Posted on 04/26/2009 3:37:32 PM PDT by llevrok
Thrift-driven Americans are fixing up, making do and reusing so much to cope with the recession that the drop in throwaways means less fill for landfills.
To deal with the drop-off in dropoffs, landfills are laying off workers, reducing hours of operation and hiking disposal fees, with the increases passed along to cities, businesses and consumers.
"You can look at waste and see what the economy is doing," said Tom Houck, manager at the Defiance County Landfill in northwest Ohio. He's watched the amount of trash arriving at the landfill plunge 30 percent in the past year.
With consumers cutting back on new purchases, there is less packaging to throw away. The downturn in new housing means less waste from construction materials such as insulation and from discarded drywall and lumber. Restaurant waste is down because people are eating out less.
"We're seeing this all over the country," said Bruce Parker, president and CEO of the National Solid Wastes Management Association.
Environmentalists applaud the trash slash.
"That will mean the landfills will last longer," said Ed Hopkins, director of the environmental quality program for the Sierra Club. "That is good for the public because nobody likes to live next to a landfill."
Hopkins said the reduction in waste is good for the environment because even modern landfills can leak, enabling pollutants to seep into groundwater.
Thom Metzger, spokesman for the National Solid Wastes Management Association, said that while national figures won't be available for months, the association is hearing about the decline from many members.
Landfills in Ohio received 15 percent less waste from August to January than they did for the same period a year earlier. The waste stream at Miramar Landfill near San Diego has dropped 35 percent over the past year. Waste at Puente Hills Landfill near Los Angeles is down from 12,500 tons of trash a day to about 8,500.
About 82 temporary workers have been laid off at Puente Hills and its two sister landfills, shrinking the work force to about 280 and forcing permanent employees to take over traffic control, windy-day litter pickup and landscaping.
Several landfills operated by Waste Management Inc. - which runs about 270 active landfills in 47 states - have gone from operating six days a week to five or have reduced hours of operation, said spokeswoman Lisa Kardell.
Waste Management's fourth-quarter profit slid 29 percent on declines in its recycling business and one-time charges. But in its earnings report, the Houston-based company also mentioned declines in the collection of industrial waste.
Landfill operators rely on disposal fees to fund operations. If the amount of waste decreases, operators have to cut costs, dip into reserve funds or increase the fees, which are passed along to consumers.
In the Columbus suburb of Grove City, the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio landfill- with 10 percent less waste - has raised disposal fees by $2 a ton to $35.50 and dipped into its reserve fund. The landfill also is considering accepting trash from out of the district.
Potential trash is being sent to repair shops.
Louis Johnston, an economist at the College of St. Benedict in Collegeville, Minn., said that during good economic times people spend about 1 percent of their consumption budget on repairs. During recessions, that jumps to 5 percent.
When the ice maker in Maureen Schlangen's 12-year-old refrigerator went kaput, she didn't have the fridge hauled to a landfill. The woman went back to ice trays, buying two for $1.50 apiece and borrowing a Mickey Mouse tray from a neighbor in the Dayton suburb of Kettering.
When Janet Bittner's 5 wood came apart, the Appleton, N.Y., resident borrowed a Phillips screwdriver from her brother and repaired the golf club instead of throwing it away.
At the Computer Zoo in the Dayton suburb of Miami Township, servicing of used computers is up 25 percent. And what normally was a customer wait of five to seven business days has become as long as 13.
"People don't have the kind of money to spend buying a new system when they can repair their old stuff for like half the cost," said Dan Seidl, purchasing manager.
People are shopping more at thrift stores but donating less.
Sales at the 2,220 Goodwill Industries International stores in the United States and Canada that have been open for at least a year were up 7.2 percent in February over February 2008.
"While the number of donors is increasing or remaining the same, we are seeing the two-bag donor now bringing in only one bag," said spokeswoman Lauren Lawson.
The Goodwill operation in Washington, D.C., has started appealing for donations in talks at schools, businesses and civic groups. It is sending trucks out to pick up donated items instead of waiting for the goods to be brought to stores or pickup points.
If Schlangen and Bittner are any indication, Goodwill has its work cut out for it.
Bittner extends the life of her shoes by sometimes putting slippers on at the office. Schlangen has learned to live without an automatic ice maker.
"In times like these, our culture is moving toward making do with what we have," she said. "And an ice maker is a luxury."
Oh the humanity!!!!
First to say: Why post this trash?
What a waste.
Now wait a minute, how does the law of supply and demand work backwards for garbage dumps? Less demand for a place to dump garbage should mean cheaper rates, no? Why not?
There is a reason why they call them "temporary" !
Now, now, we’re supposed to dump on liberal lies.
Very funny!
This will create an employment vacuum for green job fulfillment.
Goodwill is still doing a booming business. Bought a prom dress there the other day and they had just as much stuff as they’ve ever had. Yes, brand new with the store tags for $12, thank you very much.
So it costs us money if we throw it away.
But it costs us money if we DON’T throw it away.
This world is Eff’d up to the max!!
Ahhhh, the only time I EVER saw a repairman at our house was when we got a TV. Other than that...my dad, painted, sanded, nailed, refinished and rewired lamps all down in our basement. It was fun as a kid to go down there while he was doing that and just hang out and talk to him. Those were hard days for lots of people but...we made do with what we had and had shoes repaired, wore hand me downs, and even had (mismatched furniture pieces in our house given to us by friends or relatives) heaven forbid. The furniture was not always perfect or a “set” but...the love was perfect from a “set” of parents who took care of their family the best way they knew how and taught my brother and sisters to do the same. Thank you God for the wisdom of good parents and the lessons they taught us for life. I am VERY GRATEFUL.
Curiously, there was no correlation with population reduction. The landfill volume is a function of the populations size. If people are fleeing the area, landfills will feel the decline.
"People don't have the kind of money to spend buying a new system when they can repair their old stuff for like half the cost," said Dan Seidl, purchasing manager.
The USB controller on the motherboard of my 6-year old PC is shorting out, so I bought an Ultra PCI card with 6 USB ports. I paid $20 with shipping -- a heck of a lot less than a new computer. Now I can run my Wacom Intuos, external HD, flash driver, printer, Alltel aircard, etc. without my system shutting down.
If Microsoft is smart (yeah, I know, HAHAHAAAAA), they could market Windows 7 to those of us with older PC's who refuse to downgrade to Vista.
A cabinet factory near my home is closing and their dumping their warehouse inventory. I’ve been going down there and grabbing cupboard doors cheap (the ones with glass panes) to use as picture frames that look a bit like windows with scenery pictures behind them.
If the economy picks up I think I’ll be able to sell them and make a nifty profit at flea markets and craft shows etc.
Your recycling material is now going straight to the dump as the prices paid for the recycled material does not pay shipping costs. Only aluminum and copper remain above water, locally.
>> About 82 temporary workers have been laid
That’s some job perk, especially for a temp.
Have they not been screaming about the filling up of the landfills? Yep, upside down fer sure!
Most of our furniture doesn’t match either. We have an accumulation of old stuff. Fixing stuff is what we’ve always done, as well as cooking from scratch most of the time.
No doubt there is a glut of people with my skill set out there but some of the ones I have met do not inspire any confidence in me. It is scary how much people simply do not know.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.