[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 22]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR246.200-5]

[Page 336-337]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 246--SOURCE SEPARATION FOR MATERIALS RECOVERY GUIDELINES--Table of 
Contents
 
           Subpart B--Requirements and Recommended Procedures
 
Sec. 246.200-5  Recommended procedures: Methods of separation and collection.

    (a) Systems designed to recover high grades of office paper at the 
source of generation, i.e., the desk, are the desktop system, the two-
wastebasket system, and the office centralized container system.
    (b) With the desk-top system, recyclable paper is placed by the 
generator in a container on his desk, while other waste is placed in a 
wastebasket. With the two-wastebasket system, recyclable paper is placed 
by the generator in one desk-side wastebasket, and all other waste is 
placed in another. In the centralized container system, large containers 
for the collection of recyclables are placed in centralized locations 
within the office areas of the

[[Page 337]]

building. Nonrecyclable waste is placed in desk-side wastebaskets.
    (c) The recommended system is the desk-top system because it is 
designed to maximize recovery of high value material in an economically 
feasible manner. While the two-wastebasket system and centralized 
container system have been implemented with success in isolated 
instances, data indicate that, on the whole, these systems have 
experienced high levels of contamination, low levels of participation, 
and low revenues. The desk-top system has been designed to minimize 
these problems.
    (d) The precise method of separation and collection used to 
implement the desk-top system will depend upon such things as the 
physical layout of the individual facility, the ease of collection, and 
the projected cost effectiveness of using various methods. The 
recommended desk-top system is carried out in the following manner:
    (1) Workers are to deposit high-grade paper into a desk-top tray or 
other small desk-top holder to be supplied by the agency. This holder 
should be designed in such a way as to prevent it holding contaminants, 
such as food or beverage containers.
    (2) At the office worker's convenience or when the tray is filled, 
the worker carries the paper to a conveniently located bulk container 
within the office area. This large container should be located in an 
area the worker frequents in the normal course of business.
    (3) In locations where computer cards and printouts are to be 
collected separately, the receptacle for these wastes should be near the 
computer terminal or in some other logical, centrally located place.
    (4) Collection of the high-grade paper from the bulk containers in 
the office area should be performed by the janitorial or general 
maintenance service.

The number of locations and the frequency of collection of these 
containers will be determined by office size and maintenance staff 
capacity.
    (e) Mixed paper and some high-grade office papers have also been 
recovered for recycling by hand-picking in an individual building's 
trash room or at a centralized facility serving several buildings. With 
these hand-picking systems, recyclable waste is not separated at the 
source of generation, but is mixed with other waste in the usual manner 
and removed to a centralized location where recyclable paper is picked 
out of the mixed waste by hand. Facilities may choose to use this method 
of high-grade paper recovery if it is shown by analysis to be 
economically preferable to source separation.