March 2012
- Solar Decathlon Time Lapse
- FEMA & USGBC on Resilient Communities
- Blots, or Blotting
- Interactive Map of ARPA-E Projects
Tag Archives: recycling
Snippets
Why young people are driving so much less than their parents [The Atlantic]
Berkeley starts to recycle mixed rigid plastics [East Bay Express]
BART is projecting a budget surplus for next fiscal year [SF Examiner]
Urban development projects in California are in limbo [NY Times]
Photo: A water fountain and water bottle filling station at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, IL, by Anna LaRue
A Year Ago on Zero Resource – March 2011
Putrescible Waste
2This post is part of our definitions series on “eco-lingo” and technical terms.
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(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Putrescible waste is “solid waste that contains organic matter capable of being decomposed by microorganisms and of such a character and proportion as to cause obnoxious odors and to be capable of attracting or providing food for birds or animals (definition from the Argonne National Laboratory).
Basically, putrescibles are the bits of garbage that decompose and get stinky. This can include food waste, used diapers, and pet waste.
If the putrescible waste is removed from the standard waste stream, the remaining household solid waste (packaging, plastic films) and recycling (cardboard, glass, metals, plastics, and paper) is quite clean. As local government recycling programs face budget cuts, there is potential to use this separation of putrescible waste to creatively adjust waste and recycling programs.
If the putrescible waste is picked up pretty frequently (such as weekly), and possibly separated into compostable foodscraps and non-compostable waste (diapers and animal products), the remaining “clean” garbage and recycling could be picked up less frequently. There is potential to increase participation in food waste composting, since folks will want the stinky stuff out of their houses as fast as possible. Since a lot of the cost of recycling programs is the labor cost of pick-ups and sorting, there is also potential to reduce overall costs of program with careful planning of routes and pick-up schedule frequency.
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What exactly does “sustainability” mean? How about “green”, “eco” or “environmentally friendly”? The truth is that these terms are just vague enough to mean many different things to many different people. With the staggering array of “green” products, ‘lifestyles’ and concepts being promoted by marketers and environmentalists alike (as well as the necessary coining of new terms to match new ideas) our definition series aims to make sense of the rising tide of “eco-lingo” and technical terms.
Pay-As-You-Throw
1This post is part of our definitions series on “eco-lingo” and technical terms.
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Image: Wikimedia Commons
“Pay-as-you-throw” is a variable rate pricing tool used by communities to increase participation in recycling programs. Under a “pay-as-you-throw” structure, residents are charged for undifferentiated waste that must go to a landfill or incinerator and charged nothing for disposing of separated recyclables. This provides an obvious economic incentive for opting-in to recycling for the consumer and has been used throughout California to great success and high diversion rates. The question, though, is whether we have finally outgrown “pay-as-you-go” policies.
With the state struggling with crippling budget deficits on every level of government, and with high participation rates in recycling (including newer higher-cost offerings, such as organic waste collection), the value captured from recycled products is not keeping pace with the cost of collections, routing, and processing. In essence, while “pay-as-you-go” pricing structures may have had a vital role to play at a vital time, we can almost assuredly expect to see new pricing structures in the coming years.
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What exactly does “sustainability” mean? How about “green”, “eco” or “environmentally friendly”? The truth is that these terms are just vague enough to mean many different things to many different people. With the staggering array of “green” products, ‘lifestyles’ and concepts being promoted by marketers and environmentalists alike (as well as the necessary coining of new terms to match new ideas) our definition series aims to make sense of the rising tide of “eco-lingo” and technical terms.
MRF (Rhymes With Smurf)
3This post is part of our definitions series on “eco-lingo” and technical terms.
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(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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A MRF is a Materials Recovery Facility, a Materials Recycling Facility, or a Materials Reclamation Facility. These facilities receive household and business waste, construction waste, recyclables, and other discarded materials and separate them.
A “dirty” MRF receives mixed solid waste (everything all jumbled together), or in lingo “a mixed solid waste stream” and separates out the recyclables and other desirable materials.
A “clean” MRF receives just mixed recyclables and separates them.
And I have just learned about “wet” MRFs, which use water to separate items in a dirty MRF by density, cleans them, then dissolves organic material for anaerobic digestion.
The sorting in a MRF is accomplished with some automated processes and also manual sorting of materials into bins.
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What exactly does “sustainability” mean? How about “green”, “eco” or “environmentally friendly”? The truth is that these terms are just vague enough to mean many different things to many different people. With the staggering array of “green” products, ‘lifestyles’ and concepts being promoted by marketers and environmentalists alike (as well as the necessary coining of new terms to match new ideas) our definition series aims to make sense of the rising tide of “eco-lingo” and technical terms.
Recycling Center In Golden Gate Park To Close
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The HANC recycling center is located just to the southwest of Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
The Recreation and Park Commission unanimously approved plans for a community garden at the site long home to a recycling center run by the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council…
HANC, as the group is known, has run the recycling center at the location for 36 years, and also operates a native plant nursery there.
Recreation and Park Department officials said that the advent of curbside recycling and the need to dedicate more space for increasingly popular community gardens bolstered their resolve to act.
”HANC’s time has run out and it’s time for us to have a community garden,” said Commissioner Tom Harrison, a retired park gardener.
City officials, during several mayoral administrations, have threatened to shut down the program. They say it is incompatible with the park, creates noise and serves as a magnet for the homeless and crime.
Mayor Gavin Newsom, in the waning days of his administration, is now prepared to issue a 90-day eviction notice aimed at closing down the recycling operation, although the nursery may be allowed to stay.
You can read the entire story here.
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Berkeley Gets Shiny New Recycling Bins
2I have to confess… I was pretty excited when I was walking home this afternoon and noticed a new bin outside every house on my street. Including my house.
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The Ecology Center, which manages Berkeley’s recycling program, and Mayor Tom Bates have unveiled the new bins to be used by Berkeley residents. According to Berkeleyside:
The new carts have already started to appear on curbsides and a total of 36,000 of them will be delivered to Berkeley residents in single family homes over the next month. Seven new trucks designed to handle the new carts are also now in use — the trucks are also divided into two sections, the larger of which holds paper and cardboard materials.
Apparently the bins are also designed to discourage poachers:
Accessing materials is more difficult than from an open box which might … put off potential poachers. The lid of the new cart is also printed with an advisory that the material contained in the cart is city property.
You can read the entire story here.
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