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Recycling in the USA

Page history last edited by Barbara 2 yrs ago

    1. INTRODUCTION
  1. DIFFERENT REASONS FOR RECYCLING
    1. POST - KATRINA AND RITA TRASH PICK UP
    2. KATRINA AND RITA'S IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
    3. SOME IMAGES OF THE SITUATION AFTER HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA
    4. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR DISASTER CLEAN-UP AND DEBRIS MANAGEMENT IN LOUISIANA (2006)
      1. RECYCLING IN NEW ORLEANS
        1. RECYCLING AT THE UNIVERSITY: The Tulane approach
        2. THE "GREEN PROJECT" 
          1. References and links

             

             

            INTRODUCTION

             

            This wiki page is about Recycling in the United States. It focuses in particular on the difficult situation of New Orleans and the surrounding area, because of the disastrous effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Hereafter are presented various solutions to the problem of how to recycle the huge amount of debris and how to improve the recycling system.

             

             

             

            DIFFERENT REASONS FOR RECYCLING

             

            As recycling provides raw materials for finished products and at the same time reduces the need for waste disposal, one can state that it offers social, economic and environmental benefits. The benefits resulting from recycling in America are documented by "The White House Task Force on Recycling", established by President Clinton. The Executive Order 13101 states that:

             

            • emissions of a great quantity water and air pollutants should be prevented;

            • the need for new landfills should be reduced;

            • valuable raw materials should be reused for industry;

            • energy should be preserved;

            • new job opportunities should be created;

            • greenhouse-gas emissions should be cut down;

            • greener technologies should be developed;

            • our land should be conserved for the future of our children.

             

            With the passing of time the reasons why people have practiced recycling have changed. For example, in America during the Second World War recycling was viewed as a necessity due to a shortage of certain materials. After the war, recycling was pushed to the background: in part because disposable items were developed and in part beacuse consumers adopted a "use it once and throw it away" attitude. Only in recent years, recycling has emerged again and nowadays it is viewed as an "industry" driven by consumers who practice it in order to protect the environment.

             

             

             

             

             

             

             

            FIVE IMPORTANT REASONS TO RECYCLE IN LOUISIANA

             

            1. save natural resources (to safeguard lands and reduce the practice of drilling for oil and digging for minerals);
            2. save energy (it usually takes less energy to make recycled products);
            3. save clean air and water (making products from recycled materials creates less air and water pollution than making products from new materials);
            4. save space in landfills (recycled materials turn into new products, so they don't go into incenerators or landfills, safeguarding landfill space);
            5. save money and create new specific jobs (recycling creates more jobs than incinerators and landfills and it can be one of the less expensive techniques for cities)

             

             

             

             

             

             

             

            POST - KATRINA AND RITA TRASH PICK UP

             

             

            Hurricane Katrina: it was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. This hurricane formed on August 23 of 2005 during Atlantic hurricane season. It devastated much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States. The most damaged area was the city of New Orleans, Louisiana and the coastal Mississippi. 

             

                        

            (Photos taken from www.flickr.com)

             

            From left to right: Hurricane Katrina photographed from space by NASA and from the city on 28th August 2005. They show the exact laid waste area and give an idea of the proportions of this enormous disaster, so audience might really contextualize and understand what happened on August 2005 on the Gulf of Mexico Coast.

             

             

             

             

            Hurricane Rita: it was the most intense tropical cyclone ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico. This hurricane mane landfall on September 24 near the Texas-Louisiana border and moved on through southern Texas, causing huge damages.

             

             

             

            (Photos taken from www.flickr.com)

             

            These are two photos of Hurricane Rita. The first one (from left to right) shows exactly the area hurricane Rita affected, which is more or less the same as the one affected by Katrina. The second one shows what a man found in front of his house after Rita had passed.

             

             

             

             

             

             

            CONSEQUENCES OF KATRINA AND RITA

             

            Both hurricanes Katrina and Rita created a very difficult situation to handle: they had both a great impact on the environment and far-reaching economic effects on the city and the area around the city.

             

            Immediatelly after the first hurricane, Katrina, looting and violence start spreading through the region, obliging the police to make several arrests.

             

             

             

                    

            (Photos taken from www.flickr.com)

             

            These pictures expose the disruptive power of Hurricane Katrina and the FEMA trailers in which many residents are still living in degradation.

             

             

            Because of the destruction of their houses many people were obliged to leave the city or to find other solutions to their difficult situation. The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) purchased and put at homeless population's disposal mobile homes. 270,000 Americans are still living in more than 102,000 travel trailers, which, even if built with the best materials, are not appropriate for full-time living not only because they are uncomfortable but above all because these mobile homes are fabricated from composite wood, particle board and other materials that emit formaldehyde, a toxic chemical. Because of this material, many trailer residents are suffering from respiratory problems and eye, lungs and nose irritation. Furthermore, the hot and humid climate that characterizes the Gulf Coast allows noxious substances to ferment, spread and be inhaled by people. In spite of this situation many trailer residents suffering from breathing diseases do not want to protest against the FEMA because they are afraid of loosing the only accomodation they might have. This makes the situation even more tragic.

             

             

            Nowadays the city of New Orleans is trying to bring people back to their native hometown in order to face the big problem of trash, which is still there. Moving the debris from the streets is just one step. The government is still co-operating with a subsidiary committee of the Environmental Task Force, which is part of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, to reduce the reconstruction costs through a comprehensive recycling plan.

             

            Economical effects and problems should be taken into consideration as well. Katrina alone took 1,000 lives and has caused somewhere between $35 billion and $60 billion in damages. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated more than 22.000 business establishments in areas of Luisiana and Mississippi as damaged areas. While Rita, which was a less destructive storm, damaged about 800 establishments. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the number of people left unemployed by Katrina and Rita is around 363,000.

             

            Political corruption is another big challenge Lousiana has to face to achieve its economic recovery. In fact, together with the cash gained for reconstruction after Katrina and Rita, comes attentand worries about bloated contracts, kickbacks and fraud. Perhaps no state has a greater record of political hucksters and hijinks. The most notorious was the populist Democratic Gov.Heuy Long who created a secret police force and consolidated state employees under his control, stealing a portion of their earnings. In1939, another scandal erupted in Louisiana when James Monroe Smith (president of LSU) took possesion of a half -million dollars.After that, in 2000, Gov. Edwin Edwards received a 10-year prison sentence for extorting money from casino boat owners seeking licence.Finally, in 2004 U.S.Rep.William Jefferson was suspected of illegal activity with African business interests.

             

             

             

             

            KATRINA AND RITA'S IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT

             

             

             

            Hurricanes Katrina and Rita brought about not only big problems concerning the damages produced by their destructive power but also many porblems concerning the population's health and impact on environment.

             

            There were probably thousands of tons of household chemicals like bleach and pesticides and many toxic substances. In some neighbourhoods, the rancid piles permeated the air with a terrible smell.

             

            Much of the natural debris, such as tree trunks, branches and leaves knocked down by the storm, were turned into wood chips and compost, but some were burned to prevent termites from spreading. Most of the remaining debris - including couches, insulation and roof shingles - were placed in landfills in the area.

             

             

             

             

            SOME IMAGES OF THE SITUATION AFTER HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA

             

             

             

                            

             

             

             

                       

            (Photos taken from http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/katrina/index.htm)

             

             

             

             

             

             

             

            COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR DISASTER CLEAN-UP AND DEBRIS MANAGEMENT IN LOUISIANA (2006)

             

             

            This decision was taken after the experience of  hurricanes Rita and Katrina  .

            Katrina caused more than 22 million tons of garbage, over 350 thousand damaged cars, over 1.5 million units of white goods, over 60 thousand damaged vessels, over 500 thousand units of electronic apparels, from 140,000 to 160,000 flooded homes.

            On the other hand, only three weeks later, Hurricane Rita left 2.4 million tons of refuse, damaged vessels, flooded cars, thousands of orphan drums, white and electronic goods.

            The urgency of environmental problems in Louisiana gave birth to the Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), which has issued a refuse management plan to grant a framework for the management of refuse generated by future hurricanes in the State. 

             

            The situation was also highly critical because it was without any precedent not only in Louisiana, but in the United States as a whole.

             

            The Plan is based on:

             

            1.      the reduction of refuses, using chipping, grinding, recycling, etc.;

            2.      the rubbish management generated not only by natural disasters, but also by repopulation and redevelopment;

            3.      the legislative goal to reduce waste by 50 percent in volume prior to disposal in a landfill;

            4.      the conservation of landfill capacity;

            5.   the protection of natural resources.

             

             

             

            This plan also details how local governments have to choose appropriate landfill and burn sites; moreover, it lists some techniques for recycling materials and handling several types of garbage, such as that of hazardous.

             

             

             

             

            WHERE COULD KATRINA RUBBISH BE PLACED?

             

            In New Orleans problems about rubbish management are caused not only by recycling process and by the huge amount of waste but also by the difficulty to find landfills where all the trash can be stored.

             

            Local communities had remonstrated about setting up new landfills, as for example that of Chef Menteur, a garbage dump in New Orleans East. The local municipality did not want to create them as well. But why? This is actually a problem that has to be solved and all that garbage must be placed somewhere.

             

             

             

            The danger of contamination comes above all from debris like electronics, fertiliser, the bleach, which are not benign substances at all. For more information, please see this Microsoft PowerPoint file about how EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) responded to hurricanes Katrina and Rita thanks to READ ( Recycling Electronics and Asset Disposition) services trying to collect and recycle these particularly dangerous materials. 

             

                          

            (Photos taken from www.flickr.com)

             

             

            These pictures show that garbage is still everywhere in New Orleans. On the right a lifecycle of a trash pile.

             

             

              

            RECYCLING IN NEW ORLEANS

             

             

            New Orleans is a big city where a lot of garbage is produced and where recycling is a topic of primary importance. Before the city was hit by Hurricane Katrina, the recycling service was carried out by the company BFI, which picked up recyclable material once a week. The night before the recycling day, residents could simply place their bins on the curb; the company collected them and sorted the materials the day after. BFI picked up newspapers, plastic, cans, glass and cardboards; all of these materials were sent off to become raw materials for new products. This system was quite satisfactory and efficient. However, not everybody recycled; some people did not take the time to separate their garbage and for others it was too much an effort. After Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic effects on the city, the situation got worse. The government is not investing money on recyling services and, therefore, garbage is not collected regularly anymore.

             

            Nowadays, the collecting is only once a week, whereas before the disaster they picked uphousehold garbage at least twice a week so the citizens are forced to pile all the rotting garbage on the side of the streets. Rats in search of food and water are attracted because they move to residential areas where they can also find many abandoned houses. This implies a great risk for all the inhabitants of New Orleans since they are exposed to several kinds of diseases. Other animals such as armadillos, big rats and crocodiles, escaped from private swimming pools and zoos invading the city.

             

             

             

            (photo source www.flickr.com)

             

            People recycle less because most of them probably feel that they have no other choice but that of throwing recyclables into normal trashcans or because there is no proper service nearby and they have to drive a long way to find a place where recyclables are collected. Moreover, except some recycling programs promoted by non-profit organizations, such as the 'green project' or universities' initiatives like 'RecycleMania', the government does not encourage recycling, consequently the choice is up to the single person.

             

             

             

             

             

            RECYCLING AT THE UNIVERSITY: The Tulane approach

             

             

            After the disasters caused by Katrina, in the New Orleans area a lot of organisations want to improve and safeguard the environment. In this context a number of recycling programs are appearing thanks to some local businesses and non profit organisations. Universities are playing their part too and Tulane University, in particular, is one of the most important promoters.

            As a matter of fact, some coordinators have decided to create a competition between universities, the"RecycleMania", in order to get students aware of the importance of recycling. In particular, this competition should create the following effects on students.

             

             

            •  It arouses students' awareness of the importance of recycling;

            •  it stimulates students to develop a positive attitude towards recycling and collect stuff which will be recycled and reused;

            •  it fosters collaboration among universities, local organizations and students in order to achieve an economic and environmental recovery.

             

             

             

            RECYCLEMANIA

             

             

            • A student of the Tulane University gave some pieces of information about how recycling works there:

             

            - On her campus students usually do not separate their garbage. There are laws according to which everyone should divide their garbage into different containers and who doesn't do so should be sanctioned. However, she said that nobody oversees the way you throw away your garbage and, therefore, no sanctions are given.

             

            -After the disasters caused by Hurrican Katrina New Orleans has had a lot of problems with garbage because it is too much and there is no place for it. Moreover, there are not enough workers collaborating to improving the situation and, therefore, much still has to be done.

             

            She comes from New york and she said that, there garbage can be either placed in specific containers in the street or left outside the door and carried away by public companies. 

             

             

            In Connecticut as an incentive for recycling, people are invited to deliver their plastic water bottles to a specific association. They receive a small amount of money for each single bottle they deliver.

             

             

            • Another American student came up with an important remark:

             

            given that there are no specific laws that oblige the population to recycle, recycling is just an individual decision. Unfortunately, in Italy the same thing happens. That's why in Recycling in Italy we wrote that recycling can be considered a "comportamento virtuoso", depending on the common sense of the body of citizens.

             

             

            (Photo taken from www.fickr.com)

             

             

             

             

             

             

             

            THE "GREEN PROJECT" 

             

             

            New Orleans citizens have to face many problems: social, economic and environmental. It is noteworthy the contribution of  the “green project", it is a non-profit organization, which is promoting recycling activities, local involvement in recycling and environmental sustainability. 

             

            Before Katrina the organization “green project” had been operative for ten years. At the beginning it was a paint recycling centre but then it amplified its activities into selling recovered and unused building materials. By so doing it helped homeowners to recycle and reuse their building materials. Unfortunately, the organization was badly damaged by Katrina.

             

            Thanks to the collaboration of college students from Tulane and Loyola and other local universities, who joined a rotating team of AmeriCorps volunteers, the “green project” has become operative again. It will support homeowners to save money on reconstruction costs and it will help New Orleans to be a greener city while protecting and preserving its architectural heritage.

             

             

            The "green project":

            • operates as a recycling centre and organizes a warehouse store that resells high quality, salvaged materials at low cost to the community;

            • reduces the re-usable and recyclable materials stored in landfills;

            • salvages and deconstructs damaged or collapsed buildings by hand, in a way that saves from 45 to 70 percent of the materials;

            • uses its warehouse as a recycling centre.

             

             

            The "green project" is also working on Green Building and special projects like solar panels, biodiesel and community outreach. 

             

            References and links

             

             

            • Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT) (2005). Mission 2010. New Orleans. Retrieved March 6th, 2007, from http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2010/finalwebsite/ 
            • Jennifer Medina. In New Orleans, the Trashman will have to move mountains. Retrieved March 15th 2007, from www.nytimes.com
            • The Green Project & Tulane University & MWH (Version 2 - November 2006). Recycle New Orleans. An easy-to-use directory of places that reuse & recycle materials in the New Orleans area. Retrieved March 6th, 2007, from http://recycle.tulane.edu/NO_recycling_guide.pdf   

             

             

             

             

            Comments (15)

            Sarah said

            at 1:29 pm on Mar 12, 2007



            Feedback 1: You've all done a very good job of collecting information to enrich this page. However, as it is a work in progress, there are improvements to be made. I have tried to highlight in red parts that need to be worked on and comments for each section. In the following week you will be working together to clean up the page. First, just a few general comments.

            - Is there a logical order to the elements in the table of contents or should this be changed around a bit?

            - There's no Introduction.

            - Are there any categories that should be added to make the page more complete?

            - What should we do about first person? Allow it everywhere or, for example, here only in the Direct Experience section?



            Sarah

            lucreziabis said

            at 12:44 pm on Mar 14, 2007

            Dear Sarah, how could I re-edit the table of contents in order to improve it?Thank you- Lucrezia

            Annalisa Giorgio said

            at 4:10 pm on Mar 14, 2007

            Dear Lucrezia..I have some ideas about it..In my opinion the whole layout of the page is not so proper because I would put first the general topic of " Reasons for recycling", then references to specific recycling programs, after that,the Katrina disaster and its consequences on recycling, and eventually special recycling plans or measures taken after the hurricane..in this way there is more coherence..what do you think?
            Annalisa

            Annalisa Giorgio said

            at 4:43 pm on Mar 14, 2007

            Dear Sarah,
            I'm trying to reorder the layout of the page but it is impossible to copy and paste what is written without removing the created links..I was only able to change the order of two paragraphs..I don't want to cause troubles so I'll write here my changes, if you agree or someone agrees with me can add them to the wiki..

            Annalisa Giorgio said

            at 4:51 pm on Mar 14, 2007

            This is my table of contents:
            1.Different reasons for recycling
            2.Post Katrina and Rita trash pick up.
            3Where Katrina rubbish been placed?
            4.Comprehensive plan for..
            5.Recycling in New Orleans
            6.the Green project
            7.Recycling at University
            8.Direct experiences

            Lucrezia Bissaro said

            at 5:44 pm on Mar 14, 2007

            Dear Annalisa, I agrre with you, I'd like also to change the order of the layout,and to riwrite the table of contents, but i didn't manage, do you have any ideas how it works?thank you

            Giorgia Nardin said

            at 12:52 pm on Mar 15, 2007

            -Dear Sarah,
            This morning I made my changes in this page "Recycling in USA" but at the end of my work I realised that I had not logged in with my name and that I had edited with that of a girl who had enterred before me ( I think her name was Isabella)...I know I have to be more careful with this kind of things...is that a problem?
            - Dear all and in particular dear Lucrezia and Annalisa, this morning I made my changes in "Recycling in USA" and in particular in the layout: I added some paraghraphs to make the page clearer and from the part "direct experiences" I cut out two or three lines and pasted in the part " Recycling in New Orleans". I don't know if you agree with my changes in the whole layout and in the new paragraphs I decided to add (the paragraphs are not really new, I only divided some parts already existing!)...please, let me know if you don't agree!
            I also modified in the content "Direct experiences" because I think it was not very clear, but I did not understand very well how it was structured..If the one who wrote that part thinks that my changes deleted something important, please, write to me!
            Have a nice day
            Bye
            Giorgia

            Lucrezia Bissaro said

            at 5:31 pm on Mar 15, 2007

            Hi Girogia, I find that your changes are really well done, I'd like to change the table of contents, but only from a stylistic point of view, I wnated to write in italics, do you know how to do it? thank you for your collaboration,see you on monday! have a nice weekend!
            Lucrezia

            Maria Chiara said

            at 9:30 pm on Mar 15, 2007

            Dear Sarah,
            even though I was supposed to edit "Recycling in Italy", I saw that the piece of information I wrote in the paragraph "Direct experience" about recycling plastic in USA is not clear for you. How can I make it clearer? That was what my peer told me... One thing more: during our last Skype X-change, the guy mentioned the Office of Environmental Affairs within Tulane Univ. I found out some information about it. Do you think it could be useful if I put the link to the Web page? Where can I put it?
            Thank you!
            Maria Chiara

            Isabella Perini said

            at 11:57 pm on May 10, 2007

            Hi Annalisa!
            today I read all the page and corrected the grammar mistakes I found! I'll tell you what I'll do next.
            bye! Isabella

            Isabella Perini said

            at 12:12 am on May 11, 2007

            I also just finished checking the references in order to see if all of the links worked and also the way the references were written. I also checked the layout repasted some photos which didn't appear on the page. Tell me if you think something else has to be done about the layout!

            Annalisa said

            at 11:00 am on May 11, 2007

            Hi Isabella,
            Well done!
            I checked if the links worked yesterday and I tried also to uniform the format but for some reasons I was not allowed.I'm going to read the page again to see if there are further corrections to be made.
            Annalisa

            Annalisa said

            at 1:03 pm on May 11, 2007

            Hi Isabella,
            I uniformed some photo links and added a little paragraph, following Sarah's suggestion of citing some examples of political corruption in Louisiana.
            I also want to tell you that the photo link in the section "Recycling in New Orleans" doesn't work.I tried to find the original source on flickr in order to rearrange it but it's almost impossible.Do you think we should substitute it with another similar picture?
            As regards the rest of the layout I think it's ok.
            Annalisa

            Annalisa said

            at 1:07 pm on May 11, 2007

            Sorry..I have forgotten.
            I'm not able to uniform the format of the first reference link at the end of the page.

            Isabella Perini said

            at 3:44 pm on May 11, 2007

            ok, I managed to get all the references in the same font and eliminate that black dot which had nothing to do with the rest! Regarding the picture on the section "Recycling in New Orleans" I have no problems seeing it on my computer..perhaps there were some problems this morning..

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