Sponsored by Sustainable Flatbush, Flatbush Food Coop, and Brooklyn College Student Center

Filmed over nearly three years, Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.

Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives.

Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT and COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

WHERE:
Brooklyn College Student Center
Gold Room (6th floor)
Campus Road and East 27th Street, Brooklyn
Subway: 2 or 5 train to Brooklyn College/Flatbush Avenue
Free refreshments and popcorn
provided by Flatbush Food Co-op

Sunset Park, Brooklyn (photo by Barry Yanowitz)

The name “Solid Waste Advisory Board” might evoke images of a room full of important-looking people, conversing in abstract and political language that would be lost on, or irrelevant to, the average New Yorker. At least, that’s what I was half-expecting. What greeted me instead was a room full of interesting and diverse people ranging from a retired science teacher to a graduate student to members of various community groups, talking candidly about issues that affect all Brooklynites. I quickly learned that, although it was a small meeting, the Brooklyn SWAB is a group of and for the people of Brooklyn, open to any and all interested residents. They make recommendations directly to the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, chaired by councilwoman Letitia James, so I really encourage anyone interested in the fate of solid waste in Brooklyn to come to next month’s meeting. I learned a lot and every attendee has the opportunity to voice their opinion and ask questions.

Last Monday, the main subject was the plan to build a new glass/metal/plastic recycling facility at Brooklyn Pier in Sunset Park, a site which is currently an empty paved lot. Tom Outerbridge, the General Manager of Sims municipal recycling entity, came to the meeting to give an informal presentation on the plans of the company, as well as answer the many questions and concerns posed by members of the Board. Sims is working with the Economic Development Corporation, and has a long-term contract with New York City, which also includes existing facilities in Long Island City, the Bronx and Jersey City. He really enlightened me on many aspects of recycling in New York that I had never thought about (and some that I had).  Focusing on efficiency, he stressed that building this facility would reduce the number of miles that recycling trucks would drive by 240,000 per year because currently, most of Brooklyn’s recycling is being driven to Queens for processing.

He also highlighted some unique aspects of the project which include easy pedestrian access to the site, a recycling education center to be used by elementary school classes, and the attempts to hire employees locally within Sunset Park. He also stressed a more general problem, which is contamination and sorting; even deciding what is “recyclable” is tricky, Outerbridge explained to us, because certain types of plastic,  in small enough quantities, have no market and the facility has no place to ship those materials to. He said that if they could collect and sort more substantial amounts of those plastics, then they would be able to sell them to companies who re-process them into usable material. If you’re confused, take comfort in knowing that I am too, and I think it’s fair to say that many of us at the meeting were slightly unsure about what the bottom line is. This highlights one of the most important aspects about recycling, which is the need for more outreach and education on the community level, so that every New Yorker has a clear idea of how to sort their trash and recyclables. And, the more that we all know about the ins and outs of recycling, the more we can make informed opinions and put pressure on the city to improve our recycling infrastructure.

This brings me to the other part of the meeting, which was to discuss a set of eleven new bills which will amend LL 19, the city’s comprehensive residential recycling law. These bills span from expanding the types of plastic to be recycled, to increasing the responsibility of the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education, to changing the enforcement and fines associated with improper recycling. Members of SWAB will be attending and testifying at upcoming hearings on the legislation, and the bills are expected to pass at some point this summer. These are meant to make recycling easier for residents, but more action may be necessary. For example, one attendee at the meeting pointed out that the Department of Sanitation has exactly one employee in charge of managing recycling in apartment buildings throughout the city, a tremendous job. Many people at the meeting seemed in agreement that there should be many more people with the same job, since apartment buildings may represent one of the biggest challenges in recycling outreach and education. Apparently, more money will be directed towards outreach in the near future.

Going to this meeting heartened me because it showed me that there are people in all corners of Brooklyn who are interested in informing themselves about solid waste in their city and in doing what they can to advance the cause of reducing our waste stream. It’s up to organizations like ours to educate our community and to come up with creative new ways to complement the actions the Department of Sanitation is already taking.

**If you’re interested in attending future meetings of the Brooklyn Solid Waste Advisory Board, contact Ken Diamondstone at (718) 522-5437 or Nancy Walby at (718) 258 2701.

* Zero waste is an ambitious goal to eliminate garbage (or darn close) through strategies including reduction, reuse, recycling and composting.

* Zero waste is about sustainable resource management, because it preserves materials and resources, saves energy and reduces global warming.

* Zero waste employs creative and comprehensive approaches to maximize waste reduction. Integral to zero waste are product stewardship requirements that give corporations the responsibility for taking back or eliminating the wasteful products they produce (examples include toxicity, excessive packaging and a short life span).

* Zero waste is an engine for green economic development and job creation. It saves more resources and energy and does more to address global warming than any other approach to waste management. It needs a cooperative effort between the community and industry (if our communities can’t reuse, recycle, or compost it, industry shouldn’t make it).

Citizens’ Environmental Coalition is sponsoring the New York State Zero Waste Campaign:

Join a statewide coalition of concerned citizens and groups to press the state to incorporate 21st century “Zero Waste” principles into its solid waste policies. NY lags behind many states in recycling and composting and remains heavily dependent on polluting garbage incinerators and landfills. In many municipalities, recycling and waste diversion rates have been declining, and existing NYS policy has done little to turn this dismal situation around. We have an opportunity to move toward Zero Waste in New York, but we need your involvement.

I answered their questionaire, but couldn’t find any further information on their website. I’ll post updates here as they become available…

Here’s a snippet from Home Depot’s press release:

ATLANTA, June 24, 2008 – The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, today expanded its long-term commitment to the environment and sustainability by launching a national in-store, consumer compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb recycling program at all 1,973 The Home Depot locations. This free service is the first such offering made so widely available by a retailer in the United States and offers customers additional options for making environmentally conscious decisions from purchase to disposal. The Home Depot Canada launched a CFL recycling program in November, 2007.

At each The Home Depot store, customers can simply bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulbs, and give them to the store associate behind the returns desk. The bulbs will then be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.

The press release goes on to tout Home Depot’s energy conservation programs, Eco Options product labeling, etc. I know that the cynics among us will question Home Depot’s motives for doing the right thing, but personally I am not so concerned about WHY they do it as long as they do. Let the Big Box stores be the first to take responsibility for All That Stuff they sell to us. (And if you’re really concerned/cynical put your money where your mouth is: don’t buy all that stuff!) When producers and retailers bear the burden that these products create after their useful life, a lot of things will change.

More perspectives on this announcement:
NY Times
Boston Globe
Grist

More on CFLs and recycling:
Grist

More places to recycle various objects (see links for details):
Staples: computers and peripherals, printers, other office electronics, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, printer cartridges
Best Buy: appliances, computers, televisions, cell phones, a/v equipment, batteries, printer cartridges
Whole Foods: glass and plastic bottles, plastic bags, batteries

Solar Energy
This week the State legislature approved new tax incentives to encourage the installation of more solar electric (photovoltaic) panels in New York. This is great news, but the lack of opportunity for net metering (selling excess power back to the grid) remains been one of the biggest impediments to the growth of solar in New York State. Under current laws, home solar systems have limited net metering abilities and commercial installations have NONE. This is a huge lost opportunity to ease strain on our electrical grid and prevent power outages during the summer, since the peak demand for power (particularly in NYC) occurs at the time when solar panels are at their most effective: in the middle of the day. What can you do?
Send a message to Albany to loosen restrictions on net metering!

• UPDATE from Vote Solar: New York is on a roll. The state also just passed legislation to update its net metering standard, from a claustrophobic 10 kW cap for solar installations, limited to residential only, up to a gold-standard 2 MW, open to all customer classes. This significantly opens the market for large scale solar in New York, and is a critical step towards building a major solar market in the Empire State.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Under the RGGI, New York will make dirty power plants clean up their act by requiring them to cut carbon dioxide emissions and pay a price for any remaining pollution. Polluter Pays… what a concept!
Tell the Department of Environmental Conservation that you support the RGGI

Bigger Better Bottle Bill
A favorite at Sustainable Flatbush (see here and here), this bill passed the State Assembly on June 11th, and must now pass the Republican-controlled Senate. The bill would add 5-cent deposits to non-carbonated beverages such as bottled water, iced tea, and sports drinks, whose market share was nonexistent when our current bottle bill was enacted in 1982. According to NYPIRG, “nearly 3 billion non-carbonated beverage bottles and cans end up in the trash or polluting our state’s rivers, beaches, and neighborhoods each year because they don’t have a deposit”… so the bill’s potential to reduce litter and increase recycling is huge. I don’t have a link to email your Senator, but will update the post if I find one.

Okay, this one is federal, but also very important:
Green Jobs Act and “Green Block Grant” Program
Activist Van Jones (if you don’t know him yet, check him out!) has this to say about the legislation:

A fully funded Green Jobs Act will distribute $125 million per year to identify needed skills, develop training programs, and train workers for jobs in a range of green industries. That’s enough money to train 30,000 people in green trades – every year. It targets a broad range of populations for eligibility, but it has a special focus on creating “green pathways out of poverty.” In other words, this Act can connect the people who MOST need work – to the work that MOST needs to get done.

A fully funded Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program will distribute $2 billion per year to cities and local governments for energy conservation, energy audits, fuel conservation programs, and the use of renewable energy. These “Green” block grants could create tens of thousands of green-collar jobs – accessible to low-income city residents who most need opportunities and careers.

Urge your Congressperson and Senators to support these programs!

Now go have a beer!

Flier design by Keka

Here’s the concept:

Block Party NYC is a new program by the New York City Streets Renaissance which is helping neighborhoods around NYC come together and enjoy their street for a day, free from the usual hazards and distractions of automobiles. This summer alone, we’re providing mini-grants to over 30 block parties throughout the 5 boroughs. Each of these parties also gets the services of a professional urban planner for a day, who will help find community solutions to community problems like traffic, speeding, and noise and air pollution. They will also talk to residents about what they like and dislike about their street, what they want to preserve, and what needs to change.

Yes, we will discuss all of these serious issues with our neighbors, but we will also hang out and have a great time! Here are all the details:

Newkirk Avenue Block Party, a Livable Streets celebration co-sponsored by Flatbush Development Corporation, New York City Streets Renaissance, and Make Music New York, with participation of Solar One, Brooklyn Compost Project, Council on the Environment of NYC, Transportation Alternatives, Alive Structures, Midwood Martial Arts, and Newkirk Area merchants. Join us for:

Live Music and DJ’s all day!
Traditional NYC Street Games:
Handball, Skully, Hopscotch, Double Dutch, Jacks, and more!
Food Vendors!
Environmental Info and Activities:
Solar Power, Composting, Green Roof/Garden Design, Cell Phone Recycling, etc.,
plus Recycling Games and Art Projects just for kids!

WHEN: Saturday, June 21st, 11am – 6pm, Rain or Shine!
WHERE: Newkirk Avenue between East 16th and East 17th Streets

See you there!

Here are the details, courtesy of the Green Drinks website:

Join us for BKLYN Green Drinks @ The (Brooklyn) Center for the Urban Environment located on 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. Celebrate their exciting and innovative new headquarters as they become LEED-Certified Gold for Commercial Interiors by the US Green Building Council, the first of its kind in Brooklyn!

Founded in 1978, Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment is dedicated to educating individuals about the built and natural environments of New York City. Creators of the Green Brooklyn conference and the Sustainable Business Network, the Center is a local leader in the field whose commitment to strengthening public education and developing more sustainable communities is rooted in the belief that creating a healthy and livable environment requires instilling an appreciation for and an understanding of the built and natural environments. Their wide range of programs address the needs of the city’s underserved communities with a diverse menu of hands-on educational offerings that develop an understanding of the interdependency of urban life with the local ecosystem, improving academic performance and instruction, and fostering environmental stewardship.

The folks at BCUE want to announce that they are also accepting
recycling on the premises that night:

• Alkaline batteries
• Inkjet/laser cartridges
• Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFLs)
• Technotrash, meaning: All forms of electronic media and their cases: diskettes, zip disks, CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs et al, video
tape (i.e. VHS), audio tape, game cartridges, DAT, DLT, Beta or Digibeta, and virtually all other type of computer tapes.
• Hard drives, Zip and Jazz drives, jump drives, etc.
• All forms of printer cartridges including both inkjet and toner.
• All types of pagers, PDAs and their chargers, cables, and headset accessories
• All types of rechargeable batteries and their chargers
• All of the cords, cables, boards, chips, etc. attached to or removed from a computer.

WHERE:
Center for the Urban Environment, 168 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (btw 2nd and 3rd Aves)
F train to 4th Ave or R train to 9th Street. Walk over 2 blocks north to 7th Street and 1 avenue west to 3rd Avenue

WHEN:
Wed 5/21, 7 pm – 9 pm

Cash bar (proceeds to benefit CUE)

Still thirsty? Bar Tano located at 457 3rd Ave and 9th Street will be open until 12 am.

(… Now, if we could only find a permanent place to recycle our CFLs…)

2008′s first Saturday Greenmarket in Grand Army Plaza began a series of textile recycling events called “Second Chance Saturdays” (acceptable donations include used clothing, shoes, boots, hats, jackets, towels, bedding, and linens). These collections will continue at the Greenmarket every Saturday until March 29th; details from Council on the Environment are here .

“We are thrilled to be expanding this very successful clothing collection program to Brooklyn” said David Hurd, OROE (Office of Recycling Outreach and Education) Director. “Some 193,000 tons of clothing and textiles that could be recycled end up in the landfill each year. By bringing these materials to the Greenmarket on your way to shop, New Yorkers help save these valuable commodities.”

Greenmarket Textile Recycling photo by Gowanus Lounge

Saturday and Sunday were Mulchfest days at Prospect Park and many other locations, where Brooklynites brought their Christmas trees to get chipped into mulch for gardens. I was fortunate enough to ride by on my bike and savor the lovely evergreen scent while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate, served up by our own Gardening Committee co-chair, Flatbush Gardener (aka Santa), who covers the event here. Apparently this is the first year the city has had two drop-off locations in Prospect Park (previously the only one has been at the Prospect Park West and Third Street entrance); the new Park Circle location, which is much more accessible for residents of Flatbush, Kensington, and other neighborhoods south of the park, collected 784 trees. This success speaks to the importance of providing convenient locations for recycling opportunities, particularly in New York City, where many people don’t own cars but are very creative at coming up with short-distance transport options.

Mulchfest photo by Flatbush Gardener

Back in the neighborhood, Sustainable Flatbush held our own Post-Holiday Electronics Recycling Event . As with the Christmas tree drop-off, we feel that providing a convenient location is key to local participation. 50+ visitors and three cargo vans filled with “electrojunk” (a new term coined by 3R Committee chair Mark Levy, host of the event) seem to prove our point. We delivered our goods to Lower East Side Ecology Center’s massive year-end e-waste collection at Union Square. Look for a repeat of this event every few months, due to popular demand.

Printer Recycling photo by Flatbush Gardener

Thanks especially to everyone at Lower East Side Ecology Center for making the event possible, and to Flatbush Development Corporation for their promotion and support. We hope to do another one soon.

photo by keka

Instead, bring them to the
First-Ever Flatbush Electronics Recycling Event
this weekend. Details below:

When:
Saturday June 30, 10am – 4pm
Sunday July 1, 10am – 4pm
Monday July 2, 4pm – 7pm

Where:
Cortelyou Road between Rugby and Argyle
Flatbush, Brooklyn (map here)
Subway: Q train to Cortelyou Road stop
Bus: B23, B103 stop at location; B68 and B41 stop nearby

Why:
Discarded computers and electronics are toxic hazardous waste!
Keep your unwanted electronics out of the landfill by bringing them
to this neighborhood e-waste recycling event.

What:
We will accept working and non-working:
- Computers (laptop and desktop) and Monitors
- Printers, Keyboards, Mice and Cables
- TVs and VCRs (no wooden console models, only plastic cases)
- Fax machines, Cell Phones, and Pagers

please note: we cannot accept small household appliances
such as microwaves and toasters

Sponsored by the Lower East Side Ecology Center
and Sustainable Flatbush.

Co-sponsored by Flatbush Development Corporation.