Want to be PAID to recycle?? Let's tell Lafayette Parish Council we care about our surroundings!

     Residents within the city limits of Lafayette, Lousiana, have the privilege of curb-side recycling pick-up but residents living outside these city limits must  collect and transport recyclable materials themselves. Recycle Bank is willing to supply recycling pick-up for residents and then PAY them with gift cards and certificates to local businesses and restaurants for their recycling efforts. Recylcing for all Parish residents would boost the local economy by providing jobs and revenue for everyone, and increase Louisiana's landfill life. Lafayette Parish Council must contact RecycleBank before this can happen. Before I present my idea to the Lafayette Parish Council I need your support. Please SIGN so valuable resources don't waste away in the dirt.

Please sign and forward to show your support for the environment and local economy!l

Below is my research paper explaing in detail the benefits recycling for all residents.

    At the current rate Americans consume natural resources like paper and fossil fuels, along with the amount of trash each citizen creates, an average of four and half pounds a day, or together 254 billion tons every year; the United States could be unrecognizable due to limited landfill space, and irresponsible resource usage and waste. "Today there are less than a quarter of the total number of landfills available in the United States than two decades ago, down from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,754 in 2007; due to unsustainable population and waste production," (Wyld, 2010).  When landfills reach near capacity, every coffee cup or plastic milk jug put in a garbage bag to the road may end up on a barge, or truck, and hauled miles away to be deposited into a neighboring state’s landfill, using unnecessary fuel in the process.  Then, as trash decomposes it releases gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming, and thus, toxins are released into ground water which can cause negative effects on wildlife and humans.  Louisiana is no exception, and it’s unique landscape, environment, and Eco-system could ultimately be effected by future landfill construction.  Curb-side recycling collection for all Lafayette Parish suburban and rural residents would lower waste deposits providing longer landfill life capacity; through incentive based recycling, like Recycle Bank, job opportunity and local economy could improve; and possibly lead to providing clean-burning energy, with assistance from government grants and incentives, to secure a clean environment for future generations to enjoy.  
      Suburban and rural residents in Lafayette Parish do not have the option of curb-side recycling pick-up, these residents must collect and transport bags of recyclables to a local recycling center.  The B.P. oil spill, and previous economic setbacks, have left many Lafayette Parish residents on strict budgets, like many nationwide.  Most residents cannot afford the fuel to transport recyclable materials miles away to the recycling center, so they throw valuable renewable resources in the garbage to waste away in landfills.  Louisiana has 25 permitted landfills accepting residential and commercial wastes, eight of these are privately owned and seventeen are publicly owned.  Within the seventeen publicly owned landfills six accept only in-parish generated wastes and the remaining landfills accept wastes from outside the parish for disposal, including out-of-state wastes.  The 17 publicly owned landfills maintain an approximate average remaining capacity of 29.94 years and the eight privately owned landfills maintain a slightly higher approximate average capacity of 43.85 years.(LDEQ, 2009).  When these landfills reach capacity, newly constructed landfills could show up near Toledo Bend or the Atchafalaya Basin contaminating Louisiana’s seafood market, or threaten its valuable swamp Eco-system.  Louisiana could look nothing like the "Sportsman Paradise" it is famous for, the Vermillion Bay could be an eerily quiet polluted mass of water where mutated fish struggle to survive.  If residents were offered curb-side recycling pick-up, and motivated by incentives for their efforts, the parish, its environment, and residents could all benefit.
      Recycle Bank, Inc., a company operating from Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey, Houston, and Jacksonville Beach, is an incentive based recycling effort in which participants are rewarded for the amount of materials they recycle.  The process is similar to routine recycling collection with slight differences, as the hauler collects materials the truck scans a bar code identifier on the residents bin, weighs the bin, and tallies the weight of recyclables for that particular resident.  The more the resident recycles the more rewards are available to redeem at local businesses.  Recycling is left up to the conscience of the resident, if the resident is motivated by money-saving coupons and gift certificates then more likely the resident will recycle.  Regional manager with Recycle Bank, Mike D’Angelo said,"When Hollywood joined Recycle Bank, recycling climbed from 200 pounds to 500 pounds annually per household, we needed something to motivate people,"(Burmeister, 2010).  Offering incentives for recycling is a very positive way to encourage people to recycle and be Earth-friendly. "Estimates show that nine jobs are created for every 15,000 tons of solid waste recycled into new products,"(Unknown, 2003).  Communities can offer similar incentives for residents through local businesses and restaurants boosting the local economy by increased sales and creating more jobs through recycling.  
     "One man’s trash is another man's treasure," and the same could hold true for our everyday recyclables, transforming them and our decomposing wastes into sustainable clean energy found in our landfills.  Across the United States, several factors have led to a renewed interest in waste-to-energy technologies, mostly due to rising fuel costs and with many landfills reaching capacity.  The cost to transport municipal wastes to distant landfills will only grow more expensive with population growth and oil reserves depleting.  In President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address, he called for reinventing the country’s energy policy and setting a goal of obtaining 80% percent of the nation’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.  At an existing landfill in Pontotoc, Mississippi, construction of a waste-to-biofuel facility is under way that is designed to process 300 tons of waste daily, produce 10 million gallons of ethanol annually, and is estimated to create 130 jobs upon completion.  Funding for this project came from grants from the Department of Energy, USDA Bio-refinery Assistance Program, and from a syndicate of investors, that includes Waste Management,(Gershman, 2011).  Government grants and incentives are available to fund the technology humans need to manipulate the decomposing process, trap and use the gases and particles from everyday trash transforming them into fuel for homes, schools, cars, and businesses.  The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency website contains a list of each individual state’s incentives, rebates, tax credits, and available loans for energy efficient appliances, renovations, and renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels.  In June 2010, the Louisiana Public Service Commission, LPSC, unanimously approved a Renewable Energy Pilot Program for the state to determine whether a renewable portfolio standard is suitable for Louisiana.  The program’s options include that utilities may build their own renewable energy facilities--limited to 300 kilowatts or up to five megawatts--or utilities must develop a tariff with an associated contract to purchase renewable energy from developers that deliver energy from a new renewable resource, with purchase limitations,(U.S. Department of Energy, 2011). "On September 16, 2011, out of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Region 6 Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting proposals from local governments for grants assisting in training forums that advance sustainable management of materials and pollution prevention. Supporting EPA’s strategic goal of land preservation and restoration, these forums would focus on combining practices that take an approach to serving human energy needs by using/reusing resources in the most productive manner, helping minimize the amount of materials used and their environmental impact," (EPA, 2011).  Creating sustainable energy from garbage is a science-fiction idea coming to life, and has the potential of becoming a major energy supplier, but it all starts with residents recycling.
      Curb-side recycling collection for all Lafayette Parish residents could help lower tipping fees from current landfills through incentive based recycling, like Recycle Bank or city incentives, boost local economy and create more job opportunities, and possibly lead to providing clean-burning fuel through residential and commercial wastes, with the assistance of government funding and grants. "We should care for our land and our planet now so that it is healthy and productive for several generations to come,"(Welch, 2010).  The global problem of too much garbage and where to store this garbage is a problem that the entire world should focus on to protect our already fragile environment and Eco-system.  Therefore, creating and maintaining a strategic waste management and recycling program should be set in place and implemented now, before landfills reach capacity.  Proven in communities throughout the United States, incentive based recycling motivates residents to recycle and be Eco-friendly with “free money” and curb-side recycling collection.  Municipal wastes either in the form of animal or human manure, recyclables, and debris will always be a part of our lives, and will only increase with population growth.  Waste-to-energy facilities producing sustainable energy in the form of ethanol and bio-fuel provide jobs, minimize landfill disposals, and will end up being the new “oil” of the future.  Lafayette Parish could be at the hub of a new era of sustainable energy through municipal wastes, however that starts with whole parish recycling. Louisianans, and Americans across the nation, can make a difference by buying recycled products, refusing products not packaged with recycled products, and then close the loop by recycling.  Future generations will thank us for taking the small steps today in protecting and preserving a cleaner tomorrow.

References:

Burmeister, C. (2010, September 22). Jacksonville beach looks at recycle ‘incentive’ plan. Florida-Times Union, The (Jacksonville, FL).  Retrieved on August 15, 2011 from EBSCOhost: http://web.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/detail?sid=c83ea3c5-33ce-4c0b-934a-d401208929a0%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=25&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=voh&AN=60636227

Gershman, H. W. (2011, May). New energy-times are changing for the wte conversion technologies industry. Waste Age.com, 42(5), 54-57. Retrieved on September 24, 2011from http://web.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/detail?sid=c83ea3c5-33ce-4c0b-934a-d401208929a0%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=25&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=voh&AN=60636227

L.D.E.Q. U.S. Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. (2009). Solid waste capacity report Retrieved from http://www.deq.state.la.us/portal/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=fEIQE4PXi4k%3D&tabid=259

Unknown, (2009, May 11). The importance of recycling. Retrieved from http://20easywaystohelpsavetheearth.blogspot.com/2009/05/importance-of-recycling.html#comment-form

U.S. Department of Energy, Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiencies. (2011). Louisiana incentives/policies for renewables & efficiency. North Carolina University. Retrieved from http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?getRE=1?re=undefined&ee=1&spv=0&st=0&srp=1&state=LA

Welch, B. (2010, Feb/Mar). Creating a sustainable society. Mother Earth News, (238), p34-37. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=123&sid=b5f12540-a5c4-49cf-af1a-

Wyld, D. (2010). Taking out the trash(and the recyclables): rfid and the handling of municiple solid waste. International Journal Of Software Engineering & Applications, 1(1), 1-13. Retrieved from http://airccse.org/journal/ijsea/papers/0101e1.pdf