A Unique and Unusual History of Recycling:

By Bill Lord

Guest Speaker at the Annual ARC Conference & Trade Show September 24, 2009, Eureka Springs, AR

Good morning recyclers!!!  I have been a member of ARC since about 1994 or 95 and served on the Board of Directors’ during the late 1990’s.   On behalf of the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, I would like to extend a THANK YOU to the Arkansas Recycling Coalition and all its sponsors and members, past and present, for helping to make recycling in Arkansas what it is today- a viable, environmentally critical industry. 

I was honored when Cherie asked me to provide a brief history of recycling in Arkansas, but I wasn’t sure she did so because I was a good historian or because I’ve been around a long time and just look like history. 

The title of my presentation today is, “A Unique and Unusual History of Recycling or; The Hippies Were Right.     

You’ve heard the expression; “there is nothing new under the sun.” It seems that in the world of recycling, that statement is likewise true.  

There is nothing new about recycling and re-use – only a variety of phases and stages it has gone through since those days when the buffalo roamed freely from the Appalachian Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.    We’ve always had recycling in this land.

Before Europeans set foot on the continent the Native peoples practiced recycling and re-use of the material they had on hand

If we use the buffalo as an example, initially it was a food source for them.  Over time, it became much more than food - its hide became clothes and shelter; its’ bone became sewing needles and war clubs; its since became sewing thread and bow strings while the horns were used as decorations.  And these are just a few of the many uses they had the buffalo.  And once it was totally used, re-used and no longer had value, it was allowed to decay or compost its way into the earth.  

And the old provided sustenance for the new.   

And there was plenty for everyone’s need, but, as we found out later, not for everyone’s greed.

Ah!!!!   But as we humans walked down that path called progress, or so we liked to call it, we learned to make steel.  From that heated iron ore came steam engines that powered trains and boats; then oil was discovered and then gasoline and motors and roadways and freeways and fast planes and trains --- and WHEW!!!! It’s dizzying to think how far we have progressed since those earlier days and how far we are likely to go during our lifetime. 

For us humans, the pace of change seemed to increase exponentially during the industrial revolution and it continues into today. 

            Cotton that once made most all of our clothes was replaced by synthetics

            Oil based plastics replaced that heated silica product we call glass,

            And with so many grades of plastic you need a degree to figure it all out;

            And at the same time, the use of paper waned while plastics grew and grew like grass across the vast open prairie.

            And now we have electronic items never before seen or used in such large quantities. 

During WW II, our nation recycled everything possible.  I remember my grandmother talking about pulling the aluminum foil off gum wrappers to put into the war effort.  But after the war and during the 1950’s and even until recently, we forgot about recycling.  As the volume of material we produced was growing to new heights, so did their toxic nature.  As our use of material possession grew more abundant and less expensive, we thought we could just throw them away and, as if by some trick of magic, it would disappear into this invisible hole in the ground.  Only we soon found out, that hole was not invisible.  And it leaked and seeped its toxic leachate into our water and spoiled our land. 

Our modern era of recycling began with a whisper.  It can be linked to the 1960’s as bunch of longhaired, peace-loving, hippies began to talk about using our resources wisely.  “Recycle”, they said.   “Take care of our earth!” they warned.  We’re running our water and our air is foul.  The hippies said we couldn’t sustain this level of consumption.  Our resources are finite, not infinite. 

But, the roar of commerce was really, really loud – we could not hear them or we chose not to listen.  We were swept along into a pipeline of production and consumerism, which reached a pinnacle of material consumption never before seen in human history.  All the while, this toxic, stinking garbage was crashing and bashing its way to our overflowing poorly engineered landfills. 

“Toss it and get another” was our motto.  We’re rich.  We can afford more.  Don’t make me mess in my garbage.  I’ll put it all in one bag, by the curb and it’s gone forever. It’ll never be seen or heard from again; we have plenty of room for it.  RIGHT!!! 

“Forget about those hippies, listen to me,” said Madison Avenue and Wall Street, and WalMart and Walgreen’s.  We found ourselves on a fast moving wheel of consumption and production.  Work, shop, buy, consume, - work, shop, buy, consume, - work, shop, buy, consume…... and we moved at a dizzying pace.  So fast for so long, our value as a human is now determined by our ability to consume goods and services. The conventional wisdom seems to be the more you consume, the happier you’ll be.

In our pursuit of this happiness, we produced mounds and mounds of garbage, and it grew as fast as fruit flies breeding on a banana peel.  What do we do with it all?  We’re now drowning in our waste.  It’s getting higher and higher and wider and wider. 

By now we’re into the 1980’s and the garbage has gotten higher and more toxic and the feds say our solution is – Sub-title D.  When it begins in 1993, we’ll build large, regional, well-engineered mega-landfills to encapsulate all this post consumer packaging we’ve been throwing away in our frenzied post-nirvana shopping trance. 

Then the price of putting all that packaging into that magical hole in the ground begins to rise - $15 - $20 - $40 – then $80 a ton and more – just to make it go away.   That should solve our problem as long as we’re willing to pay.  But, oops, we are running out of space.  And nobody wants a landfill near them.  Not in my backyard is the cry. 

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s we’re starting to get serious about our ‘garbage problem”, highlighted by that barge of garbage looking for a home.  Both government and citizens begin to be active.  The first regional solid waste management plan was funded and developed right here in this area, by the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, headquartered in nearby Harrison.  Called the Franklin Report, it provided alternatives that included recycling and composting and became the model for many of the regional plans across Arkansas.

Additionally, then Governor Clinton seated a Blue Ribbon panel to study the States garbage problem.  This multi-disciplinary panel held numerous meetings across the State and developed a package of legislation; most of which was presented during the 1991 session.  In this historic session, regional solid waste management districts’ were formed, a per ton fee was accessed on landfilled garbage that would fund recycling programs and an advance disposal fee was initiated for car batteries and tires.

To help with this effort came the hippies.  Finally, a government initiate they could get behind.   From out of the woods, where they sequestered themselves for a couple of decades, they volunteered their time and expertise as they worked side-by-side with other citizens, local governments and non-profit organizations to establish our modern-day recycling programs. 

With ponytails tucked under their caps they volunteered to staff recycling trailers.  They weighed and stacked all those milk jugs and pop bottles, and batteries, and newspapers and magazines.  Well, you get the picture.

At that time, markets for this mix of material was difficult to locate and unreliable.  And sometimes what we had so diligently collected was sent to the landfill anyway because it was not clean enough; or bales were to small…or….How sad it was to see all that material dumped into that hole in the ground. That magic hole.

When that happened several times, we experienced a significant learning moment – “It’s all about the markets!” So, during the 1990’s we learned to work backwards – to prepare materials the processor could use and in ways they could receive and handle it.  Markets first!  Markets rule!  We got the message thanks to visionary leaders such as Ozark Recycling Enterprises and to Dr. Jimmy Moore, a local recycler and marketing contactor and others who worked helping to train us on how products needed to be processed.

Now that we had IT, and had learned our lessons….loads of paper and plastic and electronics and metal went off to market.  Baled the right way; cleaned the right way; sorted and separated the right way and we’re off and running again.   

We’re blowing through the 1990’s and there are now so many of us and so many centers and we’ve been working for a few years   and   things are rocking along very well then   the   doldrums set   in   “ho-hum” we’re now Institutionalized and bureaucratic and oh so sleepy….  And lethargic.

Then we get attacked!!  A New York Times article says recycling does not pay, that it’s a waste of money and time.  It sets off a firestorm of criticism.  Our sacred recycling is being attacked and we rise up in righteous indignation.  But our indignation is not enough.  WE need facts and research and more definitive conclusions.   

Very soon, other citizens and media types along with some of our public officials talk about the ‘debacle’ of recycling.  

We’ve come a long way from the days of volunteers staffing trailers and we’re not ready to retreat.  We have an infrastructure of buildings, and balers and staff and educators and marketing people.  We move thousands of tons of material to market and new industries have developed and need our material.

We have to ask the question, “Is this a true debacle and a waste of public money?  Is what we are doing merely a “feel good” effort?  Or, are the attacks coming because we ARE making a difference?” 

We ARE building a new industry!  We ARE competing with those that produce virgin materials.  If we were not influencing the market place, I think we would have been left alone.  No one would pay much attention to us.  

To answer the call, we rally the troops; we dig in; do our homework; advance some research, collect our data and fire back.  Life cycle analysis becomes the call of the day – “What is the full cost of recycling compared to the full cost of mining and using virgin material?” We think we know but don’t have the data to back it up.  We all anxiously wonder and wait. 

When the data is finally tabulated and the results are in – WE WIN.  We answer our critics.  Recycling creates jobs, saves natural resources; reduces pollution and green house gasses.  It saves on electricity, oil, gasoline, and energy.  And, in the long run - money.

As the new millennium begins, the issue of global warming takes greater prominence in our national and international debates.  The hippies, who are now old people, forewarned decades ago that this could be a problem.  Fortunately, they are willing to be a part of the solution and to share their knowledge.

As recycler, we now have a new mission.  Recycling can help save our planet.  Recycling has been empirically demonstrated to contribute to the reduction in green house gases.  We can and are making a difference.  Our work takes on new and now global dimensions. 

And away we go…more loads and loads of goods off to market. Everyone is happy – prices are high and volumes are good. And the world seems rosy and warm and….THEN…and THEN, it’s October of 2008; a dark month for recycling.  The national economy had been in the toilet for months and now, it finally reaches the recycling markets and they rush headlong toward some dismal bottom. 

Our recycling centers experience a major loss of revenue.  They are cutting back and the survival of modern recycling is at stake.  We are alarmed:  “Is this the end of recycling as we know it?” 

But, there was nothing to fear for ADEQ is here.  Wearing their white hats and riding their best horses to the rescue they say, “Use the recycling grant money as you need. Pay those utility bills and that rent.  We’ll help you keep the doors open.”    

Buoyed on troubled waters, it now seems the centers are likely to survive.  We can breathe a sigh of relief. 

If we think about it and look back a few decades, we realize it was the much-maligned hippies who were right all along.  That rag tag group of malcontents wondering the highways of this great land, growing gardens and building farms in the states’ backwoods had it right – RECYCLING SAVES A WORLD.

And the old gives life to the new – like the buffalo so many years ago.  

As the dying buffalo nourished the humans and the earth from which it derived ifs’ life, we old recyclers will do the same.  We hope for a new generation of recyclers that will be nourished by our past activities.  It is upon reflection, that because of us and now you - the future looks brighter and that recycling will be THE waste management solution of the future.  And the quiet call by a few malcontents for zero waste will someday be an accepted fact, just like recycling is today.   

As we early pioneers of recycling in Arkansas are moving aside, that’s a nice way of saying we’re retiring, we hope for a new generation of earth loving, mother protecting, recycling, composting fools to keep alive the challenge started so long ago; before our time – where there was enough for all our needs, but not our greed.

To you – the next generation of recyclers - may your hands be competent in your chosen task; your heart filled with love and kindness for this old planet of ours; your minds be persistent in your work and creative in your solutions; and may your spirit be strong and resolved to succeed in making this earth a better place to live. 

And I wish you a good day and leave you with the words of that old singing cowboy, Roy Rogers, “Happy trails to you, until we meet again….”

Thank you ARC…

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Program "At-A-Glance" added as an attachment below!

 "Recycling to Sustainability: 

20 Years of Success"  

  Arkansas Recycling Coalition

Conference & Trade Show

September 23-25, 2009

Best Western Inn of the Ozarks – Eureka Springs, AR

Join manufacturers, vendors, government, non-profits, and small businesses, as we host our 19th Annual Conference and Trade Show.  Plans have been finalized to make this our best conference & trade show ever, as we celebrate our 20 year Anniversary. 

Educational Roundtable, Tour, Break-out Sessions, Awards Luncheon, Exhibit Hall, Welcome Reception, Entertainment, Golf Tournament, Auctions

Keynote:  Chaz Miller – Director, State Programs, National Solid

                Wastes Management Association, 

                Columnist for – Waste Age Magazine 

Tour:  Plan to arrive early on September 23^rd in time to hop on the bus for a full afternoon of touring.  The first stop is at the Madison County Sold Waste and Recycling Center in Huntsville, where Larry Karigan-Winter and staff will be waiting to greet you with a tour of their center.  Then it is on to ECO Vista (Tontitown) Center where you will have an opportunity to tour and learn how landfills manage and operate the vast amounts of solid waste we create, before returning to Eureka Springs.  

Time between locations will be well spent reviewing information for new opportunities and recycling markets, and much, much, more.

The bus will board in front of the Convention Center at 11:45 AM and return around 5 PM in plenty of time to get ready for the Exhibitors Welcome Reception starting at 7 PM.  The cost of the tour is only $20 which includes a box lunch.   To register, check the Tour block on the conference registration form.    

Golf Tournament:  Sept. 23rd - Form a team or just show up to play at the Holiday Island Country Club, an 18 hole course located at Holiday Island.  Registration and Lunch will begin at 11:00 a.m.  with the tournament beginning with a shotgun start at 12:00 noon. The format is a 4 person scramble.  Top teams will receive prizes and all golfers are eligible for door prizes to be presented at the end of the tournament.  Your entry fee includes lunch, green fees, cart rental, 2 drink tickets, door prizes and awards. Mulligans are available at $5 each, with a limit of 2.

Lodging:  A special discounted rate of $74/$84 plus tax is available for conference attendees at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks, Eureka Springs, AR, site of the 2009 conference & trade show, for Sept. 22-24.  Contact the Inn at (479) 253-9768 to request the special "ARC" discounted rate.  Call early, a limited number of rooms are available! 

The Sherwood Courts (479-253-8920), located within walking distance of the Convention Center, has a few rooms and cottages available at a rate of $49/109.

                                   Websites of interest in Eureka Springs

                                   www.innoftheozarks.com

                                   www.eurekasprings.org

                                   www.eurekaspringschamber.com

Link on the Attachments below for: