HomeMy WebLinkAboutSWAG quick report 062212Quick Report
FROM: Name of Advisory Board: Solid Waste Advisory Board
SUBJECT: Monthly Meeting
DATE: June 22, 2012
LOCATION: Sold Waste Administration Building 1207 Eubanks Road Chapel Hill
______________________________________________________________________
MEMBERS PRESENT: Jan Sassaman, Chair & Chapel Hill Rep., Remus Smith ,Hillsborough
Rep, Steve Yuhasz County Board Liaison, BJ Tipton UNC ex-officio
MEMBERS ABSENT: Al Vickers Carrboro Rep, Jim Ward, Chapel Hill Rep.
.
STAFF PRESENT: Gayle Wilson, Blair Pollock, Wanda McCain, Cody Marshall, Wendy
Simmons (Chapel Hill Solid Waste Services Superintendent)
VACANCIES: Carrboro (1), Hillsborough (1) and Orange County (2)
_____________________________________________________________________
Beginning time of meeting: 7pm
Old Business (if any) NONE
New Business
There was no quorum so no official business was transacted. Discussion of items on the
agenda ensued including a general discussion of the future of the Solid Waste Advisory Board.
There was one submittal from a citizen on uses of closed landfills and concept of community
amenities that might be created at public landfills. That is attached.
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Emailed from:
Anthony D. So, MD, MPA
Professor of the Practice of Public Policy and Global Health
Director, Program on Global Health and Technology Access
Sanford School of Public Policy
Duke University
Rubenstein Hall, Room 204
302 Towerview Drive, Box 90312
Durham, North Carolina 27708
Tel: 919-613-9258
E-mail: anthony.so@duke.edu
Designing for the Future of the Orange County Landfill
With the anticipated closure of the Orange County landfill in a year, one wonders whether there
might be creative opportunities to make a positive difference for the local community that has
long borne this responsibility for the County. Making this a point of pride rather than a point
source of pollution is a transformation worthy of municipal and county investment. This may
require some reconnaissance, perhaps with the support of local universities (and this area is
fortunate to have exceptional resources in this regard) and the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach
Program (http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-info/index.html#a03), but the process has the potential
to engage a broad swath of this community, from art centers to energy and environment
programs, and build a stronger future for our community. The inspiration for next steps may
come from as far as Paraguay or as close as the Black Mountains of western North Carolina.
We are fortunate that our region has a wealth of educational, artistic and cultural resources that
might be mobilized to forge a vision forward (see starter listing in Appendix A). And there may
be potentially both financial and non-financial returns from the management of the closure of the
Orange County landfill. It would be appropriate that some part of these returns be channeled
back to the surrounding community.
Perhaps the stories of cutting edge efforts elsewhere might inspire next steps here. While projects
like the ZeroLandfill West Tennessee Project focus on diverting and upcycling materials
(http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/apr/17/the-upside-of-upcycling), the Financial
Times discussed projects that treat waste as unexploited resources and as sources for local
revenue generation, ranging from photovoltaic landfill covers that can turn sites into solar power
generators to the creation of natural-looking landscapes
(http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/8cfd120a-2673-11e1-91cd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1xPAlabal).
In case such stories have not already come to the attention of the Solid Waste Advisory
Committee here, these might offer a useful sampling of excerpted descriptions of such projects:
EnergyXchange in Yancey and Mitchell Counties, North Carolina. When the landfill that served
the residents of the two counties was closed in 1994, extensive research and discussion took
place to find a use for the potential energy. Local leaders created and customized appropriate
applications and facilities for the reuse of the landfill gases. The two-county area is home to
some of America’s most creative artists and beautiful native plants. The EnergyXchange site is
an ideal location to develop craft incubator studios to support developing artists and greenhouses
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that cultivate endangered flora while utilizing the landfill gas. More information is available at:
http://www.energyxchange.org/energyxchange-story
Ohio Valley Creative Energy is a grassroots nonprofit whose mission is to engage the community
with fire art through the use of landfill methane. The fire arts include ceramics, metals, and glass.
A wonderful clay animation, produced by a local middle school on YouTube, describes the
inspiration behind the project at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlXwNqnaGvg Further
information is available at: http://ohiovalleycreativeenergy.org. Afterschool programs are
described at: http://ohiovalleycreativenergy.org/wp-
content/uploads/2009/01/OVCE_After_School_Programs1.pdf
Recology’s Artist in Residence Program uses its Bayshore site as a sorting facility for the
recycling, waste, and compost that it collects from most commercial and residential areas in the
Bay Area. Six artists every year are invited to root through what Bay Area residents have
discarded to give thrown-away items one last chance for use before they’re recycled, composted,
or sent to landfill. Terry Berlier, an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History
here at Stanford, just finished her residency in January. Her artwork for Recology’s first of three
shows for the year were eclectic, nuanced, and simply beautiful pieces with a relevant social
commentary on consumerism and unsustainable design. Further information is available at:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/suss/cgi-bin/main/blog/?p=4787
Landfill Art is an international effort where 1,041 artists are turning automobile hubcaps from the
1930s-1970s into works of art. Each finished piece is being called a “metal canvas.” Most are
painted with oil or acrylic paint, while some have been weaved on, glued or screwed or welded
to, or made into fine sculpture, according to the website Landfillart.org. Eventually, Landfill Art
founder Ken Marquis hopes to publish a pictorial book on the project, showcasing all the metal
canvases; then, he plans to choose 200 metal canvases for a traveling show that depicts the value
of repurposing things in life instead of sending them to the landfill. More information is available
at: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/oct/25/artists-get-creative-saving-canvasses-
from-the/
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FreshkillsPark. At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park
and the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years. The basic framework of the
plan integrates three separate systems—programming (for social, cultural and physical activity),
wildlife (richly diverse habitats for wildlife, birds, and plant communities), and circulation (an
expansive network of paths, recreational waterweays, and enhanced access). For more
information, see http://www.nycgovparks.org/park-features/freshkills-park
“Waste Land” featured in FullFrame Fest. At the story’s center is Brazilian artist Vik Muniz,
who likes to use “stuff” to create art. At the beginning of Waste Land we learn that Muniz,
originally from Sao Paulo and now living in Brooklyn, is about to embark on his new project: he
will move to Jardim Gramacho, an outpost of Rio de Janeiro that’s home to drug dealers,
squalor, widespread poverty, and the world’s largest landfill. His objective: to construct a new
body of work—from the dump. For more information, see
http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/thegreengrok/wasteland
Landfill Harmonic. In the barrios of Paraguay, a humble garbage picker uses his ingenuity to
craft instruments out of recycled materials—and a youth orchestra is born. Music arises and
children find new dreams. For more information about this documentary film, see
http://www.creative
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visions
.org/2012/04/landfillharmonic/
Appendix A: Starter Local Resources that might be contacted for potential interest in
building a vision for the future of the Orange County landfill
University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment (http://www.ie.unc.edu/)
Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment (http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/), Duke
Carbon Offsets Initiative (http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/agseries/OffsetsSupply_Overview.pdf)
Maker Faire North Carolina (network of Do-It-Yourself/DIY crafters, inventors, and artists,
http://makerfairenc.com/)
The Carrboro Arts Center (http://www.artscenterlive.org/about-tac/contact-us)
TechShop RDU (http://www.techshop.ws/durham.html)
North Carolina Network of Grantmakers (http://www.ncgrantmakers.org/)
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