[greenyes] Re: greenyes Digest Is there really more trash for the holidays?

["Blair Pollock" <bpollock@no.address>]

John. et al:

Is it possible that Madison data is different from other places as the students influence the flow of waste. isn't the campus population of students alone, not including faculty or staff in the 40,000 range. If most of them leave town in Dec for holidays that could account for the lowered waste gen. rate then. That same logic would also correlate well with the high in waste in May (when the students clear out and leave their detritus) and in August when they return and there is a big slug of new consumption. 

I too am based in a college town and Karen's email, followed by your analysis got me thinking about this "more trash at Christmas"  thing too. Thus here are data from Chapel Hill NC for eight years noting the peak month and low month for waste in the residential and non-residential waste. Percentages represent diff b/w high & low months in each sector annually.

year           Peak month res.    Peak month comm (w/MFU).    Low month res.      Low month comm.
95/96            Aug     15%            Oct    22%                                   Mar                     Jun
96/97            Sep     30%            Sep    20%                                   Feb                     Feb 
9798             Dec     26%             Mar     9%                                    Nov                    Nov
98/99            Jun      17%             Oct     14%                                  Nov                    Feb
99/00            Jun       17%             Aug     27%                                  Apr                     Jan
00/01            Dec      12%            Aug      22%                                  Feb                    Dec
01/02            Apr        28%            Aug      15%                                 Feb                     Nov
02/03            Dec *     36%           May       14%                                Feb                     Aug

* ice storm resulted in major power outages for up to a week ―---> high throw out of food?

From: Karen.Hales@no.address 
Cc: bnwilliams@no.address 
Subject: Trash the Holidays
Message-ID: <OF808E006E.53B5D2CC-ON85256DF2.006BC4DE@no.address>
Did you know that Americans throw away 25% more trash during the
Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year? 
This amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons 
per week. Get the word out on ways to help trim the trash while trimming 
the tree. A few simple things you can do to reduce waste this holiday 
season:
1. Give gifts that are what friends and family really want or need.
2. Gift certificates or a donation to a favorite charity make great 
gifts
as well
3. Homemade food or something youve made yourself from reused items 

always great ideas.
4. Instead of wrapping gifts for the kids, hide the presents, and turn into a treasure hunt.
5. Send holiday e-greetings to family, friends and business associates who
are on-line. Wrap the gift in a gift: put cookies in a flower pot or hide jewelry 
in a new pair of gloves.

This tip was sponsored by the 2004 CRA Conference - Staying on Track
Revving Up Recycling.  To find out more about the conference , to register,or learn about the annual awards or sponsorship opportunities, visit ourWeb site at www.cra-recycle.org.

Karen Hales=
Recycling/Solid Waste Specialist
TOWN of CARY 919-462-3873 voice919-469-4304 
karen.hales@no.address 
http://www.townofcary.org 

"Make everyday America Recycles Day!"

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Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 13:58:44 -0600 
To: "'Karen.Hales@no.address'" <Karen.Hales@no.address>, 
	greenyes@no.address 
From: "Reindl, John" <Reindl@no.address>
Subject: RE: [greenyes] Trash the Holidays

I question the blanket statement of the statistic that "Americans throw away 25% more trash during the
Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than at any other time of year".

I have been in the solid waste field for over 30 years, and the data that I have seen from communities in my area over that time contradict this number.

As an example, in my own town of Madison, with a population of some =
200,000,
here are the data for solid waste for 2001:

As seen, the highest months are August and May. The month of December =
is our
third lowest month for waste generation, and January is only a bit =
higher.

Years ago, the summer months were even higher with respect to other =
months,
before there was the composting of grass clippings and the recycling of
beverage containers.=20

John Reindl, Recycling Manager
Dane County, WI=20

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Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 14:56:34 -0600 
To: "'greenYes@no.address'" <greenYes@no.address>
From: "Reindl, John" <Reindl@no.address>
Subject: RE: [greenyes] Trash the Holidays
Message-ID: <A4E3A2EDD526D511B11F0002A5348C490B11CB9D@no.address>

Here are the total for all of the city:

	Month		Tons
 	Jan		3,495
 	Feb		2,736
 	March		3,248
 	April		3,585
 	May		4,151
 	June		3,574
 	July		3,716
 	Aug		4,492
 	Sept		3,394
 	Oct		3,802
 	Nov		3,699
 	Dec		3,293
December is the third lowest month of generation, and August and May are the highest

John Reindl



__________________________________________________
Blair Pollock
Solid Waste Programs Manager
(919) 968-2788
fax: (919) 932-2900
PO Box 17177
Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7177