Solutions Plus

Saturday was a gloriously sunny and warm day in Southern Maine. So I spent it, along with my wife and a few other committed individuals, inside the theater at Frontier Cafe. The event was Solutions + Saturday, the brainchild of Fred Horch, proprieter of F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods in Brunswick. Solutions + Saturday was the culmination of a series of events celebrating Earth Week at the Cafe.

The were four topics examined, all of which centered around short films followed by discussion.
*Recycling
*Local and Organic Food
*Household Chemicals
*Energy and Climate Change

Each of these topics is worthy of it's own post, or even series of posts, and I intend to touch on them all in a series over the next few days or couple of weeks. I've certainly written a fair amount about Global Warming, and the economics of eating local food has been an interest of mine as well. I haven't thought as much about household chemicals, but the discussion related to pesticides, vinyl products, and other poisons that we readily bring into our homes was a real eye-opener.

The first topic, recycling, is to me a no-brainer. It is so clear to me that the foundation to protecting the planet is the mantra "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" that it is fundamental to all decisions that I make. The discussion on Saturday centered around the new single-stream recycling system in Brunswick. Students at Bowdoin College made a short film called "The Quest for Dan the Can" to educate other students about the changes in the recycling program. The film took us to the Brunswick landfill, and the recycling processing facility in Avon, Mass.

Discussion following the film centered around the Brunswick program, what can and can not be recycled, and a few myths. One myth discussed was the common misconception that it takes more energy to recycle an aluminum can than to create a new one. This only accounts for the actual can manufacturing process. Of course, a new can requires energy to extract the raw materials, transport the raw materials, and transform the raw materials into aluminum. Once all of these uses are accounted for, the energy cost of a new can far exceeds that of a recycled one.

Other interesting facts are that metals and glass do not degrade in the recycling process, so these materials can be recycled into the same products indefinitely. Fiber-based materials like paper do degrade, so can only be recycled into lower-grade materials. Certain plastics can be recycled indefinetely (#2 PET), however plastics all have some sort of pesky toxin issues, as well as the pesky petroleum-based issue for most (there are some vegetable-based plastics now on the market.)

One topic that was not discussed, perhaps do to time, is the concept of "precycling", which can also fall under the "reduce" category. Precycling can take a couple of forms. One form that I use a lot is buying in bulk and reusing containers at home. This reduces the amount of packaging associated with your purchases. Another form is to buy products whose producers have chosen to minimize the packaging for their products. One could also let the manufacturer know that one of the reasons that you buy their products is due to the limited packaging. (Do as I say, not as I do. I think this is a great idea that I may have done once in my life!). The final form of precycling is, if you can't avoid packaging, to purchase products enclosed in recycled packaging, preferably post-consumer material if possible. Again, let the manufacturer know that their packaging decisions matter to you.

I commend Fred Horch and Frontier for running this program. The only downside was that the public participation was very light. I know that Frontier and F.W. Horch publicized the event fairly heavily, but the weather certainly wasn't in their favor, especially considering the storms that we have suffered recently. It wasn't a good day to be inside. Still, there was lively discussion of all topics, and all are very important topics for the health of the planet and those who inhabit it, including humans. After attending the presentations, it is my pledge to bring these topics to an even broader audience - you the loyal reader. Stay tuned!