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,
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