Letter to the editor:

Better ways to deal with garbage

Dear Editor:

I was happy to see in your recent issue a number of articles directed to the issue of garbage and recycling. I understand how Bill Magavern feels about the history of garbage burning. There are evils in the history of any technique or method, and people will say they are doing what you are paying them to do (burn clean) and do the most profitable thing instead. The Basle Group has published proof that recycling companies are dumping "recycled" materials at sea, fewer cities and towns are recycling (no one wants it), and sludge from sewers is being dumped on the continental shelf off barges since it is too toxic to put in landfill.

The Piasecki et al, article (American Scientist, v. 86, July-Aug 1998) is a good summary of changes in technology that can result in clean burning. This is not the only alternative. Methane reactors are in use in farms and cities in the European Union, and at Strauss Dairy, garbage can be used to produce methane for fuel cells instead of fossil fuels. An article from the Financial Times describes how communities in Denmark are burning garbage cleanly.

There are social consequences to increased costs of garbage collection and "disposal". C. Choe and Iain Fraser reported on the tremendous increase in illegal dumping of garbage in streams and rivers, lakes and the ocean in addition to roadside release in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (v. 38, 1999: 234 - 246). Illegal burning especially is rising (see Fullerton and Kinnaman, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, v. 29, 1995: 78 - 91). We need to do something with our garbage and right now we are landfilling (note Redwood Landfill expansion) and illegally dumping. We need to look at all possibilities.

Niccolo Caldararo, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology
San Francisco State University