everydaytrash

The Hindu reported today that rag pickers, beggars who collect trash and sell off reusable bits of it in India, are sneaking into dumps. Toxic contamination can’t keep them out of the rubbage yards and can’t stop them from burning trash in search of metal scrap to sell.

The image of these clandestine fires led me to search the Internet for more rag picker trivia. I found this decent overview describing the tough but honorable profession of collecting what would otherwise be wasted and somehow forging it into a living. And then I found this article declaring recycled bags made by Indian beggars to be all the rage in London.

  While I’m usually the first to trash DSNY initiatives, I have to admit their waste-reducing gift ideas are excellent.  I especially like the notion of giving entertainment, we don’t take advantage enough of the arts around us.

Speaking of art, I’m not sure it’s entirely necessary to spend tax dollars creating clip art to demonstrate waste-reduction principles.

Plastics News, in a piece picked up by Waste News (yes, the trash media industry is that large and that specialized), reported this week that while recycling of resin made from used PET is on the rise, it has yet to make a dent in mass consumption of plastic bottles. Polyethylene terephthalate, better known as PET, is “a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family“. The mass throwing away of PET products is a real shame when you consider that they could be melted down and reincarnated as carpet, clothing, hypoallergenic pillow stuffing and all kinds of other neat products. Not to mention the creative uses people have found for raw PET, such as the building and construction products extensively reported over at the The Temas Blog.

In my quest to find a use for my small collection of bridesmaid dresses, I came across uglydress.com and just had to share. The three red dresses I’ve sported down the aisle are not that bad in the grand scheme of things one might have to buy, alter and wear in public on behalf of a friend getting married. But they aren’t exactly reusable, either.

Just what are we supposed to do with the dress when the pageant is over? I refuse to throw them away and I don’t know any little girls with dress-up boxes (and wouldn’t encourage this sort of gender-specific dress-up item anyway).

My mother, always hopeful about these things, suggested I have the skirt of my last bridesmaid dress shortened and that I wear the apple-red satin ballgown as a cocktail dress. With a triple-layer of black lacey stuff under the skirt and a halter neck, the cocktail party I wore that thing to would have to be on ice (in which case I wouldn’t have right muff for the occasion anyway).

So, I’m left with the aforementioned halter gown, a maroon seperates number (the top of which presumably could be used as the shell of a suit, if I had the sort of job that required wearing suits), a spaghetti strapped ankle-length dress that might have been reusable if it didn’t constitute the physical proof of that time my cousin joined the navy, married a stripper and forced me to be the “red” in their patriotic-themed ceremony. Also, it’s just a little too orange, which always kills a red dress.

I know there are used dress sites, but I’m looking for something bigger and badder ass to do with my collection. An installation project perhaps? A hipster crafts project? Please post any and all ideas as comments.

From the president of Columbia University:
Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Columbia joins other colleges and universities around the country in marking Campus Sustainability Day–an event designed to spark discussion and action to reduce the environmental footprint of college campuses. Columbia’s students, faculty, and staff have a long-standing commitment to responsible environmental stewardship–and this day is an opportunity not only to reflect on our accomplishments to date, but to build on them for the future.

The event will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Low Plaza and will feature information tables, sustainability kits, and a live Webcast from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. linking us with campuses nationwide.

Columbia researchers have led the way on environmental issues worldwide–from El Nino to asthma in urban neighborhoods, climate change, and environmental policy making. Locally, Mayor Bloomberg recently announced an expansion of Columbia’s efforts to advance environmental protection–New York City’s engagement of the Earth Institute to advise its new Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.

This semester, working together as a community, we are taking a fresh approach to thinking about and managing our own environmental impact, with the establishment of the Office of Environmental Stewardship, under the direction of Nilda Mesa. We have a number of new initiatives getting underway. Among these are:

* Examining ways to reduce our energy consumption, limit our greenhouse gas emissions, and obtain power from renewable energy sources in the future;

* Incorporating environmental and energy enhancements in new construction projects at Columbia;

* Improving our recycling practices and establishing composting programs;

* Launching a Sustainability Advisory Council that will include academic, administrative, and student members;

* Expanding the Environmental Stewardship Web site to serve as a virtual forum for exchanging ideas and tips related to the environment and our daily lives.

The address of the site is www.columbia.edu/cu/environment. I invite you to join our celebration of Campus Sustainability Day. It is a good step toward working together as a University to help preserve and enhance the environment of our campus, our community, and our planet.

Sincerely, Lee C. Bollinger

  After writing here about composting toilets, I felt a little guilty about dismissing them as yuppy outhouses so I decided to look just a little more into home and office use.  After contemplating a place to begin research, I found the answer right here on the sidebar: howtocompost.org.  In the comments, I also found a link to The Humanure Handbook by Joseph C. Jenkins, a catch-all volume with punny chapter titles with tons of information about the ecological, practical and spiritual benefits of turning human feces into soil fuel (I recommend the section entitled “Deep Sh*t” in which he speaks to a humble nunnery).

But are these composting toilets practical?

In a later chapter, Jenkins predicts:  “The toilets of the future will also be collection devices rather than waste disposal devices. The collected organic material will be hauled away from homes and composted under the responsibility of municipal authorities, perhaps under contract with a private sector composting facility.”

Until then, we city dwellers might have trouble fitting  a bulky toilet with a composting chamber into our tiny apartments and anyone without a serious compost pile will have some serious problem solving to do when it comes time to empty the john (you farm people, however, had best get to it setting a green example).  Advocacy step one includes community composting and adding human waste in municipal recycling collection.