SAMPLE COP, SUBSCRIPJ!ON !JLANK IN~I[.I~ $1 .50- No Advertising Journal of Appropriate Technology Vol. V 1\10. 10 RAIN August/September 1979 !hvtp~ 5~~6'-<z'/lt 7i7~ I
RAIN ACCESS I PLACE I The Canadian Alternative: Survival, Expeditions and Urban Change, W. W. Bunge and R. Bordessa, 1975, $9.00 from: Dept. of Geography Atkinson College, at York University Toronto, M3), 1P3, Ontario, CANADA This study starts modestly, stating its goal as the qUl:stion of the survival of mankind. A team of geographers spent thl: equivalent of 50 man/years studying the geography of Toronto-but not simply the physical geography. It is about the geography of the urban environment as a complex interaction between human values and needs; social communication networks, relationships between human-kind and machine-kind (technology), the human scape (physical city) and the natural geography/environment. The tone of the book is unusual. One gets the strange image of a team of geographers on an expedition through the wilderness of an urban environment, open-mindedly attempting to perceive the entire city as a complex hybrid of natural and social systems. The attempt to relate the careful observations of a micro-system (one urban area) to the problems of global survival is admirable. The impact is, on occasion, similar to "A Universe in Ten Leaps," forcing one to consider increasingly larger rclations and analogies. And probably the most exeiting aspect of the report to me, is the use of maps to illustrate the human/social and natural clements of an urban environment. Maps that illustrate subjective views of the cities' inhabitants; such things as maps of neighborhood friendliness, perceptions of money and power flows in the city as perceived by different networks and cultural groups. -S) .over the use and misuse of our national forests, focusing in particular on the effects of below-cost sales by the Forl:st Service that rob taxpayers, undercut privatI: timber growers, reduce employment in the Northwest, and hurt communities. It also explodes the myth of high timher prices forcing up housing costs that timber industry executives have heen using to justify raids on our remaining "overmature" forests. - TB LIVING Wood Conserving Stoves, $3.25 from: VITA 3706 Rhode Island Ave. Mt. Ranier, MD 20822 Detailed instruction for the construc tion of Lorena mudhrick cookstoves and for sawdust heating stoves, the former costing $10 and the latter $30 $60. Also contains a good bibliography on other low cost stoves using various fuds. -TB The Harrowsmith Reader, cd. by ) ames Lawrence, 287 pp., 1978, $12.50 from: Camden House Publishing Camden East Ontario, KOK 1)0 CANADA The best articles from the first 12 issues of I-Iarrowsmitb Magazine are in cluded in this beautifully illustrated hook. Information such as what it's like to live with a composting toilet, how to grow your own vegetables and nut trees, how to keep bees and goats, how to make hard cheeses and jams, what seaweeds are edible and how to pre pare them and much more are all in cluded in this easy reading book. If you are a fan of llarrowsmith Magazine or curious as to what kind of homestead ing activities are going on in Canada, this hook is a must. - YL KIDS'STUFF ~ ~ The Ghost ofSan Onofre, A COIOri1lg Book Tale, by BiJleddy, art by Mitsi Nelson-Hall, 10 pp., 1979, $1 from: Ocean Beach Community Free School I P.O. Box 7423 San Diego, CA 92107 If you arc looking for a gift to give to the child in your life, your search is over. This wondcrfullittle coloring "The End of the Wilderness", NRDC book is just the thing to give to someNewsletter, Sept.-Dec. 1978, from: one who wants to know about nuclear Natural Resources Defense Council pown and the San Onofre Nuclear Pow122 E. 42nd St. er Plant (located 60 miles south of L.A.) New York, NY 10017 but is too young to ask . Appealing to An outstanding history of the conflicts the child in all of us. (Thanks to w illiam Brct'l) - YL
RAIN RAIN's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, RAIN STAFF Phil Conti Pauline Deppen Yale Lansky Tad Mutersbaugh Del Greenfield Debra Whitelaw Layout Jill Stapleton CONTRIBUTORS Tom Bender Steven Ames Lane deMoll Steve Johnson Jeff Paine HOW YOU SAVE AS AN OWNER-BUILDER 58~o savIngs 65~o savings CONTRACTOR OWNER OWNER OWNER B(JtL T CONTRACTED fiNISHED BOILT The Owner-Builder Center 1824 Fourth St. Berkeley, CA 94710 ~ BUILDING I 415/848-5950 This group was highly recommended by Owner-Builders Since the Learning By Doing access Mary Schmidt of the Farallones Instiarticlc (May 1979 RAIN) we have tute. Night courses are offered in remodcling, housebuilding and design. lcarn<.;d of other organizations which help individuals build or renovate their A three summer course in energyefficient house building combines houses. hands-on and classroom. In addition to B. Allan Mackie School of Log Building classes, consulting services are available to assist individual owner-builders. and Environmental Center -PC Box 1205 Prince George, BC, V2L 4V3 Plumbing, Time-Life Books, 1976, CANADA $7.95 from: 604/964-6935 Time-Life Books Instruction and hands-on work in log Time-Life Bldg h<,>use construction skills including Rockefeller Center structure of wood, considerations af New York, NY 10020 fecting wllod usc, rimhl'r acquisition We'll probably never find a book that and timber joinery. Participants should docs for plumbing what Richter's provide their own tools. Sessions are Wiring Simplified does for clectrical 8 weeks long. Next class starts October work- tell what and why as well as 8. Write for registration materials. how. The variability of plumbing codes makes that unlikely, though every state or municipality should have a simplified Northern Owner Builder homeowner's code guide. Given all that, Rd. 1 this is by far the best plumbing book Plainfield, VT 05667 I've seen. It contains a wealth of "tricks 8021454-7808 of the trade" for emergency pipe repairs, A resource center offering courses and etc., as well as very clear and detailed workshops on designing your own instructions for adding on to existing house, solar heating, greenhouses and systems, installing new piping, repairing renovating older houses. Emphasis is fixtures and fixing leaks and clogs. on energy conservation, design-forEven how to build a greywater seepage climate reducing building costs and a pit! Along with a lot of "why" things variety of construction methods. happen. Surprisingly good. - TB Courses arc given in the spring and fall. 35~o 72% savings a OWNER B(JtLT RECYCLED MATERIALS CODE NON-CODE Insulation Manual-Homes, Apartments, second edition, 1979, 148 pp., $10.00 from: NAHB Research Foundation 627 Southlawn Lane P.O. Box 1627 ? This book, produced by an organization which conducts technological research and dcvelopment for government and industry, contains a wealth of detailed information on insulation. Topics cov' ered include the installation, use, economics and benefits of insulation, structural matcrials, and vapor barriers. Numerous tables and charts offer all the facts you will ever need for increasing your home's energy efficiency. - JP Earth Sheltered Housing Design, Underground Space Center, University of Minnesota, 1979, $9.95 from: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 135 W. 50th St. New York, NY 10020 If you're into becoming a mole, this should go on your shclf right next to Malcolm Wells' Undergroul1d Designs. A good coverage of energy. structural, waterproofing, insulation and policy issues of underground housing, along with case studies of cold and warm climate underground houses, details on energy calculations, and an extensive bibliography. Its approach is downstream engineering (because walls may sweat, add a dehumidifier-instead of rethinking the design so they won't sweat), but solid and thorough. Good discussion of alternative designing for heat loss/gain/balancing with surrounding earth. Focused on Minnesota, but valuable anywhere. -TB Portland, OR 97210. Ph: (503) 227-5110. Copyright © 1979 RAIN Umbrella Inc. Printing: Times LithO Typesetting: Irish Setter
4 RAIN August TurningWaste by Dan Knapp and Steven Ames Part II. How It Could Happen All the while, as our output of solid waste in thiS country multiplies and available landfills fill up, local communities are being encourage.d by waste planners and equipment manu· facturers to invest their credit in high-tech, high-capital "solutions" that promise to shred or burn s()lid waste out of existence. Some localities, compelled by the logic of doing more than simply burying waste, havc taken such steps, Yet we're quickly learning that tbese centralll.ed approaches to waste management often involve unproven technologies, questionable economics and unknown health risks. In treating waste so inflexibly, the high-tech people continue to draw community-based alternatives out of the equationfrom sophisticated biological nutrient recycling systems, to practical source separation strategies, to the baseline possibilities for vastly reducing waStes generated in the home. Left only to the realm of experts, our communities, neighborhoods and individuals themselves may never find the chance to prove they can make the difference. It's us that is our own best hope. Eugene Comes On Line Looking at Eugene, Oregon, is a good case in point. I have been involved in this community's own unique responses to the waste imperative in the la~t few years, and have observed closely the experimentation and rapid development that has occurred in its various recycling systems-each evolving to fill a particular niche and everyone changing with new conditions and possibilities. As awarenesS here continues to grow that the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle maxim IS not only a matter of pu blic ecology, bu t an energy-saving, job-producing alternative for turning waste into wealth and local self-reliance, it's probable that newer recycling microeconomics will be brought on line, broadening this community's capacity to deal effectively with its waste. Here are some of the organizations now active in the area of solid waste that are starting to nudge Eugene towards sustainability; • BRING (Bring Rec_vcling in Neighborhood Groups). Still a good idea, BRING is tht· oldest of the post-Earth Day 1969 organizations which involves a drop-off collection system and processing center for handling rccydable post-con' sumer wastes. In 1979 BRING translates into a string of neigh· borhood locat.ions- usually schools-which arc visited by a truck (the BRING·mobile) on a scheduled basis to pick up bottles. flattened cans and cardboard and aluminum. BRING also receives recyd ables at the Glenwood Solid Waste Center (site of Lane County's downed garbage grinder) which. with the help of the BRING-mobile, are further processed at the _ ..,....._ BRiNG headquarters and warehouse. BRING IS a non-profit
into Wealth Here 's part two of our exploration on Turning Waste Into Wealth, fresh with insights from Dan Knapp and many others for beginning to organize a recycling economy on the community level, thoughts on the importance ofsolid waste "highgrading, " some encouraging access items on solid waste research and activism, and letters on waste from environmental advocates and Class One firchers. A potpourri that may make you feel as hopeful as last month's installment made you feel hopeless. The difference is important. A correction of note: a paragraph ofpart one of this article was inadvertently misplaced during layout and may have caused some confusion. The top point-item in the right hand column on page 11 ("one great advantage . . . ") should have been the final point-item in the right hand column on page 13. Also, the first two paragraphs of Effective Recycling Behavior were mistakenly reversed. Our apologies both to Dan and you readers! -SA RAIN Page 5 corporation partially subsidized by county monies and occasional CETA funds. It handles a largc volume of recyclables but has also given rise to other recycling o perations that have perceived new areas of need and new markets to be developed. • The Glass Statiun is one of those operations: a non-profit corporation speciahzing in the retailing of reusable glass containers- those not covered by Oregon's Bottle Bill. It is amazing how good bottles look with their labcls off and cleaned- by grouping them together attractive sets can be collected for any number of uses. A productive spin-off for the Glass Station has been to supply glass containers to co-ops and bulk food stores, which in turn re-sell the containers to customers as a convenience item. Such an operation illustrates perfectly the advantages of a value-added approach to re-usc : the materials handled by the Glass Station arc worth minus twemy dollars a ton if processed through the county disposal apparatus, plus twenty dollars a ton when recycled and sold as cullet. and an average of five hundred dollars a ton whcn sold as reusable glass containers! Started 2·112 ycars ago by veteran recycler Alice Soderwall, the Glass Station utilizes a combination of paid and volunteer labor. With similar dforts it's certain that the value-added approach to reuse could be: extended to any number of sectors-recycled dimension-cut lumber being a good example. • Garbagius, not an outlet for Italian junk food, but a consumer-owned, worker-run garbage collection company is licensed with the city (Eugene has no municipal collection system) to pick up suurce-separated recyclables along with mixed garbage on a scheduled basis. Thc company charges the regulated fee for collection and sells the recyclables. Garbagios started as a very small projcct WIth two people. a small electric truck and forty customers, mainly environmentally-concerned people who wanted curb service as an alternative to drop-off recycling. Their recent promotional campaigns have been successful in generating rapid growth in customer demand for these servit'es: only 1-1/2 years since its inception, Garbagios has over 400 customers on five routes. A new addition this year is a larger truck with a custom-built bed having several built-in bins. Garbagios' experience is beginning to suggest that the economics is there for recycling-oriented companies to get into the hauling of commercial wastes as well. • In addition to such new groups and new ideas are the more traditional approaches to reuse and recycling, Guodwill, the Eugene Mission and St. Vincent de Paul . all effective recycling organizations which have operated in Eugene for many years. Goodwill and St. Vincent specialize in reusable household goods, repairable appliances and clothing, while the Mission collects and markets an estimated 60 percent of the metro area '5 newsprint. All three use drop-off bins of varying design located in neighborhoods and shopping centers. Meanwhile. Eagle Recycling, a specialized paper recycling company, provides reorganized collection systems for recovery of high-grade office papers. • With a diversified recycling economy growing, it's not surprising that recycli ng systems have started to mesh with public behavior and attitudes. Take the Oregun Country Fair. for example, a large, Eugene-based outdoor event which sponsors a varied marketplace lasting many days in a rural location. When its rapidly increasing volume of mixed wastes became a difficult collection and disposal problem. the fair staff reorganized its collection system-with the help of BRING- to provide for source-separation. Wastes were voluntarily separated by disposees into three categories: organics, bottles and cans, and mixed wastes (paper plates, utensils, etc.). Interestingly. the volume of mixed wastes generated dropped off drastically-a good reflection of Effective Recycling Behavior as practiced by the public when given a rational collection system. In addition, materials handling by workers has been greatly simplified. It's a very popular syst~'m . • As its experiences with local self-reliance increases, Eugene has also seen the creation of small consulting groups such as Oregun /lppropriflte Techllo/ugy. which generally aim to further that transition. In addition to its other activities, OAT offers design services to communities and businesses wishing to initiate solid waste "highgrading" as a means of stimulating employment and generating large volumes of clean materials for reuse or resale. OAT also recently became involved in the design of collection systems that would feed into drop-off strategies such as those employed by BR ING. Important back-up services for these alternatives are provided by groups likl:! Lane Economic Development Council and Blackl)erry Services, which can advise ()n incorporation,
--- --- Page 6 RAIN August/September 1979 CONT. business organitlation, capitalization, grants and so forth . • And then there are the myriad repair shops sprinkled around the community, the free boxes, the quilters, stashers, composters, firewood cutters, house recyclers, junk artists, reuse dreamers-normal materialists with a different passion -people who get into the material before it gets into the solid waste stream, and as such do us all a great service Theirs is the baseline of a larger recycling economy-behavior that needs to be encouraged. Opportunities To Be Had And there you have a feeling for one community's positive responses to our waste dilemma. Not the complete picture by any means, but a strong gauge of the capacity for people to start turning a crisis around in their favor with common sense and good work. What lies ahead will be conditioned by how quickly Effective Recycling Behavior becomes the conventional wisdom-including alternative demonstration systems on line-and how thoroughly the high-tech options are exposed for their inefficiency and inherent dangers. Somewhere in between, public officials and waste planners have a lot to learn-and to change. Current arrangements are set up to frustrate and contain labor-intensive recycling. Mainstream plans, if implemented to completion, will lock up more and more capital and human energies into unprofitable, unworkable "resource recovery" machines that try to get a little electricity or steam hype from mixed wastes prior to "disposal." And don't forget the machines to clean up or compensate for the damages done by the primary processor units-the dectro-static precipitators, sludge dryers, air and water filtration units. All drink lots of energy. Subsidies that allow garbage generators and collectors to make big profits off an energy and economic deficit sector should be ended in favor of source separation to permit recyclables to be marketed at a favorable price. This would defray rapidly rising collection costs and free budgets from the "albatross effect" of waste disposal subsidies going to garbage "interests." Small-scale recycling can thus be encouraged, capitalized, liberated. It would help, too, if' we would view action in this sector as a type of production. Materials saved are materials earned; that is, they are a potential feedstock for a potential production system. Direct sale for reuse is only one of the possibilities for marketing recovered materials. Materials may also be used directly in the production of entirely new goods, adding value and justifying a greater reward for imagination, creativity and work. As it stands, our system is organized to waste these materials and opportunities. But they are there to be had. Comprehensive Neighborhood-Based Recycling: An Outline It is such opportunities that myself and several others had in mind when we came together for a brainstorming session on neighborhood-based recycling systems not long ago. Our task was to plan a work program to get down to mobilizmg Effective Recycling Behavior for an entire urban neighborhood, including the business and commercial sectors. People present RESOURCES ----~- We wouldn't want to leave you without any place to go for further information in following up this article, so here are some of the reports and resources that have come to our attention recently. For another excellent overview go back and read Denis Hayes' Repairs, Reuse and Recycling (RAIN, Nov. '78), which seems to be highly recommended by the people that know. For those ofyou wishing to correspond with Dan Knapp, he can be reached at Oregon Appropriate Technology, P.O. Box 1525, Eugene, Oregon 97440. -SA Garbage-to-Energy, The False Panacea, by Santa Rosa Recycling Center, $3.00 from: Santa Rosa Recycling Cen rer P.O. Box 1375 Santa Rosa, CA 95401 A detailed complement to our July installment on garbage high-tech, The False Panacea comes on strong, contending that garbage-to-energy strategies are being pushed onto line before environmentally and economically more appropriate technologies (reduction, reuse and re'cycling of wastes) have been given a chance to prove themselves. Burning garbage for energy, in fact, will most likely curtail further efforts to implement more effective solid waSfe practises and actually reduce the incentives to decrease our already staggering generation of solid wastes. The report is rich iOn facts: • Because garbage conversion plants . require guaranteed supplies of waste, municipalities hosting them are contractually subject to penalties for not delivering their garbage quota, and to contract renegotiation if a change in the composition of their trash occurs. Plant promoters are known to lobby against source-reduction legislation such as bottle bills in order to protect their fuel sources and profits. • The six burn plants proposed in California will employ 30-50 workers each at an average capital investment of $1. 8 million per job. Source-separation collection and processing systems, on the other hand, can support one job for every $10,000 in capital investment. • Ash residues from plants which burn refuse derived fuels are considered Class I hazardous wastes in California, and must be trucked to special landfills which control leachate ... Undersco~ing all this, Panacea says, the "production" of energy by burn plants is deceptive, because more energy can be saved at lower cost by waste reduction and source separation. Institutional factors and industrial vested interests, on the other hand, are whai: is hampering the reuse of currently wasted materials. A strong commitment by municipalities to recycling, waste reduction and source separation can force changes in government policies - depletion allowances, discriminatory freight rates, etc. - that continue to undermine healthy markets for the secondary materials a recycling economy would produce. Very good research from Tania Lipshutz and her associates. Resource Recovery Report for Kent County Michigan: Executive Summary, by Institute for Local Self-Reliance, February, 1979, Institute for Local SelfReliance 1717 18th St., N.W. Washington, DC 20009 This report looks like a "first" and should be picked upon by localities serious about considering the potential for solid-waste recycling on a community-wide scale. Commissioned by Kent County (Grand Rapids), Michigan, staff members of the Institute for Local Self Reliance have developed two variations on a comprehensive recycling system for that area, based on extensive work with the community and its principal actors in solid waste. Their report cites some special advantages in Kent County, including a generally receptive attitude toward recycling and a favorable balance of power among public and private interests, with no single authority dictating the terms of solid waste collection and disposal. In addition, the state of Michigan is notable for the recognition it gives to source separation in its laws and policies. After considering several
represented the organizations with the "hands on" experience to know what they are talking about when it comes to the appropriate handling of waste matcrials. The neighborhood in mind was Whiteaker, Eugene's oldest neighborhood, the city's historic and cultural center, and recently the recipient of a one-of-a-kind grant from the National Center for Appropriate Technology to plan for maximum neighborhood self-reliance. The plan is not mine alone, but.I have recorded it as it appears here; and while these are only objectives, they rcpresent the shape of things to come-if we get behind and push to sce that it happens. So don't be misled by its smallness, because it is capable of unfolding in all directions, as rapidly as we let it happen in our daily work. Now, here's what we'd like to do: • Conduct a composition study and inventory, emphasizing waste audits for selected participating apartments, businesses or other large generators of wastes. This is a way of estimating the volumes and weights of recyclable "fractions" in the solid waste stream. • Based on results, and keyed to the quantities and qualities recorded, locate or otherwise develop feasible marketing strategies or other exchange functions. • Plan an educational and outreach campaign to increase public awareness and the practice of "source grouping" for recycling. • Research and design efficient and cost-effective collection systems to make source grouping easier and more acceptable than "disposal." Aim for diversity rather than uniformity. • Research and design materials transfer and storage systems appropriate to the quantity and quality of source-grouped August/September 1979 RAIN Page7 materials recovered and discovered. An example, if using drop boxes, would be to construct liners or bins with handles which could be lifted out by a portable crane. • Strengthen and work through existing local and laborintensive recycling organizations. • Include local young people by designing special attractions for them, including income opportunities. The same for older people, with the added proviso that their knowledge and skiU be respected and encouraged. Let them be our teachers. • Research and design central processing center(s) to facilitate a value-added approach to materials recovery. Include tool system. • Identify and provide for segregation, cleaning, repair and marketing of reusable items. • Stimulate secondary employment impacts by keeping materials organized and attractive, and by marketing in the neighborhood. • Keep accurate records. Generate good working statistics. • Develop strategic and necessary skills among project people: for example, lumber grading, metals cleaning and processing, marketing and bookkeeping. • Encourage source reduction for undesirable, hard-torecycle items. Encourage consumers to buy in bulk to eliminate excess packaging, etc. • Provide information on program accomplishments to public decision-making bodies so that more effective decisions can be made on what to do with currently wasted resources. • Think integratively and functionally, using the above goals to inform and direct daily actions. Planning, action, implementation and evaluation will happen continuously in each sector of involvement. -DK recycling approaches, including drop-off centers that use a buy-back system, a variety of curbside alternatives, hand sorting from mixed waste loads, and Grand Rapids own bag/tag system, ILSR recommended two approaches to Kent County, both emphasizing residential source separation of trash followed by diverse end-uses including materials recovery, composting and landfilling. Refuse derived fuel is included as one end-product, although not calculated for potential revenues as it remains an underdeveloped market. The Kent County report includes . projections of annual costs and revenues for both plans, as well as a four-year implementation plan. A good outline and proposal well worth your checking ou t. Garbage-to-Energy Packet, Waste Utili zation State of the Art Series, from: Institute for Local Self-Reliance 1717 18th St., N.W. Washington. DC 20009 Here's another valuable resource on the garbage-to-energy imbroglio - this one a compilation of letters and testimonies directed at federal bureaucrats and agencies - logged by Neil Seidman of the Institute for Local Self Reliance. Together these corresponJences form an extensive summary of the Institute's position that such plants are economically and environmentally unsound, with plenty of documentation to encourage people to push for source separation and the recycling of wastes. Very thorough and useful. Resource Conservation Consultants 1615 N.W. 23rd Ave., Suite One Portland, OR 97210 5031227-1319 A small consulting group with roots in the recycling movement of the last ten years, Resourcc Conservation Consultants has first-hand experiencc in a range of waste issues, from working closely with Portland Recycling Team, the nation's largest recycling drop-off system, to consulting with Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality. In the process, RCC has developed a series of briefs and short papers that would be helpful to community groups and waste activists. Here are a few: . • "Energy Savings from the Recycling of Selected Waste Materials" (S2.00) is a compilation of available literature with calculations for 23 recyclable materials which gives quick access to their relative recycling merits in energetic terms. Aluminum, for example, has a high estimated energy savings of 97 percent with secondary use, while glass- are you ready?- has a low estimate of 8 percent savings. That's one reason why gla.ss is better reused than recycled to make new glass. Rubber, on the other hand, is clocked in at 70 percent. .·"Compatibility of Recycling and Energy Recovery from Wastes" (S2.00) offers a worthwhile counterpoint to our own articles in the hot debate over garbage-co-energy strategies. In essence. this RCC paper concludes that a combination of recycling and energy recovcry offers the greatest resource and c:nergy savings, with the critical issue revolving around the scale of operation required for energy n:covery strategies to succeed. It's not a complete analysis by any means, and has little referencc to the actual cost/bencfit consideration of burning refuse derived fuels-such as toxic emissions. Nonetheless, this paper represents an important dialogue. R~ cyclers inclined to believe that burn strategies will actually pre-empt the development of an effective recycling cconomy need to come to grips with its arguments. Recommended in that capacity. • " Waste Exchanges: A Waste Recovery Information Tool" (S1.50) is a concept paper discussing a relatively new phenomenon- the transfer and re-use of waste products not usable by a "generating" business but economicaUy feasible for use by another industrial firm . Waste exchanges, simply, arc a method for facilttating that transfer-whether acting as an infomlation clearinghouse or an actual materials exCONT.
--- Page 8 RAIN August/September 1979 -----,---- ---.. ------- Resources - cant. change. Any number of materials could be considered for such transfer-acids and alkalis, chemicals and solvents, metals, minerals, oils and waxes, paper, food, plastics, rubber, textiles, leather and morc. Waste exchanges hold a great potential for diverting large amounts of materials from the solid waste stream while saving significant amounts of energy. Only begun in Europe in the early '70s, they an: still new to the U.S., with only 20 some operations functioning. This short report reviews the current status of exchanges and speculates on how their organization and structure will develop, and what kinds of impact that can have on the solid waste situation and our economy. RCC has several other papers covering a wide range of recycling interestsfrom how to build a simple baling frame for newspaper recycling efforts, to designing a safety program for recycling operations, to a guide for waste haulers on the 1978 recycling equipmcnt investment tax credit. Write for thcir publications list. Recycling-How to Reuse Wastes in Home, Industry and Society, Jerome Goldstein, 1979, $6.95 from : Schocken Books 200 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Economic Feasibility of Recycling, Neil Seldman, 1978, 54.00 from: Institute for Local Self Reliance 1717 18th Street N.W. Washington, DC 20009 Two excellent resources on recycling. Goldstein's book contains a number of case studies of successful grassroots programs-from individuals who have figured out how to live well without garbagc service, how to do suecessful home recycl ing, volunteer and profitmaking recycling centcrs, composting, eliminating waste, conversion of sewage sludge to fertilizer, .industrial recycling, etc. The photographs give a good sense of the realities of the various systems, and a detailed appendix gives sources for equipment. Sc1dman's paper is a solid, data-filled study of the economics of recycling enterprises and the potentials for their contribution to local economic development. Together these two repons give an exciting sense of the progress recycling has made over the last few years and how well it has proven a wise and viable direction , given fair local, state and national policies. Just remember-every beverage bottle we discard wastes enough energy to burn a 100-watt bulb for 5 hours. (- TB) Highgrading Metals Dan Knapp, Tom Brandt and Don Corson first explored the concept of highgrading for RAIN in their expose of high-tech resource recovery systems last November. Based on their personal experience with a short-lived but successful project at Lane County's Glenwood Solid Waste Center, they were able to conclude that labor-intensive hand-sorting of valuable metals from the solid waste stream-or more simply, highgrading of metals-had a great potential to reduce waste, save energy and produce income for local communities. Annualized projections from their demonstration project-which affected perhaps only one-fifth of the circa 600 tons per day solid waste generated by a metropolitan area of 250,000indicated that they could salvage 73 tons of four elemental and alloy metals with only two workers and almost no energy or capital investment. Obviously, if well-organized, a community-wide approach to labor intensive highgrading could produce much more tonnage. This prompted several questions: Rather than re-selling these materials back to prime producers at cut-rate prices, what local end-uses could be found for this steady stream of aluminum, cast iron and steel, and to a lesser extent copper and brass? What small scale craft or industrial processes could refabricate or otherwise add further value to this local resource? One valuable response to these questions came in from a California man with extensive insights into the value of waste and its importance to environmental education. (See below.) Other suggestions have revolved around providing metals to furthcr the transition away from fossil fuels-for the construction of aluminum bicycle trailers and solar collectors, for Salvaging at the Darby Dump Dear RAIN : The article on waste into wealth is great. Here's a little tidbit of good newS: the Darby Sanitary Landfill. In the summer the dump serves 2-3,000 people. Equipment consists of one 0-8 Cat which is used about twice a month. There are four basic areas for dumping: the garbage pit, the hay pile, the wood pile and the goody pile. Lately (I conk ss) I haven't been looking in the garbage pit. I brought home a "cord" and a half of hay and straw forthe garden this sprLng. From the wood pile I've brought home a planter (a window box with beans and flowers in it thIS summer), creosote . timbers, a pickup tool box, dimensional lumber, etc. Unlike the guy in the article, I've scored repeatedly from peoplctheir pickup to mine. The olll couple who run this place encourage filching, which brings us to the goody pile. Everything metal goes into this area. Elvira once made me search the garbage pile for a small piece of wire ; " Gets caught in the Cat tracks," says she. The chair that I'm sitting on came from the goody pile, as did tWO downstairs. I usually bring home more than I take- wire, tin, roofing, a woodstove grate intact, junk, etc., more erc. I once was about to install an d cerric range (scored elsewhere) but couldn't rationalize that much juice. I took it to the goody pile and within two weeks someone had claimed it. One time I traded the s<::at in my 1950 pickup for another one-on the spot. I've met som~ nice pcnpic searching throu'gh the pile. C.E. (Chuckles) Mabbott Darby, Montana
and some molds made out of various pieces of scrap. Using a blow into its action and thought process. example. Exploring such concepts, one begins to get a feeling for the web of issues-energy conservation, waste reduction, economic development, etc.-that come together in taking just one fundamentally sound idea like highgrading and pushing it in the direction of a desirable end-use. Highgrading, as Tom Brandt would say, is the frontier of recycling. Best set up on the lip of a transfer pit, it requires a whole different processing and marketing system. In principle, it is a low volumelhigh return strategy that produces greater economic leverage than those forms of recycling that process post consumer wastes-paper, bottles, cans. Integrated into a comprehensive recycling system, highgrading can help provide the front monies to augment high volume recycling ,operations that are necessary but less productive. Highgrading is a key to moving recycling out of the era of subsidization and into that of self-reliance. -SA Dear Dan, Tom and Don, I've read your article "Mine the Trash Cans- Not the Land" the rcquin:d three times. plus marking it up extensively, and it really is great that you ran on,e phase of recycling through "the high grading concept." , .. Attached are a few suggestions in answer to your inquiry about "volumes of high grade materials," I hope they arc of some interest to you .. , Cord ially. Al Hapke Somerset, California For about two and a half years I lived in Matancitas, Mexico ... where there is a $4 million sardine cannery. In connection with this operation, they of course had a weU-equipped machine shop, and out back they had over the years built up a big pile of scrap. One day I noticed that there was an itinerant smelter, a guy who knew a lot about metals, working around some holes in the ground We've Got to Start with Source Reduction Dear Ste\'e and Dan, Environm entalists may place all their hope and money on eparating ami recycling as the answers to the garbage crisis .. . but years of behavior patterns centered around beliefs in unlimited resources and a throwaway mentality, laced with a lack of government support, make institutionalizing recyclingeven an effective neighborhood depot system- a long hard batde. Looking at the options and solutions, I conclude that no single method can provide a simple answer to ou r waste problem. Combining different approaches will form a more comprehensive solid waste strategy. Mother Nature never said we had to lay all our bets on on!" solution! There is one strategy which does get very close to the winning number. It doesn't involve a gamble on government and IIldustry to get their acts together. It'is centered around the real issue: not how to get rid of all the garbage we are producing, but reducing it before it entt:rs rhc solid waste stream. Source Reductlon. Evcry product comlflg into our homes, busincsses and institu tions lcaves behind a waste stream. It is processed from raw materials through eaeh industrial step until it reaches the consumer. whcre all too often it is used for a short duration and then bccomcs waste itsdf. Consider alone:: that packaging makes up to 3-112 tons of every 10 ron August/September 1979 RAIN Page 9 torch and a hand rigged blast of heat, he was melting down the aluminum and copper and brass. Later he got around to making some of the iron pieces into pigs and bars. He used a couple of the young apprentices from the machine shop when he needed help, and the whole thing cost the plant practically nothing.... The products were then used by the machine shop to make nuts and bolts, repair parts for various machines and the sardine boats. Those guys can make a hair-spring out of an ordinary nail. The though't that comes to my mind is that there must be a number of machine shops and other metal fabricating shops in your area and maybe they could use some of the materials that you might smelt down out of local scrap, and you could also get their tail ends for increasing your volume of scrap. _. _ I don't know whether you have a person who knows about smelting of the back yard type, but from the information below, maybe you can find a Chinese resident who has worked in one of the operations in China and knows the trade.... Quoting from a book on Chinese economies! "In Wahun, a small blast furnace of 3.5 cubic meters, capable of producing 180 tons of steel per year employing 18 people in 3 shifts, cost only 200 yuan ($100) and was constructed by twelve people over 9 days in 1958. . . . A large number of small blast furnaces of capacity up to 100 cubic meters each, and a total capacity of 24,000 cubic meters, produced 50 percent of total pig iron output. and the quality was good. ... In your operation you distributed information asking people to set aside metal products. A related item that could wash both hands of metal segregation and much needed [education I is in the wrecker's yard and in the area of abandoned cars. People should know what makcs a car tick. ... Instead of having mechanics in the school room. set the student to work segregating metal for your smelting works and learning about generators, as an example. by segrcgating the copper out, etc.... These places are schools without doors. as the cxpression goes, and they are a prime source for metal separation. as well as mining the surplus created by a business environment that operates in a climate of planned obsolescence and waste. Your metal highgrading has the responsibility to encompass this obsolete car opportunity In the solid waste stream and is growing three times faster than the population. Creative consumption can help us do something now to curb thc costs to the cnvironmcnt and our pocketbooks. It means discriminate purchasing : bu ying bulk, refusing to buy items layered in plastic and styrofoam, avoiding itcms designed for onc-time usc, lookIng for long-life products, considering cloth napkllls, buying beer and beverages in returnabk bottks. Think about how items ean bt: reused. Encourage your local store to cooperate with environmental shopping awarencss, The whole appropriate technology movement is bcgging for involvement. The beauty of crt:ativc consumption is that cveryone can do ir now. No investment, no retrofitting, and very little research is nccessary to get started . , . just a conscious effort [(l help dam up the solid waste Stream that IS draining our pocketbook as well as the environment. Yours, Nandie Szabo Recycling Information, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality P.S. For some excellcnt ideas on how to push creative con sumption in your community. write to; Envi ronmental Shopping, 645 Madis()n Avt., 9lh floor, New York, NY 10022.
s ~ ':; t.:) e Q It A Guide to Cooperative Alternatives including a Directory ofIntentional Communities, Ed. by Paul Freundlich, Chris Collins, and Mikki Wenig, 1979, 184 pp., $5.95 from: Communities P.O. Box 426 Louisa, VA 23093 For those of you who enjoy directories and resource guides, here's another to add to your eollection. Paul Freundlich, Chris Collins and Mikki Wenig of Communities, Journal of Cooperative Livillg have pulll:d together information on groups, organizations, individuals and publications who are working in such arcas as community organizing, health and well being, food, energy and environment, education, decision making, etc. Not only do they provide the reader with information on the different groups, but they have a general overview on each area written by someone who is active in that ficJd. Also included in each section is an article writren on a particular group (usually written by someone in the group) which provides an even greater insight into the cooperative movement. - YL The Portland Book: A Guide to Community Resources, Edited by Steve Johnson, 1979,208 pp., $6.95 plus 504 postage from: Center for Urban Education 0245 S.W. Bancroft Portland, OR 97201 The Portland Book is described best by its editor, "a handbook of information sources in and about the Portland community, including descriptions of 2000 organizations and 1000 documents." Steve Johnson, former Rain editor, has produced an excellent model for other communities who arc interested in providing their citizens with access to the wealth of knowledge and services that lie within their boundaries. Leafing through the pages, I came across such groups as the Cosmic Science Research Foundation, an information center devoted to sharing the expanded teachings of Jesus and preparing the world for visitors from other planets. I also realized that the Amateur Brewers can coexist in the same town with the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Government agencies. special libraries. local publications. essays on IOformation systems. trade and professional groups arc all listed in the guide. This book is a must for anyone interested in learning about the nooks and crannies of Portland. - PC Working Together: A Manual for Helping Groups Work More Effectively, Bob Biagi, 1978,124 pp., $5.00 from: Citizen Involvement Training Project 138 Hasbrouck University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 This manual contains techniques and exercises to improve the group process skills of grass roots organizations. Emphasis is on maximizing the usc of the group's human resources by increasing membership participation. Facilitating. group self-observation. listening and communicating and consensus decision making are skill areas covercd. --PC Urban Nongrowth: City Planning for People, Finkler, Toner and Popper, 1976, $16.50 from: Praeger Publishers 111 Fourth Avenue New York, NY 10003 This lay in my·pill:s for many moons because I thought it was going to be another land use planning tract. Fortunately it isn't. It is an exploration of community power and an explosion of the development myths that a community must say yes to every crackpotripoff development scheme. It even makes an excellent case against land usc zoning. arguing that a community should keep its land in the most restrictive use and parcd it out piece by picce to other uses- giving more bartering power to the community. It makes a convincing case that land usc planning without economic planning is useless. An important and thought-provoking document for anyone intef\;sted in local self-reliance or control of local economies. - TB ~ APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY ~ ] /4:':"" '\) Making Charcoal: The Retort Method, ~ $/- '('~ $2.25 from: 1 . ~ u ~-. - ' <5".k~ 0 t' VITA .... .---: _ _ _ "' U 01 3706 Rhode Island Ave. ~ CD~~- ',>, Mt. Ranier, MD 20822 Plans and instruction for constructing a ~ .-t~, portable charcoal retort from 55-ga\lon &](;..r . . \ . ~";'.. _ \ -: -. . .1.' , drums- can be used to produce useful tars as a byproduct or to be partially 8r t ck or 51"-----"= one .". -- ~~\... .~ self-fueling. - TB Appropriate Technology-Technology with a Human Face, P.D. Dunn, 1978, $5.95 from: Schocken Books 200 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016 An excellent overview of the application of a.t. in developing countries and the work of the Intermediate Technology Devclopment Group in particular. Illustrated with many specific examples of projects and tlquipment developed and applied in a wide variety of l;Ountries. A good overview of the other side of thc a.t. coin from that scen in the U.S. - TB
August/September 1979 RAIN Page 11 South America. Morrison's study is as absorbing as his quest that led to I GOOD THINGS ~ understanding. - TB TABLE •. Average Annual On-sitc, Collection, and Treatment Costs pcr Household (1978 $) Mean Costsl On~ite Collection Treatment Household Costs Costs Costs LOW COST Pour flush toilet 18.7 18.7 Pit privy 28.5 28.5 Communal toilet 34.0 34.0 Vacuum truck cartage 37.5 16.8 14.0 6.6 Low cost septic tanks 51.6 51.6 Composting toyets 55.0 47.0 8.0 Bucket cartage 64.9 32.9 26.0 6.0 MEDIUM COST Sewered aquaprivyl 159.2 89.8 39.2 30.2 Aquaprivy 168.0 168.0 Japanese vacuum truck 187.7 128.0 34.0 26.0 HIGH COST Septic tanks 369.2 332.3 25.6 11.3 Sewerage 400.3 201.6 82.8 115.9 ITo account for large differences in the number of users, per capita costs were used and scaled up by the cross-country average for six persons per household. ~~ .. f.. i:l: " o V" Drag. .~ ~ e o It ~ ru~ 119 ~..III'I'." t.,lurt·" Ol' t>Ul!\l Itt q\1 ,,~ UJMUIIl! "iOV'" I!~..,"H"'S! 0'0 SEWAGE ~ ~ Alternative Systems, twice yearly, free from: Office of Public Affairs State Water Resources Control Board P.O. Box 100 Sacramento, CA 95801 News of California state projects and publications, federal activities, alternative systems conferences and puhlications. May develop into a good networking publication for "official" developments in sewage alternatives. - TB Appropriate Sallitatioll Alternatives: Summary Report, P.U. Report No. RES 20, Feb. 1979, John Kalbermatter, from: The World Bank 1818 H St. N.W. Washington, DC 20433 I've only seen this summary report and the IDRC Low Cost Technology Options bihliography reviewed in the June HAlN but from the looks of them, this study is the best thing that's happened yet in low-cost sanitation. The summary surveys about a dozen experienced options ranging from Improved Ventilation Privies to pour-flush toilets to vacuum cartage to small diameter sewer systems, compares their full economic costs, including house plumbing and water supply, examines what health hazards can and can't be lessened with different uptions, and develops strategies shuwing wh ich ones can later be easily and cheaply upgraded to other more convenient and sanitary options by individuals. They make a clear distinction between economic costs- the appropriate full real costs to society, and financial costs (where manipulation of interest rates, externalized costs, tax breaks, etc., change who pays)- whieh are social policies and therefore subject to change. A must for anyone dealing with alternative sewage. - TB Pathways to the Gods, Tony Morrison, 1978, $12.95 from: Harper & Row 10 E. 53rd St. New York, NY 10022 The gigantic figures and lines crisscrossing the deserts of South America have been a disturbing puzzle ever since their discovery. Of huge size, often visible only from the air, and leading nowhere, they havc been attributed to everything from neolithic solar observatories to landing fields for extra-terrestrial vis· itors. They seem, at last, to have found a commonsense explanation in the spiriwal practices common throughout Wild thistles growing In nearby hltlS, It lelt 10 soak fa, a fe.... days. can De transformed InlO coarse handmade paper The Miracle of Flight, Stephen Dalton, 1977, $14.95 from: McGraw-Hili Book Co. 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 How do flies land on ceilings? 1I0w do bumblebees fly , and why do butterflies leave invisible smoke rings behind them in the air? How do frisbees and flying saucers levitate? This book doesn't answer the last question, but through beautiful photography, diagrams and text explains many of the mysteries of insect and bird flight, and the evolution of people-flight. Anyone who has ever sat and watched a hawk soar or a hummingbird do its amazing aerial gymnastics will appreciate and mjoy. - TB Making Artists' Tools, Vance Studley, 1979,144 pp., hardback $15.95 from: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 450 W. Hrd St. New York, NY 10001 Solutions to problems are all too often limited by the tools we have on hand. The ability to make our own tools allows us to step beyond that limitation and offers a greater range of expression. Instructions for creating brushes, quills, calligraphy pens, printmaking implements and paper arc described and illustrated. Rainbow crayons are formed from n:cyc\ed crayon bits. A bamboo paint brush is made by burying the end of a bamboo section in the ground. After several months the biodegrading action of the soil forms the strands from the bamboo fibril. 1\ large portion of the book is devoted to the multiple uses of bamboo as artistic instrumcnts. Making Artists' Tools is effective at jarring your imagination and your mind to the wide range of techniques available with homemade tools - PC
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