Well, one thing I noticed is that every time there is a new report on
subsidies for virgin materials, everyone agrees it s bad but NO ONE does
anything.
Its true industry is not going to voluntarily lobby to kills subsidies,
because
A. they dont want their material costs to go up
B. They already have to compete on cost with low-cost no names in Asia
Things like this need leadership from somewhere, and we never get it in
Congress.
There needs to be a balance -- China has all the stuff going for it right
now. We need leadership in congress and above to DEAL with it in a
balanced way. Bush is not -- he is too tied to oil and wants to keep
industry happy at all costs.
This is all costing us dearly.
Just wanted to keep thought processes going.
Yes my customers are mostly industry, but I am independent, and they do not
have control over the newsletters. I call the shots as I see them.
Cheers
Michele
At 04:06 PM 4/6/2004 -0600, Eric Lombardi wrote:
Michele,
There are actually a lot of environmentalists fighting to change the
Mining Act of 1872 (I think that's the year) ... but you're right that
the "secondary materials industry" (i.e. the recyclers) haven't
connected with this issue the way we should. But there are reasons for
that Michele, and if you're sincere in suggesting that we do something
on this issue, then you need to also discuss the issue of how Big
Business in America doesn't like to get "political" UNLESS it impacts
them directly, then they just march an army of lobbyists into
Washington. The point being that it's a very rare thing for "an
industry" to fight against "an industry". Do you get my point?
What this means is that other than the environmental wing of the
secondary materials industry, it's going to be hard to get the Big
Recycling Companies that have lobbyists, like Waste Management or
Weyerhaeuser, for example, to join in on a fight that pits big business
against big business. And you of all people, who works closely with
some big international firms, should know how adverse big business is to
social activism.
However, maybe the time is ripe and some Big Recycling Companies exist
out there that are willing to join in the fight against the Mining Act.
Do you happen to know of any? Certainly it would be a good fight and
well worth fighting.
Eric
Eric Lombardi
Executive Director
Eco-Cycle, Inc
Boulder, CO
303-444-6634
www.ecocycle.org
"Recycling may not save the world, but the recycling spirit might."
-----Original Message-----
From: Michele Raymond [mailto:michele@no.address]
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 3:13 PM
To: greenyes@no.address
Subject: [greenyes] Mining and e waste
Greenyesers:
Robin Ingenthron (Good Pint Recycling) always points out that half of
our
haz waste comes from MINING.
I saw a piece on 60 Minutes about a horrible coal slurry that wrecked
part
of W VA and KY -- and Bush tried to sweep it a bit.
Robin also notes that recycling e-waste is 300 times more beneficial for
environment than mining.
However, I dont see enviros screaming about mining disasters and
lobbying
to get rid of the old Minig Act -- we are subsidizing all hard rocking
mining because industry doesnt have to pay hardly anything for the
rights.
if we were paying what we should for VIRGIN resources, E-waste recycling
would be much more economic, and local governments perhaps could break
even
on e-waste recycling.
Just a thought.
Michele Raymond
Publisher
Recycling Laws International
5111 Berwyn Rd. #115 College Park MD 20740
301 345 4237
http://www.raymond.com
Michele Raymond
Publisher
Recycling Laws International/ State Recycling Laws Update
5111 Berwyn Rd. Ste 115 College Park, MD 20740)
301/345-4237 Fax 345-4768
http://www.raymond.com
|