Use it up,

wear it out,

make it do

We generate more trash than we ever have and we have fewer places to bury it.

There were 20,000 landfills in the United States in 1978, but as they have reached capacity they have closed. By 2008, there will be 1,234 landfills still available to accept the nation’s waste.

Recycling began as a good idea in the 1960s and has now become a necessity.

Maine does pretty well when it comes to recycling because municipalities have legislatively-mandated goals to meet. Municipal transfer stations here are good about separating cardboard, plastics, glass, paper and other materials and selling the goods in what has become a jumpy recycling market.

Nationally, about 30 percent of all municipal waste is recycled, a statistic that has remained steady for more than a decade. Unfortunately, municipalities account for a mere 2 percent of the nation’s waste stream. So, while town recycling rates may be good locally and hold steady nationwide, it amounts to pebbles in a mountain of excess waste.

We can do better in our homes, in our schools and in our industries.

Recycling used to mean turning soda bottles and milk cartons into pet water dishes and bird feeders. Now it means turning soda bottles and milk cartons into car parts and fleece vests, uses for plastic unheard of in the 1960s when recycling first became a household word.

In 1960, we recycled or composted 6.4 percent of waste, landfilled 63 percent and incinerated 30.6 percent.

In 2005, we recycled or composted 32 percent of waste, landfilled 52.1 percent and incinerated 15.9 percent.

The recycling rates are certainly up, but the landfill rates haven’t dropped to match.

Recycling is more than upholding an ideal of a clean environment. It saves a tremendous amount of money.

Municipal waste disposal averages about $100 per ton in the United States. Multiply that by millions of tons of waste disposed of every year and we spend billions of dollars to pay for waste disposal.

Reducing the number of tons that move through the waste stream reduces the total cost of disposal, saving taxpayer dollars. And, in a steady recycling market, towns can sell recyclables at a rate that assists with municipal costs of disposal, another savings to taxpayers.

As inconvenient and space-hungry as recycling may be, it’s the cheaper way to go. Think of it as preserving our money.
Farce preservation
Last year, on Earth Day 2002, President Bush was calling for increased stewardship and conservation to preserve America’s national parks, waterways and open spaces.

He appears to have changed his sentiments.

The Bush administration has, without congressional approval or the benefit of public comment, eased wilderness protections on millions of acres in Utah and intends to review protections for endangered species like the Atlantic salmon and spotted owl. Snowmobiles are once again permitted in Yellowstone National Park, even though past damage is well documented, and logging and timbering rules are being relaxed to increase clear-cutting.

It’s an amazing turnaround in 12 months.

Any speech the president makes today about stewardship and conservation will be a farce.


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