The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, a $899,976 grant to develop methods to decrease per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) concentrations in both municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent and sludge. The university’s study will determine the technical and economic feasibility of using a specific two-treatment approach consisting of nanofiltration followed by electrochemical oxidation. 

In addition to the Purdue grant, EPA awarded seven other PFAS grants this week totaling approximately $6 million. The grants will fund research to expand the understanding of the environmental risks posed by PFAS in waste streams and identify practical approaches to manage the potential impacts as PFAS enter the environment.

“These grants will help improve EPA’s understanding of the characteristics and impacts of PFAS in waste streams and enhance our efforts to address PFAS,” says EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Today’s announcement is just one of the many ways we are delivering on the PFAS Action Plan – the most comprehensive, multi-media research and risk communication plan ever issued by the agency to address an emerging chemical of concern.”

EPA says taking concrete actions to address PFAS is one of its highest priorities. EPA’s recently released PFAS Action Plan identifies both short-term solutions for addressing PFAS chemicals and long-term strategies that will help provide the tools and technologies states, tribes and local communities need to clean up sites and provide clean, safe drinking water to their residents.

“Region 5 and our partner states have continually been on the forefront of the agency’s battle with PFAS,” says EPA Regional Administrator Cathy Stepp. “With this grant to Purdue University, EPA is once again carrying through on our commitment to the American people to protect human health and the environment.”

The funding is part of the EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program.

"We are excited to be part of the EPA STAR initiative to increase our knowledge and facilitate PFAS reduction in the environment associated with waste management,” says Linda S. Lee with Purdue University’s department of agronomy. “Our particular focus targets PFAS reduction in biosolids, which includes treatment systems within and after water resource recovery facility processes."

In addition to Purdue University, the other seven recipients receiving this funding through EPA’s STAR program include:

• New York State Department of Health - Health Research Inc., Menands, New York, to build a dataset by analyzing samples from approximately 150 landfills in the state of New York. This data will be used to understand the types and concentrations of PFAS that are found in and around landfills, as well as the key landfill attributes that contribute to release of PFAS.

• North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, to collect landfill gas (LFG) samples from over 400 landfills across the U.S. to determine if PFAS from LFG is a significant source of PFAS released into the atmosphere.

• University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida, to study the role of waste type, management strategies and treatment methods on the occurrence, source and fate of PFAS in landfills. The study will identify the sources of PFAS compounds in the current U.S. domestic waste stream using laboratory-scale batch leaching and landfill simulation studies.

• Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, to examine the chemical process for the destruction of PFAS in leachate and groundwater. This project will assess degradation kinetics, test hypothesized process modifications and conduct trials of leachate treatment.

• Texas A&M AgriLife Research, College Station, Texas, to investigate the feasibility of electron beam technology for the destruction of PFAS compounds during the remediation of groundwater, wastewater, sewage sludges and soils.

• Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, to identify and quantify the occurrence of PFAS in landfill leachate, investigate the fate of PFAS passing through typical landfill liner systems, and test the ability to break down PFAS in landfill leachate using soundwaves.

• University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, to develop practical strategies for removing legacy and emerging PFAS from leachate and groundwater by studying the adsorption, desorption and biodegradation of PFAS and precursor compounds in landfills.

PFAS are a group of synthetic chemicals that have been in use since the 1940s. PFAS are found in a wide array of consumer and industrial products. Due to widespread use and persistence in the environment, most people in the U.S. have been exposed to PFAS. EPA continues to evaluate the potential risk of these compounds to human health and the environment, but there is evidence that chronic exposure above specific levels to certain PFAS may lead to adverse health effects.

PFAS have been found in solid waste, landfills and surrounding environmental media (soil, groundwater), leachates, landfill gas, wastewater effluents, and biosolids. However, current treatment options are limited, as many conventional treatment methods are ineffective. In funding these projects, EPA is specifically supporting research to identify or develop innovative methods to treat or manage PFAS before they enter the environment to minimize their risks to humans and ecosystems. The resulting data will help researchers understand the occurrence, fate and transport of PFAS and identify methods or technologies to better manage PFAS-containing waste.

Stadler, Altshausen, Germany, was awarded with the ‘Great Award of Medium-Sized Enterprises’ from the Oskar-Patzelt Foundation. According to a news release from Stadler, the company received the recognition for its strong sustainable and social activities by the Oskar-Patzelt Foundation. 

The award, which has achieved ISO 9001:2015 quality management certification, was founded in 1994 with the aim to promote companies’ corporate responsibility and a culture of autonomy, popularize the success of committed company representatives and foster networking among medium-sized enterprises. Since its creation, municipalities and associations across the country have nominated 18,000 companies for the award. This year, 1,157 companies have been nominated in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and Stadler was one of six finalists. 

According to a news release from Stadler, Stadler was selected by the award’s regional and final juries according to five criteria: its overall development, taking into consideration factors ranging from financials and awards won, to risk and quality management; job creation and apprenticeships offered; investment in modernization and innovation; commitment to the community within the region; customer service and proximity as well as marketing. Additional elements such as the company’s philosophy and history were also considered.

Stadler

Willi Stadler, CEO of the Stadler Group, received the award during the Gala-Dinner for the finalist companies of the state of Baden-Württemberg, which was held in the city of Würzburg, Germany, on Sept. 14.

While recycling some construction and demolition (C&D) material is straightforward, other materials, like asphalt shingles, pose significant challenges in finding end markets. With comparably priced alternatives and concerns over cracking when mixed in pavement, recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) often have trouble finding homes. 

In a rural state with just one shingle recycler, James “Buzz” Surwilo is tackling the challenge in an initiative that has earned him recent recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA has awarded Surwilo with an individual Merit Award for his work as an environmental analyst with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). He was among 25 recipients across New England honored by EPA's New England office at the 2019 Environmental Merit Awards ceremony Sept. 10 at Faneuil Hall.

As part of his role with the DEC, Surwillo reviews Vermont’s Act 250 plans, which require construction projects to have a waste management plan, and offers suggestions for improving them. 

While his work involves all types of C&D material, Surwilo has been working with the DEC on boosting recycling rates for asphalt shingles since the late 1990s. 

Vermont produces about 25,000 tons of waste shingles per year, according to the EPA. The state has just one shingle recycler—Myers Container Service of Winooski—that processes about 2,500 tons of RAS annually.

Surwilo works closely with Myers in keeping the quality of the RAS up to standard. While the state’s department of transportation is “not enthusiastic” about using RAS in hot mix asphalt, Surwilo says, he was integral in working with the agency to begin using RAS in shoulder paving and dirt road maintenance projects.

Because RAS has few uses beyond road applications, Surwilo says, a current focus of his is working with the department of transportation to expand its use. A law passed in Vermont in 2015 mandating greater C&D recycling has spurred a DEC pilot program that Surwilo hopes will open more doors for RAS use in the state. Last fall, the DEC began funding road pavement projects that used RAS in an unbound aggregates mix.

“We’re using money to try this material out and hoping it will be successful,” Surwilo says. “If it enhances the performance of these roads, which we’re hoping for, then we can trumpet this as a material [the department of transportation] might want to look at.”

The DEC has so far funded projects in two towns, giving them $2,000 each for the RAS and trucking costs. Then, the grant recipients are responsible for providing the gravel and installing the mix, which is 80 percent gravel and 20 percent RAS. 

“It’s just something lowkey and low-tech, and it may be suitable throughout the state, so we’re hoping it takes off,” Surwilo says. “We thought it would be a good idea to pursue because it doesn’t take a lot of specialized equipment or specifications.”

The DEC has three more $2,000 grants available for paving with RAS that Surwilo is hoping to award before this winter.

Though the DEC has only funded two towns to date, the work is already gaining traction—the EPA says in the recent construction season, demand for the shingles in the state has increased by 50 percent.

“Surwilo’s work has been recognized as an example of market development strategies in Vermont and nationally,” EPA says in a news release.

In addition to his work with RAS, the EPA says Surwilo “has been effective in reducing the waste stream, specifically through salvaging and recycling of construction, demolition and disaster debris materials.” The EPA cites Surwilo’s work cleaning up the Robertson Paper brownfield site in Bellows Falls, Vermont, where Surwilo reviewed the draft plan, met with contractors and refined the plan, increasing the amount of brick, timbers, and other materials that were reclaimed. 

RAS, however, remains a focal point for Surwilo heading into next year. 

DEC recently championed an effort in Vermont that has lead to passage of a law requiring all solid waste management entities to have an asphalt shingle collection program by July of 2020. 

“It’s a stretch, because we only have that one asphalt shingle recycler,” Surwilo says. “We’re taking a chance.”

Surwilo says the law is meant to “push the envelope a little bit and see if there’s a market for asphalt shingles.” 

With just one shingle recycler to cover Vermont’s 9,600 square miles, Surwilo is hoping the law will encourage other asphalt shingle recyclers to come online.

But for now, he’s continuing to work with Myers on preparing for the anticipated influx of RAS to come.

Seattle-based Total Reclaim, a recycler of regulated scrap materials, has announced the appointment of Bobby Farris as CEO. Total Reclaim was founded in 1991 to provide recycling solutions for regulated scrap materials, such as refrigerants, light bulbs, computers and batteries.

Farris comes to Total Reclaim from TerraCycle, a company with a mission to eliminate waste by recycling “hard-to-recycle” materials, where he served as general manager. Farris led its division that collects and recycles regulated end-of-life materials, such as lighting, batteries and electronics.

He has more than 20 years of executive level experience in the appliance, lightbulb and electronics recycling industry. Farris will use his background in sales and operations management to grow Total Reclaim, the company states in a news release announcing his appointment.

Prior to TerraCycle, Farris served as vice president of business development for JACO Environmental, the country’s largest appliance recycling company. For nine years, he also served as director of electronics recycling services at Waste Management Inc., the country’s largest waste hauler, where he oversaw development and implementation of the company’s environmental management standards for its electronics recycling operations and spearheaded its expansion of electronics recycling services into nationwide product stewardship markets.

“Total Reclaim has led the industry in recycling regulated waste items for almost 30 years, and I’m committed to building upon that legacy,” Farris says. “We have a great team in place at Total Reclaim. My mission is to leverage my experience to lead Total Reclaim into a future that provides material reclamation services in a sustainable, accountable and transparent way.”

Total Reclaim owners Craig Lorch and Jeff Zirkle say they selected Farris as CEO and have already transitioned all company operations over to him.

“We are very excited to have Bobby as our new CEO,” Lorch says. “He is the right person to help the company evolve and grow. He will spearhead our accountability and oversight efforts and bring an increased focus on strategic partnerships and operational transparency that will lead Total Reclaim into the future.”

Total Reclaim was founded in Seattle in 1991 to help industry and government agencies legally recycle refrigerators and HVAC equipment in accordance with the requirements of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act.

The company’s owners, who previously served as its chief executive officers, were sentenced to 28 months in prison in the spring of this year after pleading guilty to federal charges related to exporting LCD devices to Hong Kong. Their prison time is to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Total Reclaim was the biggest participant in E-Cycle Washington, a program created by the Washington state legislature to provide for the safe recycling of hazardous electronic products. Under E-Cycle Washington, consumers drop off used electronics at stations such as Goodwill Industries free of charge.  The program then paid Total Reclaim to recycle the electronics according to Washington Department of Ecology standards. Those standards bar recyclers from sending hazardous electronics products overseas.