LiveGreenNOW

In honor of World Recycling Day (07-08-09), and in an effort to keep our Waste Management rivals here in Orleans and Jefferson Parish honest, we went on a dumpster dive for resourceful management recommendations to discover which Parishes are having success and which ones are just blowing smoke.

CURBSIDE RECYCLING PROGRAMS
Curbside recycling programs in several Louisiana cities provide successful examples of how recycling can drastically reduce waste streams. In Baton Rouge, a strong recycling program captures almost 40% of the city’s waste, almost half of which is yard waste. Having curbside recycling in place helps preserve municipal landfill space, and creates economic relationships that can be called on and geared up in event of an emergency. Lafayette, Mandeville and Covington have active curbside recycling yet our officials in New Orleans and Jefferson claim that there is no market for recyclables and that it is too expensive.

GREEN WASTE COMPOSTING
Several Louisiana cities also have successful green waste composting programs. A public/private partnership between East Baton Rouge Parish and Natural Resources Recovery, Inc. (NRRI) allows residents to place brush piles, tree limbs, yard clippings, and Christmas trees curbside for collection and composting into premium soil mixes and mulches. The same process occurs in Lafayette.  After Katrina, NRRI expanded their operation and accepted green and woody hurricane debris for composting.  Jefferson, ST. Tammany and Orleans could have composted a majority of the storm green waste instead of burning. Compost can be used to re-establish plantings in neutral grounds and parks as well being valuable to local gardeners.

HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE
St. Tammany Parish partners with the Sierra Club to have hazardous waste drop off events. Similar events occur in Baton Rouge and Lafayette. The most heavily affected hurricane areas have not had these opportunities. Paint, batteries, and electronic equipment needs to be collected and recycled instead of filling up our landfills.

DEMOLITION
If you chose deconstruction instead of demolition,  your house would have be taken apart piece by piece. This enables you to isolate hazardous materials and separate reusable materials such as windows, plumbing fixtures, and architectural features. Beams can be planed for new wood floors. Deconstruction means that materials are recycled and reused on site or in another house. Homeowners need less new materials to build their house. You could even turn old planks into a cool serving tray (see our 5 Gift Ideas for your Green Gourmet).

NEW CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS
New construction debris can be reduced by requiring contractors to recycle at least 50% of debris from their site. This encourages conservation and should reduce the cost of building. Materials can be picked up by recyclers for less money than it costs to send the same materials to a landfill. Homeowners and Contractors will benefit in the long term.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RESOURCEFUL MANAGEMENT OF DEBRIS

1. PLAN AHEAD. Each parish in the State of Louisiana should establish detailed plans for resourceful handling of debris. A regional debris management plan designed by the communities, the parishes and the state needs to be in place before the next one comes. This plan should include locations for staging and appropriate landfill siting. The plan needs to be well communicated to all levels of government so that everyone knows what to expect when a disaster plan has to be implemented.
2. MAXIMIZE REUSE AND RECYCLING. Plans should consider specific debris streams, including but not limited to household goods; household hazardous waste; white goods; cars, vehicles, and boats; concrete; and construction and demolition debris. The “Debris Resourcefulness” Plan should identify potential beneficial uses of debris streams, and should consider and outline what economic business relationships need to be in place prior to a disaster in order to maximize beneficial uses of debris after a disaster.
3. MINIMIZE LANDFILLING AND BURNING. If the plan is followed there should be only a small per¬centage of materials going to the landfills. Burning should also be kept to a minimum with the exception of burning bio-waste cleanly for power.
4. BE READY FOR ACTION. In the post-hurricane period, LDEQ designated 343 debris management sites, including sites for staging of wood-waste, construction and demolition; boats, vehicles, and white goods; and household hazardous waste.

Debris Re-sourcefulness Plans should:

• pre-identify sites that facilitate rapid removal of debris as well as placement for beneficial use and recycling envisioned in the plan.
• pre-identify business relationships that will be needed to make reduction, reuse, and re¬cycling work efficiently, and should provide contract language that has been reviewed and pre-approved by department personnel for rapid execution in event of a disaster.
• establish a framework for implementation that includes all agencies and personnel that will be required to implement the plan. If Memoranda of Understanding will be needed, language should be established and agreed upon. The Plan should also clearly establish criteria for “debris resourcefulness” that can guide decision-making when implementing the plan.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Live Green, New Orleans! Special thanks to our friends at the Sierra Club for their alternative ideas for recycling and debris management. For more information, call them at 504-861-4835.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 6:30 am and is filed under Green Growth, Green House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.