate universal waste. Ohio-based Rumpke Waste and Recycling spokesperson Molly Broadwater says Rumpke’s goal is to be a total waste solutions provider for its customers.

“We offer universal waste collection as a value-added program to our commercial customers,” Broadwater says. “Collection methods will vary based on the material, volume of material and location of the business. In some instances we will haul the material, and in other instances we will use mail back programs. In all instances we work with highly vetted third party vendors to properly process these materials.”
Rumpke’s universal waste collection and recycling assistance stretches beyond its normal four-state service footprint through its affiliate, The William-Thomas Group, allowing the company to offer universal waste recycling programs nationwide through the use of other hauling companies. 

Houston-based Waste Management also provides mail-back and pick-up services for its large and small commercial customers. Understanding the regulations at the federal level as well as the nuances of restrictions at the state level, where laws can vary state to state, is important to the company’s customers.

Waste Management services three distinct universal waste customers, says David Murphy, vice president of corporate venturing and new products, who is charged with the company’s LampTracker program, headquartered in Minnesota.

Waste Management helps fluorescent lamp manufacturers dispose of old products or those that did not sell. Those come from the shelves and are sent to directly to Waste Management to recycle or reclaim in two facilities located in South Carolina or Arizona.

The company also has a bulk business for universal waste. Waste ManagementI services retailers and commercial property customers who do a re-lamping effort in order to change the color-temperature of their lamps or switch to LED, for example. Lighting contractors remove all the lamps from their ceiling in one big effort. That contractor then works with Waste Management for disposal. This is the BULK business. These lamps come the Waste Management facilities in large trailer loads.

Finally, the company deals directly with commercial businesses for a mail-back service. These generators fill a box throughout the year and mail it back to Waste Management.

“Its’s a simple way to take care of the waste and stay compliant,” Murphy says.

With the use of LampTracker, which the company acquired in 2007, battery and lamp reclamation are available to Waste Management customers who need to manage their bulbs, batteries and other wastes under universal waste heading. LampTracker allows customers to manage their waste online and see the entire process from their desktop to ensure compliance.