Ryan
In the village where I used to live in Switzerland (3500 inhabitants),
there were half-a-dozen collection centres scattered in strategic places
round the village. These each had bins for:
- white glass
- green glass
- brown glass
- paper/cardboard
- mineral oils and greases
- vegetable oils and greases (your kitchen grease)
- aluminium
- iron/steel cans
- PET bottles
- small batteries
These were emptied weekly.
In addition there were:
- a central location where old paint, household/garden chemicals, car
batteries and other dangerous chemicals could be taken
- an off-central location where garden waste could be taken for composting
- twice-weekly collection of ordinary household rubbish
- trimestrial collection of large objects (furniture, bicycles etc.)
- trimestrial collection of household appliances (fridges had to have a
vignette, costing CHF 75 ($50), for gas recovery)
How did this work? Wherever possible, recovered materials were sold to
recyclers or, if not, were given. The real plus side is that the volume
of household waste for refuse collection was cut down to about 1/3. The
revenue, combined with the savings on household rubbish collection, made
it slightly profitable for the commune, even taking into account that
the weekly collection of recyclable material was quite labour intensive
(2 man-days/week) and the capital expenditure on special bins, crushers
and balers had to be written off over 5 years. And this was only for a
small village. I have photos of the recyclable collection centres, if
anyone is interested.
Brian
rgrant wrote:
> Regarding re-cycling: define "a lot". Recyclers are pretty choosy about
> what they take or refuse. Often times refusing to take product they
> formerly might have due to market conditions. Remember, they still
> compete against raw material suppliers.
>
> I remember one city I lived in, you had to pay an additional $5 a month
> if you wanted to recycle. The $5 was to cover the cost of taking your
> recycled stuff to the county dump because the local recycler wouldn't
> take it.
>
> While I'm a fan of recycling (I don't even care if I get money back for
> recycling), I'm a fan only to the point that it makes sense. Economic
> sense. I don't like the idea of forcing recycling when there isn't a
> market for it. After all, who is going to pay for the recycling and
> where will we store all of this recycled material if there isn't a
> market to consume it. As a matter of fact, if we force recycling where
> there isn't a market demand (in an attempt to create a market), maybe we
> should start recycling kitchen grease because bio-diesel can be made
> from it. Energy resources are FAR more scarce than lead.
>
> As far as loosing resources to the land fill, well, they are only lost
> if it is dumped into the ocean. Otherwise, future generations will know
> where all that "material" is at. The recent call to recycle electronics
> has come about as a "path out" of going to lead-free solder. Appeals to
> ignore lead-free solder based on the lack of scientific merit have gone
> unheard, so the recycling angle has become a last ditch effort to
> de-rail the lead-free movement.
>
> Anyways, time for me to get off the soap box.
>
> Ryan Grant
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ahne Oosterhof [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 11:12 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] information from European report on toxic metals
>
> So here is aan "Opinion" and based on the source, probably a significant
> one. But what is going to happen with it or because of it?
>
> Also form this opinion: This high abundance coupled with infinite
> recyclability ensures that it will be available for use for many
> generations to come. Should I conclude from this that we need to do a
> lot more work regarding recycling? Presumably, whatever lead (and other
> materials) goes to the landfill is lost.
>
> Ahne.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Joe Fjelstad
> Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 23:12
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [TN] information from European report on toxic metals
>
> From :
>
> Attachment IX: Lead
> ............................................................ page 21
>
> " The European Commission,Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and
> the Environment (CSTEE) has issued an Opinion concluding that the
> proposed ban is not scientifically justified."
>
> ( Above RE: Danish proposal to ban the import, sale and production
> of lead and lead-containing products in Denmark.)
>
> "Lead is a naturally occurring material and one of the most abundant
> elements on earth. This high abundance coupled with infinite
> recyclability ensures that it will be available for use for many
> generations to come. Many potential substitute materials have a much
> lower natural abundance and this fact was highlighted in a major
> report on possible lead-free solders by the US National Center for
> Manufacturing Sciences which stated that ‘low melting alloys usually
> contain high levels of bismuth and/or indium which are expensive and
> have limited availability. The use of bismuth- or indium-containing
> alloys raises serious questions concerning the long term
> availability of these solders and the related ethical implications
> of potentially exhausting the supply of an element’. Furthermore the
> production of bismuth requires the mining and processing of
> approximately 10 times the material required for lead production.
>
> From:
>
> Attachment X: Lead Oxide
> ............................................................ page 24
>
> "... lead oxides have a relatively low bioavailability and uptake by
> terrestrial plants and animals generally occurs only at high lead
> concentrations. Lead is not bio-magnified in terrestrial or aquatic
> food chains."
>
>
> "Alternatively the leaded glass may be disposed of to controlled
> landfills. The lead oxide is tightly bound in a glass matrix and is
> therefore not available for uptake by the
> environment."
>
> "Several studies have shown that leaching of lead from landfill
> occurs at very low levels. A project by AWD Technologies Inc.
> sampled leachate concentrations from municipal landfills across the
> United States and found that in every case the concentration was
> below the maximum allowed limit. Other studies conducted on landfill
> waste, including a 1993 Toxicological Profile of Lead conducted by
> the US Department of Health and Human Services, have concluded that
> the health concerns from landfilled lead are minimal."
>
> Source:
> Guidance Document
> on the Appliance of Substances under Special Attention in
> Electric & Electronic – Products
> Published in co-operation
> by
> European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)
> European Association of Consumer Electronic Manufacturers (EACEM)
> European Electronic Component Manufacturers Association (EECA)
> European Information and Communication Technology Association (EICTA)
> European Association of Metals (EUROMETAUX)
> Released Version: 01
> August 24, 2000 ---------------------------------------------------
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