[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 24]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 40CFR246.200-5]



[Page 340-341]

 

                   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



[[Page 341]]



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 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.