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From BioCycle Journal of Composting &Organics Recycling December 2000, Page 28 |
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DIVERTING 40 T0NS/DAY
BUILDING HUMAN RESOURCES INSTEAD OF LANDFILLS
St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Oregon creates marketable products and jobs from wood, glass, and other discards removed from the waste stream.
THE Lane County, Oregon affiliate of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) — an international Catholic charity — thrives as a nonprofit that acts entrepreneurially. Under the leadership of Terry McDonald, St. Vincent capitalizes on niche market opportunities to convert more than 40 tons/day of discarded products destined to be landfilled into marketable furniture, glassware, mattresses, building materials and appliances. “We’ve discovered that waste stream diversion is a good niche for this organization, a good way to create the income we need,” says McDonald. “We add value to products and bring them back to life.”
Windowpane glass, soda bottles and jars delivered by a major local recycler illustrate how the process works at the Aurora Glass Foundry, a division of SVDP. As reported in BioCycle (“Spotlight on Glass Recycling Innovators,” July, 2000), seven full-time employees create hot-selling items like suncatchers and commemorative pieces by crushing glass and adding color. After melting, material is poured into molds, slowly cooled and then marketed at St. Vincent’s gift shop as well as wholesale. The home decor product line now features table lamps, coasters and bowls.
WOOD SHOP
In 1989, McDonald’s organization perceived a need for dressers and bookcases in its thrift stores, but the few that were available were damaged beyond further use. His Board authorized development of a wood shop to produce low end durable dressers that would also: Create job training opportunity for low income people as well as permanent jobs; Include both recycled or postmanufacturing waste materials in the products; and Have the wood shop pay its own expenses.
“The product originally designed was a chipboard four-drawer dresser that retailed for $20,” explains McDonald. The material used was chipboard “blows” or imperfect boards that would normally go to the dump. While durable, it was suitable only for garage or storage use. Manufacturing this dresser allowed the woodshop to learn the process and identify markets while perfecting the succeeding products. Examples are the pine/melamine dressers and nightstands that are made from virgin western pine for the drawer face and trim plus imperfect melamine from the cabinet industry. “We are able to access an appropriate product at reduced cost that often is landfilled. The drawer back, bottom and sides are made from postmanufacturing waste hardboard material which we divert from a local manufacturer,” McDonald adds.
“The interesting thing about the wood shop is that we continue to find new ways to add recycled materials into its mix,” he continues. “For example, when one of our housing projects needed expensive triple bead molding, we made it out of recycled water bed frames. Rail materials in another project were made out of a special run of ashwood that would normally be used in our area as firewood. Odd lots of exotic woods from local manufacturers have been remilled to make bases for our glass awards from Aurora Glass. With a little creativity and thought, postmanufacturing waste and recycled materials are now finding their way into all our wood products and housing production.”
A primer painting system for preprimed molding and trim for the construction industry has been set up next to the wood shop that is experimenting with use of recycled paint. If successful, it will solve a problem for the Eugene solid waste department, which is having a difficult time developing a consistent market for its recycled paint program, as well as adding another revenue stream for St. Vincent.
RECYCLED MATTRESS FACTORY/MATTRESS SHREDDER
In 1990, St. Vincent did not have enough reusable used mattresses coming into the thrift operation, so staff recommended setting up a mattress factory for rebuilding box springs and mattresses. Since the factory has been operating, thousands of mattresses have been diverted from the landfill. At local transfer sites, trailers have been set up to drop off discarded mattresses. Then the filled trailers are hauled to the SVDP factory, where employees sort the rebuildable and reusable products. New fabric, ticking, foam and cotton are put on the frame, and all rebuilt mattresses are given a one-year warranty. McDonald estimates an 80 percent diversion from the dump of twins, fulls and queen mattresses.
An interesting outgrowth of the mattress factory is a shredding program to deal with mattresses still winding up at landfills. St. Vincent is designing a system to shred all residual products that cannot be either reused or rebuilt. An SVDP affiliate in Oakland, California is implementing a deconstruction system to divert mattresses collected in Alameda and San Francisco counties. For the Bay area, this amounts to more than 300 daily. Processed materials will be directed to these markets: Poly foam and toppers to the carpet pad industry; Steel back to the steel industry; and Wood to hog fuel users. St. Vincent is working with the International Sleep Products Association, the Alameda and San Francisco solid waste departments, and others to demonstrate and expand the process.
APPLIANCE RECYCLING AND GREEN BUILDING
Twenty years ago, St. Vincent was rebuilding an average of 25 appliances per month in Eugene. This year, McDonald estimates the number is over 300. White goods that are not rebuildable have their motors removed, oil drained and CFCs recycled. “St. Vincent operations recycle over 16 tons of appliances per day,” he calculates. “Our next venture is likely to be in computer recycling. Our solid waste district is absorbing over 25 tons of computer junk per month. The need is to separate what can be reused, create usable products, and develop new training for our vocational services program. I hope to have this venture in place in Eugene within the year and that our experiences will spur others to develop this kind of sustainable community model where they are located.”
As part of its emphasis on community outreach programs, SVDP has built or restored over 300 units of affordable housing, with 250 more under development this year. Increasingly this focus is incorporating green building activities. Housing encompasses permanent affordable rentals, duplexes, single residence occupancy units, apartments and transitional housing for homeless families.
Explains Amanda Saul of the SVDP staff: “Our program is now taking steps to further its innovative approach to housing development to ensure new buildings have less environmental impact and are healthier to live in.” This means that whenever possible, future housing built by SVDP will use green building materials and techniques such as wheatboard, tankless water heaters, solar heaters and biofiltration swales. “Wheatboard is a particle board alternative that utilizes an agricultural waste product (wheat straw), is superior in performance to particleboard and made with a low toxic formaldehyde-free binder. Tankless water heaters are incredibly energy efficient while grassy swales hold stormwater on site and act to naturally filter water runoff from streets and parking lots before it runs into the river,” Saul continues. “We are looking at all the processes involved in developing housing to find low or no-cost ways to create healthier, more livable housing. Examples include orienting homes to gain maximum solar efficiency, placing developments close to jobs, transportation, and soil services. This strategy will affect all stages of the development process from planning and design, to construction and even deconstruction of buildings. We have compiled a resource book to help members of the development team (from architects to contractors to property managers) identify and locate green products, as well as weigh the costs and benefits of those products.”
St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Inc. can be contacted at PO Box 24608, Eugene, Oregon 97402 or (541) 687-5820. For more information on the green building resource book visit the website at www.svdplanecounty.org.
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