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[GreenYes] Re: [CRRA] Ordinances that facilitate on-farm composting


Hi again, Nancy Poh:

I would be very interested to see photos of some of the "practical stuff" you create by arty-fication. There are a some interesting arty-fiers practicing arty-fication around here, too.

In fact, a nearby nonprofit recycling business in Sonoma County, CA will host their umpteenth annual "Scrapture" art show in a couple of weeks. Scrapture is an art show of, by, and for dumpster diver artists who make beautiful things out of unwanted stuff. Some of that art sells for high prices up there: last one I went to had quite a few pieces priced in the US $ thousands. The sponsoring organization, Garbage Reincarnation, Inc., has a website at www.garbage.org.

I imagine there are collectors out there who are eager to buy the newest and best of this genre. I know I've seen some "scrapture"-type art in galleries and in hotel lobbies here and there. Also, Urban Ore has a number of such artists who buy parts from us to create wonderful art pieces. One ex-staffer at Urban Ore makes sculptural robots out of old aluminum and stainless steel and brass shapes that he buys from us. Especially useful for some reason are old vacuum cleaner parts. He sells at several galleries, and his pieces are quite expensive.

One time just for the fun of it Urban Ore sponsored a "Landfill Cap Contest" at an annual event in our town called the "How Berkeley Can You Be" parade. Here the overall theme is Zany, so in our contest we offered cash prizes denominated in Urban Ore Trade Credits for the best hat made like a landfill cap. (Landfill caps are required at all old closed landfills; the idea is to keep the waste from going anywhere). The woman who won first prize had a huge hat with astroturf on top (symbolizing the park bandaid we use to disguise old landfills) and all sorts of other stuff that makes up landfills in a foot-deep layer underneath. I have a picture of it somewhere. She had old vacuum cleaner hoses dangling from it, too. I don't remember how much we offered in prizes, but they were substantial.

I would be interested to learn more about what it's like in your part of the world.

Is "abandoned material" in your native language the same thing as what some of us here in Calfiornia call "waste?"
It sounds as if you're trying to do the same thing as we have been impelled to do here: construct a new recycling-friendly vocabulary that takes discarded materials as a given but does not restrict "disposal" to "wasting disposal" by landfilling or incinerating all our discards.

We're all trying to escape the grip of the solid waste management disposal paradigm.

More power to you, Nancy.

Dan Knapp


On Jun 23, 2007, at 12:28 AM, Nancy Poh wrote:

Hi Dr Knapp

There should be a place for us to file politically correct way to call unwanted material because, "One man's junk is another man's treasure". I have discovered one website that provides such glossary and "recycle nutrients" has not made the list yet.

http://www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk/html/glossary.asp

In my case as I teach others to create practical stuff out of things that they would otherwise discard, these are words I have created to add glamour to their creations:

unwanted material = abandoned material
people who create out of abandoned material = Creative Recyclers
art of creating from abandoned material, such as, plastic bag = plastic bag arty-fication or recycle nutrients arty-fication
abandoned material creation = artified creation

You do not need a machine to turn organic recycle nutrients (can be a mouthful phrase to use) into compost. There is a method call pit or "trench composting" whereby you dig a trench to hold them. This method ease soil rotation. There is a very good diagram at the following link to show how it is done.

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/homecompost/methods.html#5

Rgds
Nancy


<-----Original Message----->
>From: Dan Knapp [dr.ore@no.address]
>Sent: 6/20/2007 9:01:31 AM
>To: gary@no.address
>Cc:
>dr.ore@no.address;stephanie.barger@no.address;michael.wonsidler@no.address;michael.wonsidler@no.address;crra_members@no.address;GreenYes@no.address;zerowaste_sd@no.address
>Subject: Re: [GreenYes] Re: [CRRA] Ordinances that facilitate on-farm composting
>
>Hello all:
>
>
>Regarding the regulations governing composting on farms in Pennsylvania:
>
>
>I respectfully submit that using the word "waste" when what you actually mean is
>"recycle nutrients" is just the worst industrial positioning imaginable for
>composting. Wastes are worthless, but nutrients, properly managed, can be quite
>valuable.
>
>
>I've seen waste composting, and it wasn't pretty. I just remember an unusually
>very smelly dirty mrf in Michigan somewhere and a big nearby field on which was
>parked a forlorn compost turning machine with its flails completely fouled and
>immobilized by film plastic bags. The compost windrows were full of plastic and
>who knows what else. But the field they sat on was a real field used for
>corn/soybean rotation. That dirt got a big dose of garbage, some of which is
>probably still there.
>
>
>What does it matter that the materials have been discarded from one source, so
>long as they can become valuable feedstocks after they've been upgraded by
>recovery enterprises to market specs? Clean in, Clean out. Source separation is
>best practice. Nutrient recycling is best positioning. Regulations should say
>what we want, not just what we don't want. And farmers using clean nutrient
>recycling practices should be regulated least, not most.
>
>
>Regulations need to be rewritten top to bottom to remove waste management
>vocabulary, which stifles and retards ecologically superior disposal methods.
>There are better ways to talk about what we do.
>
>
>Thanks for the chance to comment.
>
>
>Dan Knapp
>Urban Ore, Inc., a Berkeley reuse and recycling business.
>
>
>
>
>On Jun 19, 2007, at 4:44 PM, Gary Liss wrote:
>
>
>Michael,
>
>Consider the regulations governing composting on farms in Pennsylvania. That's
>supposed to be a model:
>
>On-Farm Composting (PA Dept. of Environmental Protection)
>http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/landrecwaste/cwp/view.asp?A=1338&Q=497955
>Permitting Exemptions
>Agricultural waste used as part of normal farming operations. See 287.101 for
>details.
>http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/dep/redirector.asp?u=http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/025/chapter287/s287.101.html
>
>Best Practices for Environmental Protection in the Mushroom Farm Community:
>http://164.156.71.80/VWRQ.asp?docid=2087d8407c0e0000000005e2000005e2&context=2&backlink=WXOD.aspx?fs=2087d8407c0e0000800005b6000005b6&ft=1
>
>Food waste used as part of normal farming operations. See 287.101 for details.
>The Food Processing Residual Management Manual (eLibrary):
>http://164.156.71.80/WXOD..aspx?fs=2087d8407c0e0000800005b7000005b7&ft=1
>On-Farm Organic Waste Composting Facility Application Form:
>http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/landrecwaste/lib/landrecwaste/composting/GP-Farm_Ap.doc
>
>Also, check out the following fact sheets and guides:
>
>
>On-Farm Composting Handbook by the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and
>Engineering Service at Cornell University:
>http://www.nraes.org/nra_order.taf?_function=detail&pr_id=60&_UserReference=33401D454D94D35A467866F7
>
>On-Farm Composting Fact Sheet, Penn State, Agricultural Engineering:
>http://www.age.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/c/C3.pdf
>Gary
>
>At 03:47 PM 6/19/2007, Stephanie Barger wrote:
>
>Hi Michael
>
>You might want to check with some actual farms/farming
>
>Fetzer wines uses alot of composting and we just had Strauss Family Farms speak
>at our Zero Waste event and they get 95% of all their energy from their manure
>and then use the residual for composting!
>
>http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/
>
>Stephanie Barger, Executive Director
>stephanie.barger@no.address
>Earth Resource Foundation
>P.O. Box 12364
>Costa Mesa, CA 92627
>www.earthresource.org
>949-645-5163
>
>"Learn more about Zero Waste! Presentations from Earth Resource Foundation's
>Second Annual Orange County "Zero In on Zero Waste: Don't Let Your Bottom Line
>Go to Waste" Conference on June 7th, 2007 are posted
>http://www.earthresource.org/zerowaste.html
>
>
>
>
>From: crra_members@no.address [ mailto:crra_members@no.address] On
>Behalf Of Wonsidler, Michael
>Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 9:22 AM
>To: crra_members@no.address; GreenYes@no.address;
>zerowaste_sd@no.address
>Subject: [CRRA] Ordinances that facilitate on-farm composting
>Importance: High
>
>The County of San Diego is discussing revising local ordinances
>
>=== message truncated ===


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