Southeast Recycling Technologies Inc

Since1996 SRT has operated a facility in Johnson City, Tennessee, for the commercial recycling of mercury-containing lamps (fluorescent, metal halide, high pressure sodium, etc.) and other hazardous post-consumer products. SRT now operates four facilities in Tennessee, one in Kennesaw and GA which are integrally engaged in such recycling operations.The hazardous recyclables are collected from various industrial plants, commercial establishments, municipal facilities and municipal recycling centers, and institutional facilities (e.g., schools, hospitals) in Tennessee and other southeastern states. Once they are properly packaged, these hazardous recyclables are transported by truck to one of SRT's five Receiving Facilities in Johnson City, Memphis, Nashville, Kennesaw and GA. From the Receiving Facilities, the mercury-containing lamps are transported by SRT to its Johnson City Processing Facility where they are processed for mercury recovery. Other hazardous recyclables are stored and accumulated (e.g., into more economically sized shipments), and subsequently shipped off-site to other legitimate reclaimers and recyclers. These material flow operations are graphically depicted in Figure I.

SRT accepts and manages only materials for which legitimate recycling technologies and markets exist, and is helping in the development of these technologies and markets. SRT maintains records of each shipment of recyclable materials that are received, processed, and sent off-site, and can readily 'track' a customer's recyclables via a unique Bill of Lading number.Ancillary services provided by SRT include transportation services and technical assistance. SRT is a Tennessee-permitted hazardous waste transporter and has trucks and trained drivers that can pick up properly packaged recyclables from its customers and transport them to its facilities in Memphis and/or Johnson City. SRT can assist its customers in understanding their regulatory responsibilities relating to their recyclable universal wastes, in identifying and obtaining proper packaging for the recyclable materials, and in properly marking and labeling such packages for transport.

SRT is committed to protecting its customers from the liabilities of potentially improper management of the recyclable materials it handles, and its employees from the physical and chemical hazards that may be associated with such materials. It is SRT's goal to maintain an excellent working relationship with the Tennessee Division of Solid Waste Management and other environmental regulatory agencies with jurisdiction - their guidance is welcome and their assistance is frequently sought. As an added protection to its customers from accidents and errors that might be made, SRT maintains up to $5,000,000 in liability insurance coverage. To protect its employees and its neighbors, SRT has developed and implements a Health and Safety Plan and a Contingency Plan.By counting on the Southeast Recycling Technologies solution, businesses can comply with EPA's and TDSWM regulations, SRT can help you eliminate a company liability while ensuring hazardous and toxic contaminants do not reach our landfills.

SRT Processing Facility

The SRT Processing Facility, located at 906 Chase Drive in Johnson City, Tennessee is the centerpiece of SRT's mercury-containing bulb processing operations. This facility operates as a universal waste 'Destination Facility' for treatment of mercury-containing lamps, but no storage of such recyclables occurs. Daily loads of lamps are received from the SRT Johnson City Receiving Facility and crushed in a specially designed, totally enclosed machine. The special crushing machine, which has been in operation since 1996, produces three separate, recyclable component byproducts: phosphor powder, crushed glass, and metal scrap. The phosphor powder is directly fed from the lamp crusher into an integrated mercury retort furnace where 99+% of the mercury is removed from the powder and recovered as elemental mercury. The recovered mercury is sold for triple distillation and reused on the mercury market. The treated phosphor powder (basically calcium phosphate), along with the crushed glass and scrap metal byproducts of crushing, are not contaminated by mercury at levels of regulatory concern. All three of these material streams are also recycled. The treated phosphor powder is transported to a local manufacturer of concrete products for use as aggregate, the crushed glass is transported to a local asphalt plant for use as asphalt aggregate, and the scrap metal (e.g., aluminum ends) are transported to a local metals reclamation facility for recycling.

Recyclable Materials Handled 

• Discarded Mercury-Containing Lamps (or “MCL”) – These include bulbs and tubs containing mercury from fluorescent, mercury vapor, metal halide, high pressure sodium, high-intensity discharge, neon, and other electric lights. Most mercury-containing lamps exhibit the hazardous waste Toxicity Characteristic for mercury and are classified as universal waste” mercury-containing lamps. Mercury- containing lamps may be received and handled in either whole or crushed form.
• Discarded Mercury-Containing Equipment (or ‘MCE”) – This includes devices other than lamps and batteries (e.g, thermostats, manometers, barometers, flow meters, mercury light switches, mercury regulators, pressure relief gauges, water treatment gauges, gas safety relays), or the parts (e.g., ampules) of such devices, that contain elemental mercury integral to its function. Such mercury-containing equipment will typically exhibit the hazardous waste Toxicity Characteristic for mercury and will be classified as “universal waste” mercury-containing equipment.
• Discarded Batteries – Typically dry cell batteries of household/commercial size, these may be of any chemical type. Batteries which exhibit the hazardous waste Toxicity and/or Corrosivity Characteristics (which describe almost all batteries to be received by the facility) are classified as “universal waste.
• Discarded Electrical Lighting Ballast – These may or may not contain PCBs, and are typically not regulated as either hazardous wastes or PCB articles.
• Discarded Electronics – This includes computer and other electronic equipment or components thereof (e.g., monitors, CPUs, keyboards, printers, scanners, televisions, CD/DVD recorders, cathode ray tubes, circuit boards). Such equipment will frequently exhibit the hazardous waste Toxicity Characteristic for one or more metals (e.g., lead, chromium, cadmium, silver), and it is expected that electronics will eventually be classified and regulated as a universal waste by EPA and Tennessee. Currently, the TDSWM has by policy stated that electronics bound for recycling are commercial products and therefore not a solid waste or hazardous waste.