Ware Disposal is an established, independent hauling company based in Southern California's Orange County. The 35-year-old company has seen many changes in the hauling industry, especially the rise of recycling requirements in the state. Currently, under Assembly Bill 939, municipalities mustrecycle at least 50 percent of all the waste they generate. Most struggle to get there. Their municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling rates may be topped out, but it isn't enough. Manyare looking at C&D recycling as the way to reach the 50 percent requirement. And many municipalities are looking to their haulers for help doing that.

"It is difficult to be in the hauling business now in California and not have some sort of a recycling facility," says Judy Ware, president of Ware Disposal. "With all the new regulations and state laws, you need a recycling facility in order to stay in business."

Ware Disposal's answer to that situation is the recently opened Madison Materials, a subsidiary recycling plant in Santa Ana, Calif., that can sort more than 500 tons of C&D materials per day. Despite only being in operation for a few months, the plant has a diversion rate of about 80 percent.

AN ADVANTAGE

Besides giving Ware Disposal an advantage, Madison Materials (a member of the Construction Materials Recycling Association [CMRA]) provides the cities it serves with an advantage as well.

For example, in Santa Ana Ware Disposal is one of two haulers of C&D debris (Waste Management is the other). "We are required to send 100 percent of what we pull to a C&D recycling center," says Jay Ware, general manager, Madison Materials. "We were taking it to other facilities outside the city. But now we just take it our plant. This gives the city an 80 percent diversion rate, important to meeting AB939. Now the city wants WM to bring their material here." Judy Ware adds that favorable contractual terms to local municipalities may also be available in the future.

This nice deal is what Ware Disposal] Madison Materials is now able to offer to other cities. Orange County itself is having trouble making its 50 percent diversion requirement, the same situation facing many towns in the county. "A lot of cities are just barely making their 50 percent, and they are taking all their MSW to a MRF (material recovery facility)."