CMRA board meeting plans responses to industry issues.

* Action on legislative and regulatory fronts was the main topic of discussion at the Construction Material Recycling Association's Board of Directors meeting.

The first point examined was the industry's response to the proposed railhaul waste transfer site in Wilmington, Mass., proposed by New England Transrail LLC. The facility has requested an exemption from state and local environmental laws under the broad-ranging federal powers over railroads held by the Surface Transportation Board. The CMRA was one of several organizations to back a petition to recognize the proposed facility as a waste operation, not a rail facility, as the company has claimed. The CMRA has contributed money and its voice to the fight against the plant, which detractors say would have an unfair advantage over all recycling facilities not only in Massachusetts, but in all of New England.

The board also discussed the proposed Web site www.concreterecycling.org. The CMRA owns the domain name and plans to develop this comprehensive site for all things recycled concrete throughout the next year. The CMRA operates two other affiliated Web sites. A Web site devoted to gypsum recycling was launched in November 2004 at www.drywallrecycling.org. The CMRA also operates a site that focuses on asphalt shingles located

at www.shinglerecycling.org.

The association also will work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the organization updates its C&D waste characterization study. The CMRA will help determine how much of the C&D waste stream is recycled.

The success of the CMRA's first awards program was discussed, as was how to improve it for 2006. In addition, the Annual Meeting sites for coming years were decided on: 2006 in Miami; 2007 in New Orleans and 2008 in either Las Vegas or somewhere else in the Western United States.