Ancil Nance purchase, process, and grade waste materials for recycling. Calbag Metals, for instance, entered the market in the 1910s. There are several end-users of secondary materials located in the metropolitan area, principally of newspaper, corrugated paper, and glass. But most of our secondary materials are shipped for processing to the Far East: Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines A materials market study for Lane County (conducted by Jerry Powell of Resource Conservation Consultants) showed that the local economy doesn't benefit from shipping materials outside the area. It is important, therefore, to find ways of creating local markets for the use of secondary materials. Powell says, "I think the key issue is to localize all levels of the economy; localize the consumption of goods—like the corner bakery, but also make sure that the bakery uses recycled fiber for packaging and then have that re-used as roofing felt that can be used on locally constructed houses. Otherwise we may be consuming local goods while producing international trash." But there are still problems that recycling doesn't address, and recycling From the Bottom of the Heap In Oregon, the Europeans were discriminated against economically when they came to this country—Italians, Russians, Germans, Eastern European Jews. Many couldn't speak English, so entry into significant business (banking, real estate) was impossible for them. They started off where they could begin small and grow: waste reclamation, the dirty job, the underbelly of society. Where the parking garage is on Jefferson and First, where the Marriott is now, there were a lot of small companies in the beginning: Acme, Zidel, California Bag and Metals. Now in Portland it's a cash economy—there's all sorts of dealers who are open at seven AM . . . pickup trucks in line. No name on the truck, no business license, no (ha, ha) corporate taxes. They just simply take the cash, pay for the gas, buy some food, pay the rent. And you'd be surprised at their volume of materials. —Jerry Powell can only serve as a stop-gap measure to the real issue: not how to get rid of the garbage we produce, but how to reduce the amount of garbage before it enters the solid waste stream. Unfortunately most people don't see the connection between what ends up in the garbage can and oil wars in the Middle East. The production of ever more to maintain a healthy economy, with increasing consumption as its end result, is promoted as a way of buying into the American dream. To reduce the solid waste stream we have to reduce consumption. One of the best ways to reduce consumption is the production of higher quality goods, increasing the life of a product. Life cycle costing, the true pricing of an item over its lifetime, can help a consumer become aware of the cost effectiveness of what is being purchased. Packaging is a major byproduct of our consumption patterns. Three and one- half tons of every 10 tons in the solid waste stream consists of flexible packag65
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