Subject: Waterwire, December 7, 2000
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 17:46:31 -0500
From: "Carter Craft" <carter@waterwire.net>
Organization: Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
To: "Info" <info@waterwire.net>
Waterwire, December 7, 2000 [excerpted]
[. . .]
+ Garbage In, Garbage Out:
Little Net Gain for Region
+ MWA Project: Redefining "Build
to Suit"
[. . .]
+ Waterwire Calendar Now
On-Line
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+ Garbage In, Garbage Out: Little Net Gain for Region
The center of the region's solid waste framework shifted
1/4 of a mile late
last month as officials in New York and New Jersey approved
the creation of
a barge-to-rail facility at Tremley Point on the Arthur
Kill in Linden, New
Jersey.
The proposed $50 million marine-transfer station will
be built by
Browning-Ferris Industries on a 16-acre tract along the
Rahway River and
Arthur Kill in Linden. The enclosed transfer station
would take in between
6,000 and 10,000 tons of New York City's trash by barge
each day-up to 85%
of the City's daily residential waste.
The deal also underlies New York City's own Solid Waste
Management Plan
(SWMP) in that it facilitates the closure of the Fresh
Kills landfill. The
course to closure is by no means a smooth one, costing
the City of New York
$130 million in higher costs for Fiscal year 2001 alone.
As pointed out by organizations such as the Waste Prevention
Coalition, the
Organization of Waterfront Neighborhoods, and the NYC
Environmental Justice
Alliance, there are significant wins in the agreement.
Most notably, through
a 3-year, $6.3 million pilot program, the agency will
hire recycling/waste
prevention coordinators through contracts with community-based
organizations. This will create 28 new positions in fourteen
offices
citywide-no small feat during an era of downsizing government.
Still, the
SMWP is not really a Solid Waste Management Plan since
it doesn't address
the 2/3 of the city's daily refuse generated by businesses.
One of the more serious shortcomings is that the deal
fails to upgrade
physical or operating standards for any new transfer
stations, or for those
that will operate under the city's "Export Plan." Overall,
it does very
little to improve existing conditions in communities
already impacted by
concentrations of transfer stations. (For more information
on how MWA is
working to deal with this issue see "Redefining 'Build
To Suit'" below).
In testimony to the City Council, NYC Waste Prevention
Coalition steering
committee member Marjorie J. Clarke advocated for more
of the Department of
Sanitation's funding to be moved "up the waste stream"
to other city
agencies. This way, waste management practices can become
established closer
to the source of the waste, rather than continuing the
present pattern of
pouring more funds into disposing of existing wasteful
practices.
For more information on the NYC Waste Prevention Coalition
visit
http://everest.hunter.cuny.edu/~mclarke/WPComm.htm
For a copy of the Citywide Recycling Board's response
to the SWMP contact
BCOHEN@empire.state.ny.us
For a listing of reports and publications of the NYC
Department of
Sanitation visit http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dos/html/pubnrpts.html
For info on the National Waste Prevention Coalition visit
http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/nwpc/index.htm
For info on the Waste Prevention Information Exchange
visit
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPIE/
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+ MWA Project: Redefining "Build to Suit"
Never in our lifetimes has the waterfront been in greater
demand. Power
consumption continues to increase and global trade and
consumerism are
creating greater demand for larger and larger port and
maritime facilities.
For the metropolitan waterfront, the solid waste management
crisis is only
beginning for other towns like Linden and Elizabeth,
where an expanded waste
transfer operation churns trucks and trash just a couple
blocks from a
bustling community center. The dozen marine waste transfer
stations around
the city are still critical to the functioning of the
city, but they don't
necessarily make good neighbors.
Time has shown that design can be a valuable tool in creating
better
buildings, facilities, and places. Project decisions
do not have to be made
based on sole criteria. Though our region has an abundance
of valuable
waterfront sites and productive waterfront facilities,
we have not achieved
many working waterfront facilities that actually accomplish
multiple goals,
such as environmental efficiency, or create community
amenities such as
meaningful public access. For these facilities
to be sustainable members of
the community in the future they will have to be better
neighbors and they
will have to perform to a higher standard.
Institutions as diverse as the Ford Motor Company to the
Chesapeake Bay
Foundation are developing facilities that minimize impacts
on the land and
environment while maximizing efficiency. Reclaiming wood
and metal,
installing waterless composting toilets, solar panels,
and natural
ventilation, these organizations are creating facilities
that use only a
fraction of the energy and water of conventional buildings
built today.
That's great for Dearborn, Michigan and for the Chesapeake,
now what about
us?
Here, the demand for waterfront location is still very
high among industry,
and the resistance of most neighborhoods against many
types of facilities
remains. In most places there is no real "interface"
between industrial
facilities and their adjacent neighborhoods-only edges.
To help re-vision these relationships, MWA is exploring
opportunities with
NYCEJA, NYLPI, and the Municipal Art Society to address
design and
performance issues relating to these "working waterfront"
facilities.
Over the next 18 months we hope to create tangible methods
for improving the
relationships between industrial facilities and their
adjacent communities.
The project is conceived of as a set of public programs
(including site
visits), design competitions, and exhibits that involve
industry,
community-based organizations and local educational institutions.
The potential facilities to be considered are grouped
in six categories:
Energy Facilities and Utilities; Manufacturing and Commercial;
Waste and
Sludge Transfer; Port and Maritime; Sewage Treatment;
and Transportation.
If you, your agency or your organization is interested
in participating in
this project please contact Project manager Carter Craft
at 800-364-9943 or
email carter@waterwire.net.
If you have ideas on specific facilities that
should be addressed please send them to info@waterwire.net
Info on the Chesapeake Bay Foundation project www.gristmagazine.com
(well worth a visit)
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Waterwire is upgrading and we hope this will make it more
useful
user-friendly. We're developing two on-line databases,
one for
Stories/Archives and one for Calendar events. The Calendar
is now fully
installed at http://www.waterwire.net/Events.cfm
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This is W A T E R W I R E, a publication of the Metropolitan
Waterfront
Alliance. WATERWIRE connects communities from the Highlands
to the ocean,
and it's FREE, like water used to be. Please send all
announcements or
submissions to info@waterwire.net
To hop aboard or bail out email
ethan@waterwire.net
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