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| 11/22 |
| 2005/11/29-12/2 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:40765 Activity:low |
11/29 Hey MOTD, I have an idle curiosity question, but no time to research it
on my own:
Does anybody know if the typical recycling program in the us is run at
a loss or as a profitable venture? I'd guess that most are subsidized
at the municipal level, but I'm rather clueless about the whole thing.
Any info or links that a moron like myself could digest quickly would
be great. TIA. -mice
\_ http://www.perc.org/perc.php?subsection=6&id=179
Myth 7, table 2
\_ Hmm, seems like the writer has a definite agenda to push, but
there's alot of good information here. I'll have to read and
digest as time allows. Thanks for the link! -mice
\_ Saying the writer has an agenda is an understatement. The
source here is a far-right anti-environmental group.
\_ Saying someone has an agenda is easy and mostly worthless.
Showing better and different data is useful.
\_http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/recyinx.asp
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/resources/rei/studyresults.htm
etc.
\_ Ooh! More sources! Muchas gracias! -mice
\_ The biggest reason for subsidizing recycling is that it beats
the increased cost of filling new landfills farther and farther
away from the source.
\_ Myth 1
\_ Myth 1 & 4
\_ Myth 1 is not a myth: (from the nrdc link)
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/chap2.asp
Myth 4 is also addressed, although it really doesn't
need to be. Reading the screed is enough to debunk
the author's point. He has holes in his arguments against
recycling a mile wide.
The http://nrdc.org source is much better written and much
more persuasive. And I wasn't a fan of recycling prior
to this. I guess I should change my tune. -nivra
\_ Generally, municipal recycling programs combine some high-value
items (cans and bottles) with low-value items (mixed paper and
plastics). The programs could pay for themselves, except that
the high-value items are scammed by the shopping cart brigade.
-tom
\_ Reference?
\_ My employer's waste management company is BFI. During a meeting
with them back in March, "BFI pointed out that a successful
recycling program not only benefits the environment, but improves
<company>'s bottom line by significantly reducing trash removal
our company's bottom line by significantly reducing trash removal
costs." |
| 11/22 |
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| www.perc.org/perc.php?subsection=6&id=179 About the Author Summary Recycling has always been one way of dealing with waste products. Startin g about twenty years ago, however, a new viewpoint began to emergeone t hat placed recycling above traditional methods of waste disposal. Aroused by fear of a garbage crisis, and spurred on by the misleading sto ry of the garbage barge Mobro, Americansand others around the worldlos t their sense of perspective on rubbish. Public rhetoric was increasingl y dominated by claims that were either dubious or patently false. This essay, "Eight Great Myths of Recycling," by Daniel K Benjamin, expo ses the errors and falsehoods underlying the rhetoric. It clarifies the appropriate role of recycling, based on history and market relationships . About the Author Daniel K Benjamin is professor of economics at Clemson University and a senior associate of PERCthe Center for Free Market Environmentalismwhe re he heads PERC's graduate fellows program. He is a regular contributor to PERC Reports with his column "TangentsWhere Research and Policy Mee t" Benjamin's most recent book is The Economics of Public Issues (2003) , written with Roger Leroy Miller and Douglass C North. |
| www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/recyinx.asp In Depth: Report Too Good To Throw Away Recycling's Proven Record This is the full text and tables of NRDC's report on the benefits of recy cling. This report was published by the Natural Resources Defense Counci l in February 1997. |
| www.nrc-recycle.org/resources/rei/studyresults.htm Reuse Businesses Contribute Significantly Recycling and Reuse Add Value to the US Economy According to the study, the recycling and reuse industry consists of appr oximately 56,000 establishments that employ over 11 million people, gen erate an annual payroll of nearly $37 billion, and gross over $236 billi on in annual revenues. This represents a significant force in the US e conomy and makes a vital contribution to job creation and economic devel opment. Estimates of Direct Economic Activity Annual Payroll and Estimated Receipts are in $1,000. Click for the plain text version of this table Data Type Recycling Collection Recycling Processing Recycling Manufacturing Reuse and Remanufacturing Industry Total Establishments 9,247 12,051 8,047 26,716 56,061 Employment 32,010 160,865 759,746 169,183 1,121,804 Annual Payroll 956,875 3,826,360 29,181,749 2,747,498 36,712,482 Estimated Receipts 1,974,516 41,753,902 178,390,423 14,182,531 236,301,371 Estimated Throughput^1 191,082 191,082 157,545 N/A N/A ^1 Throughput is amount of recovered material recycled and includes manuf acturing scrap sent for recycling. It excludes materials prepared for fu el use and in-house process scrap returned to the manufacturing process. Throughput estimates are summed to avoid triple counting at collection, processing, and manufacturing stages. back to top Recycling is a Diverse Industry Recycling is an integrated system that starts with curbside collection of materials by municipalities, involves processing of recycled materials, and leads to manufacturing of new products with recycled content. The s tudy identified 26 different types of recycling organizations. The recyc ling sector includes long-established sectors like paper and steel makin g, as well as new entrepreneurial ventures such as composting and plasti c and rubber product manufacturers. Four major manufacturing industries account for over half of the economic activity of the recycling and reu se industry: * Recycled paper and paperboard mills, which employ 139,375 people and gross nearly $49 billion in estimated annual receipts; The recycling industry also includes companies that are quickly finding a market niche, including computer demanufacturing, organics composters, and plastic lumber manufacturers. back to top Recycling is Competitive with Other Major Industries As a driver of economic activity, the recycling industry compares favorab ly to other key industries, such as automobile manufacturing and mining. Especially significant is the finding that recycling far outpaces the w aste management industry because recycling adds value to materials, cont ributing to a growing labor force. Recycling also provides a large numbe r of jobs that generally pay above the average national wage. back to top Local Recycling and Reuse Spur "Downstream" Economic Impacts Investment in local recycling collection and processing, as well as stron g government policies, spurs significant private sector investment in re cycling manufacturing and promotes economic growth. The study tallied th is "indirect" impact of recycling on support industries, such as account ing firms and office supply companies, for a total of 14 million jobs s upported by the recycling and reuse industry. These jobs have a payroll of $52 billion and produce $173 billion in receipts. Spending by employees of the recycling and reuse industry also contribute s indirectly and adds another 15 million jobs with a payroll of $41 bil lion and produces receipts of $146 billion. back to top Reuse Businesses Contribute Significantly The reuse industry is widespread and ranges from more traditional establi shments such as local thrift stores and antique shops to more recent, dy namic operations such as computer demanufacturers, pallet rebuilders, an d materials exchanges. As a whole, the reuse industry employs nearly 170 ,000 workers in more than 26,000 establishments nationwide. |
| www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/chap2.asp Top of Report Chapter 2 The Downstream Benefits: Decreasing Garbage and the Need for Landfill Space LANDFILLS' TOXIC IMPACTS The most obvious and well-known advantage of recycling is that it leads t o less garbage being buried in landfills, and environmental problems are the major reason more than 10,000 landfills have closed in the United S tates in the past fifteen years. Among the listed Superfund sites, the n ation's most hazardous and contaminated locations, more than 20 percent are former municipal landfills. The Reason Foundation dismisses concerns about the environmental impacts of landfills by claiming that "properly sited and operated, landfills pose little threat either to hum an health or to the environment." here's little reason to worry about mode rn landfills, which by federal law must be lined with clay and plastic, equipped with drainage and gas-collection systems, covered daily with soil and monitored regularly for underground leaks. The Facts Landfills are neither simple, cheap nor environmentally safe. L andfills generate hazardous and uncontrolled air emissions and also thre aten surface and groundwater supplies. Landfills have contaminated aquif er drinking water supplies, wetlands, and streams throughout the United States -- indeed, throughout the world -- and many continue to do so. As detailed below, the list of toxic and hazardous chemicals emitted as ga s or leaching as liquid from literally thousands of landfills defines a waste management option with wide-ranging pollution impacts. Among these documented pollutants are cyanide, dioxins, mercury, volatile organic c ompounds, methane and non-methane organic compounds, greenhouse gases, h ydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, lead, and many others. Hazardous Air Emissions In March 1996, less than four months before the Times published John Tier ney's pro-landfilling tract "Recycling Is Garbage," the EPA published a regulation, based on years of research, that determined that currently o perating "municipal solid waste landfills cause, or contribute significa ntly to, pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." The EPA regulation certified that public h ealth threats caused by currently operating landfills include documented emissions of "known carcinogens"; it also noted "many documented cases of acute injury and death caused by fires and explosions related to muni cipal landfill gas" which occur "both on and off-site." Specifi c air pollutants listed by the EPA as a concern from currently operating landfills include volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, methane, odorous compounds, and more than a hundred non-methane organic compounds, including known and suspected carcinogens such as toluene, b enzene, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, vinyl chloride, trichloroethyl ene, and methylene dichloride, to name just a few. Landfill gas emissions include high concentrations of methane, which is produced whe n recyclable yard wastes, food wastes, and papers decompose in a landfil l In fact, US landfills are among the single greatest contributors of global methane emissions. Methane produced by landfills is characterize d by the EPA as "a major greenhouse gas... Controlling dangerous air pollutants produced by landfills is anything bu t "simple" and only about one-third to one-half of currently operating l andfills attempt to do so. Complicating matters, the long-term effectiveness of landfill caps -- which are supposed to prevent gas emis sions and leachate from landfills after they cease operation -- is unkno wn. Summarizing some of the facts pertaining to the use of landfill caps to control hazardous air emissions at landfills, the chairman of the Ne w York State Bar Association's Environment Committee stated: The long-term integrity of landfill caps is in serious doubt. A few state environmental agencies have req uired the creation of perpetual care funds, but most states are content with only 20 or 30 years of post-closure care or monitoring. Despite the confidence antirecycling interests have in the construction d esign of landfills, debate certainly still exists about how to best desi gn landfill caps to control hazardous air emissions. Although compacted clay has to date been the technology of choice for capping landfills, it s long-term integrity is in doubt, and other types of capping are underg oing review as a potential replacement technology for clay caps. Consequently, geosynthetic a lternatives to compacted clay are being promoted as a better landfill ca p technology. However, the integrity of these alternatives is also uncer tain and still being reviewed. Hazardous air emissions from landfills ar e far from "safe" and far from effectively controlled. Water Pollution It also is not "simple" to protect against the surface water runoff or gr oundwater pollution that landfills typically produce. Despite assurances to the contrary by the Reason Foundation and John Tierney, two-thirds o f currently operating landfills do not have synthetic liners and groundw ater-monitoring technology. nly 960 of the nation's 2,931 active dumps have synthetic liner syste ms. The liner installation shortfall arose as the EPA delegated to states th e implementation of dump rules, and allowed the states to exempt many d isposal facilities from any synthetic-liner requirement. This shows how even a simple environmental safeguard -- itself far from an absolute protection against fouling groundwater -- ends up being wat ered down as the EPA, states, local government and the waste industry a ll get involved in the implementation of federal rules. The broad range of exemptions from landfill liner requirements make it im possible to claim, as antirecycling interests do, that currently operati ng landfills do not threaten surface water and groundwater. Another impo rtant reason so few landfills are effectively lined is that "today's str ingent regulations" for landfill liners and groundwater monitoring refer red to in "Recycling Is Garbage" do not come fully into force under US federal law until October 9, 1997. And beyond these 800 exemptions, scores of other operating land fills will be exempt from the US federal rule governing landfills if t hey are located in EPA "approved states" or on Native American land. and which vary from the technical specifications the EPA requires "everywhere" else. Questions also remain about the environmental integrity of even those lan dfills that won't be exempt from the EPA's landfill rule. to have cheaper-than-real-c ost solid waste management that misleads the public into believing that today's landfills are managing their wastes in a technically valid, co st-effective manner. Groundwater monitoring and protection technologies that are supposed to r educe the dangers inherent in landfilling also face threats that might a rise during years of daily use. landfills have shown themselves to be s tructurally unstable, and have physically collapsed during filling acti vities. These collapses have typically occurred when the force of waste on the side of a slope exceeded the bearing strength of the slope, cau sing both the waste and the liner to slide down, ripping the containmen t layers and spreading garbage over a large area. The Kettleman Ci ty Landfill in California experienced a similar collapse in the late 19 80s. "A Disgrace To Any Civilized Society" No discussion of the false hope continued landfilling of wastes out for the nation, and New Yorkers in particular, is complete without a recogn ition of the problems New York City's dump -- the Fresh Kills landfill -- has created during the past fifty years, and continues to create: The city's Fresh Kills landfill is reportedly the world's largest. It st retches over western Staten Island for nearly 3,000 acres and it receiv es over 14,000 tons a day of residential and commercial refuse. It is h ome to roughly about a third of the total waste now being landfilled in New York State. The world's biggest landfill, however, has no state operating permit. Un controlled pollutants streaming into surrounding water is one reason. been observed snaking their ... |
| nrdc.org -> www.nrdc.org/ The Flip and Chilly Show tip of the day November 30, 2005 Inefficient home heating systems can waste 20 percent o r more of the energy they burn. Oil furnaces should be tested, cleaned a nd adjusted each year; |