Neil Seldman Forum @ Vassar Oct. 9: "How Dutchess Can Move from Incineration Towards Zero Waste to Save Money, Create Jobs, and Clean Up the Air"
75,000 people marched in NYC on Sept. 17th to end carbon pollution from fossil fuels. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/9/18/march_to_end_fossil_fuels_presser
It's time for us in the Hudson Valley to work and march to end the 100,000 tons of global warming pollution in CO2 equivalents that comes out of the Dutchess County Incinerator in Poughkeepsie each year.
Join Zero Waste Dutchess and Neil Seldman of Zero Waste USA for a crucial forum:
“How Dutchess Can Move From Incineration Towards Zero Waste to Save Money, Create Jobs and Clean Up the Air”
Monday Oct. 9th at 6 pm at Vassar College's Rockefeller Hall Room 300
Event cosponsors include the Vassar College Environmental Studies Program, Zero Waste USA, Zero Waste Dutchess, Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition, WHVW 950 AM/96.5 FM, Concerned Citizens of Dover, Westchester Alliance for Sustainable Solutions, Dutchess Greens, Working Class Dutchess, and Zero Waste Warren County.
Get involved– contact Zero Waste Dutchess CoDirector Judy Malstrom at zerowastedutchess@gmail.com or 845-876-2488; join our weekly Zoom calls!
Sign our Zero Waste Dutchess petition: https://www.change.org/p/adopt-zero-waste-goal-for-dutchess-contract-zero-waste-expert-close-county-incinerator
Better yet-- email countyexec@dutchessny.gov, countylegislators@dutchessny.gov, and countylegislature@dutchessny.gov
Note-- the Dutchess incinerator in Poughkeepsie also emits seven pounds of mercury annually-- enough to poison 3100 lakes of 20-acre size to make the fish too contaminated to eat-- along with 45,000 pounds of volatile organic chemicals and a host of other toxins (dioxins, lead, chromium, etc.). Check out this comprehensive compendium/analysis of Dutchess incinerator emissions from Mike Ewall of Beyond Burning: https://www.beyondburning.org/
The recently approved Solid Waste Management Plan for Dutchess admits the county incinerator is falling apart and will soon need millions of dollars in new pollution controls. There's another way-- Neil Seldman and Mike Ewall of Beyond Burning co-authored the cost-saving, zero-waste plan for Montgomery County (MD) that cleverly and effectively weans the county away from incineration-- with recycling/composting/reuse. The County Executive and County Council there in Montgomery County (MD) have embraced this zero-waste plan and are actually implementing it right now-- in spite of the fact that (like Dutchess County) Montgomery County actually has a current contract with an incinerator firm. This is the model for Dutchess County to follow: https://www.beyondburning.org/
Neil Seldman is also working with Warren County and Replenysh.com to save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually baling recyclables locally-- Dutchess could save upwards of half a million dollars annually this way. We recently asked Neil Seldman to help us demonstrate in numbers/dollar figures the potential value of materials in the waste stream in Dutchess County-- materials that, if Dutchess worked with a broker like https://replenysh.com the way Warren County is about to, county taxpayers could literally save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by making sure the glass, paper, plastic, and metal is all baled locally before being sent to mills. Neil made a bunch of calls to regional processing mills in/around the Hudson Valley-- and confirmed that this list below of current prices/values for materials in Dutchess is accurate--
[prices/values listed here below are per ton]
Glass $10-$15 as clean fill
Compost $75
Paper
Office $125
Corrugated $50
Mixed $30
Plastic
PET $120
HDPE $440
PPP $100
Colored HDPE $120
Film $300
Metal
Steel Cans $200
Aluminum $1,300
See more on this excellent model for Dutchess County here: https://www.zerowastewarrenco.org
Check out this piece co-authored by Neil Seldman, Director of the Cornucopia Program for Zero Waste USA, if you haven't yet-- "The Second Recycling Revolution": https://nrcrecycles.org/
[Note-- Ulster County's plans in this regard are admirably and eerily similar in some ways to the eco-industrial park in Alachua County that Neil Seldman was telling us about back in 2009-- one of the main parts of Neil's and former Co. Leg. Joel Tyner's pitch to GOP/Conservative Co. Leg.'s Rob Weiss, Rob Rolison, and 9 other Republican members of Dutchess County Legislature that all actually voted in Mar. 2009 to approve Joel's resolution (inspired/informed by Neil) for Dutchess to apply for federal funds for zero-waste planning-- current County Exec Wm. O'Neil was Deputy County Exec to Steinhaus at the time-- they never followed through on that:
https://dutchessdemocracy.
https://www.townofhurley.org/
https://hudsonvalleyone.com/
You can also see Shabazz' presentation on all this 15 minutes into this video as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
(from our 8/29/23 Zero Waste Dutchess Zoom)
Check out this list of communities across US that have zero-waste plans in full effect(!):
https://www.epa.gov/
Check out these four links for more from Mike Ewall on how incineration is far more polluting and costly than burning coal, landfilling, or any other form of energy-- more besides this too:
https://www.beyondburning.org/
https://www.beyondburning.org/
https://www.beyondburning.org/
https://beyondburning.org/
Finally-- put this coming Thurs. on your calendars-- the indefatigable Fred Nagel of Rhinebeck 5-6 pm on WVKR 91.3 FM-- but that's not all folks-- go to https://classwars.org -- check out the multi-state reach of where/when his "Activist Radio" show can be heard(!): "Thursdays 8-9 am on KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, OR; Thursdays 11-12 noon on WRFA 107.9 FM in Jamestown, NY; Thursdays 5-6 pm on WVKR 91.3 FM at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Thursdays from 7-8 pm on WBDY 99.5 fm at The Bundy in Binghamton, NY; Sundays 1:30-2:30 pm on WESU 88.1 FM at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; Sundays 4-5 pm from WIOF 104.1 FM in Woodstock, NY; and Sundays 5-6 pm from the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.LIVE. Past programs are available as a podcast; search for Activist Radio on iTunes, Google Play, Digital Podcast, Stitcher. or Spotify. You can also listen to us anytime on the web at ClassWars.org. Our last ten programs can also be heard by clicking on the dates to the right."[!]
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