--- 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
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