Business Services

One of the first steps to take in trimming your waste stream is to determine exactly what is currently being discarded as trash and what is currently getting recycled. This can be accomplished by conducting a waste assessment. Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District staff is available to visit your business or institution to conduct a waste assessment. There is no fee. Staff will evaluate the major components of your waste stream and make recommendations on ways to reduce waste. In many cases, reducing waste can also save money! To schedule your free waste assessment, contact LRSWMD at 888-7317.

At the copier and printer:
-Make double sided copies
-Consider using half a sheet for short memos
-Manually feed paper with one side blank for draft copies
To get the word out:
-Use voice-mail or e-mail instead of hard copies
-Post announcements on bulletin boards
-Route one copy of a document to multiple people
On the computer:
-Read e-mails on screen instead of printing
-Edit documents on the screen before printing
-Adjust margins and font size to avoid pages with just a few lines
In the lunchroom:
-Bring a reusable mug for beverages
-Save flatware for reuse
-Bring a cloth napkin to use throughout the week
-Pack lunch items in reusable containers
Reusing:
-Use scrap paper for phone messages and notes
-Re-label and reuse file folders
-Save large mailing pouches for reuse - purchase large address labels to
cover the old address
Purchasing:
-Avoid using colored paper whenever possible - white paper is more valuable when
recycling
-Purchase recycled paper products to help complete the loop
-Consider trying unbleached paper - the chlorine used to bleach paper produces dioxin

If you have additional ideas for this page, please email us.

Recycling is more than just sorting items into a blue bin. As the word and its symbol implies, recycling is a cycle, which is dependent on three main steps: collecting, remanufacturing and purchasing. Each of these steps is essential for the recycling industry to succeed.

Over the past decade, the public has become increasingly willing to separate recyclables from trash. Once materials are collected, manufacturers must be willing and able to use the recyclable materials to make new products. This is dictated in part by the public’s willingness and interest in purchasing products with recycled content. Without any one of these three components, the recycling loop is incomplete.

Businesses can help close this loop by demanding and purchasing products with recycled content. There are a wide range of recycled content products available these days at competitive prices. This includes everything from office supplies, such as copier paper, to janitorial supplies, such as recycled content tissues and towels.

The Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) has recently published a sequence of web pages designed to assist businesses in their green purchasing programs.

Here is a list of some local stores that carry recycled content office supplies:

Wards Systems
Morrisville, VT
(802) 888-7317

Boise Cascade Office Products
Burlington, VT
1-800-472-6473

Copytek - Boise Cascade Office Products
Williston, VT
1-800-639-3375

Ribbon Recyclers
Williston, VT
(802) 660-8960

Staples
South Burlington, VT
(802) 862-1897

Vermont Toner Recharge
Burlington, VT
(802) 864-7637

Universal wastes are wastes that meet hazardous waste criteria but, because they pose a relatively low-risk compared to other hazardous wastes and are generated by a wide variety and large number of businesses, are exempt from regulation as hazardous waste.

What is a Universal Waste Handler?
A “universal waste handler” is a generator of universal waste; or the owner or operator of a facility, including all contiguous property, that receives universal waste from other universal waste handlers, accumulates universal waste, and sends universal waste to another universal waste handler, to a destination facility, or to a foreign destination.

What is a Small Quantity Handler?
A “small quantity handler” is universal waste handler who does not accumulate 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) or more total of universal waste other than CRTs (batteries, pesticides, thermostats, ballasts, lamps, or mercury-containing devises, calculated collectively), and who does not accumulate 36,288 kilograms (40 tons) or more of CRTs, at any time.

What does a Small Quantity Handler need to comply with?
Although each category of universal waste has unique waste management requirements (individual fact sheets are available for lamps, mercury-containing devices and CRTs), small quantity handlers must manage all universal wastes according to the following general requirements:
- Manage universal wastes in a way that prevents breakage and releases to the environment.
- Keep containers of universal waste closed.
- Immediately contain and transfer any universal wastes that show evidence of leakage or damage to an appropriate container.
- Meet waste-specific container or packaging requirements
- Label or mark the universal waste (or container holding the universal waste) to indicate that it is a waste or universal waste. For example, universal waste lamps should be marked as “Universal Waste Lamps,” “Waste Lamps,” or “Used Lamps.”
- Accumulate universal waste for no longer than one year (a handler must be able to demonstrate the length of time that a universal waste has been accumulated from the date it became a waste or is received.
- Ensure that employees handling universal waste are familiar with proper handling and emergency procedures, relative to their responsibilities.
- In the event of a release of universal waste, comply with the emergency actions and reporting requirements of VHWMR Section 7-105(a), and determine if any material resulting from the release is hazardous waste.