| News you can use and reuse | Vol. 15, No. 3, Summer 2006 |
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| • Recycling Dropsites & Preparation • What to do With Everything Else • About Used News/Services Provided by BRING IN THIS ISSUE Water Planet Improvement Center Update Annual Report Staff Changes at BRING Thank Yous Capital Campaign Volunteer Opportunities Good Garden Buys at BRING A Need for Compassionalte Communication Dear Eco-meister Water Ways to Save? OGS Grants Word Search Workshops (Compost, Rainwater Catchment, Master Recyclers)
That’s One Big Parking Lot! One of the first things you’ll notice when you tour the Planet Improvement Center is an impressive expanse of new asphalt paving. Lots of people are asking why BRING has put in such a big, paved, parking lot. It’s a good question. The size is dictated by city code that specifies how many parking places must be provided. We put the minimum required number in the smallest possible configuration. The paving was deliberate. Permeable paving, an eco-friendly option allowing rain to seep into the ground, is not the best solution in our case. First, our parking lot has to withstand heavy truck traffic, and permeable pavers are not designed to take that kind of wear. Second, all the crud that ends up on a heavily used parking lot—motor oil, transmission and brake fluid and other pollutants—also seep into the ground through permeable paving. Our goal is to prevent dirty storm water run-off from reaching the nearby Willamette River. Besides often being polluted, storm water is warmer than river water and that’s harmful for fish and other aquatic life. The Planet Improvement Center’s parking lot is designed to capture every
If it’s raining when you take a tour of the new site you will see how well the system works. After just a few minutes of heavy rain you can see water flow into the bioswale, and, if there are lots of cars parked, it will have a visible oily sheen—making it quite obvious why keeping this polluted water from entering our rivers is so critical. The bioswale was funded in part by a grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and engineered by Balzhiser & Hubbard, with landscape design by Kate McGee, installation by Rexius, an irrigation system designed and installed by Paul Sassone, and parts from John Deere. We are very grateful for the wonderfully generous in-kind contributions all these companies have made. Without their donations, this demonstration of a “best practice” system would not have been possible.
Don’t Forget the Materials Exchange Bike tubes and thread spools, wine corks and CDs. White boxes, film bags, hangers and house paint. You’ll find these kinds of items and more on BRING’s Material Exchange page (BMEX). Have something along these lines you want to give away? Add an “AVAILABLE” listing to BMEX. Looking for these types of odds & ends? Post a “WANTED” listing on BMEX. Visit the “materials exchange” link on our website and see for yourself the never-ending cycle of trash to treasure. The Digs On Deconstruction People are catching on to the environmental and economic benefits of having material salvaged from a work site rather than trashed. BRING’s decon crew has been getting more and more calls for big and small jobs. The materials that are saved from the landfill can be a tax write-off: save money and resources in one shot! As BRING’s business manager, David Wollner, says, “Decon is the wave of the future.” If you want to learn more about BRING’s deconstruction services, call 746-3023.
Volunteers Plant and Clean Up the Planet Improvement Center On Saturday morning, April 8, dozens of volunteers assembled at the Planet Improvement Center to help our landscape architect, Kate McGee, install our new landscaping. Blessed with mostly clear skies, and fueled by donations of good coffee and muffins, volunteers made fast work of the planting jobs. By the time the clouds rolled in after lunch, we had installed native and drought tolerant trees and shrubs in the parking lot planters and around the site; dug trenches for our underground irrigation system; cleared brush; and sorted piles of reusable materials in the back of the site, making it ready for construction. Many thanks to the numerous individuals and businesses who helped: Tina Jensen Augustine, Jeff Black, Ryan Black, Katie Boyd, Roberta & Tim Boyden, Meredith Conley, Alex Crowder, Janet Dahlgren, Annie Dochnahl, Laura Engdahl, Katie Erickson, Kristen Fischer, Laurel Fisher, Joanne Ford, Nicole Frostad, Kate McGee, Ashley Horn, Jay Laura, Carl Liebhardt, Tim Louie, Ben Rippe, Vonchi Pimomo-Rippe, Robert Shaw, Jim & Nancy Stark, Karl Steyaert, Jennifer Surdyle, Christina Williams, Betsy Wolfston, Above All Sanitation, Café Mam, Hamilton Construction, Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life, Paul Sassone, Track Town Pizza, and BRING staff members (Allen, Damien, Alec, David, Greg, Julie, Carol, and Harold).
Help Build the Planet Improvement Center (Click here for Donor List) A wrongly-sized order of new thermal window glass, stored away for 10 years; siding from a landmark nightclub; windows from an auto parts store torn down for the new courthouse; floor joists from a Springfield planing mill; and doors from T.J. Maxx. These are just some of the valuable materials we are putting back to work as we build our new home in Glenwood, the Planet Improvement Center. Salvaged materials, along with donations of time and money from hundreds of individuals and businesses, have helped us make great progress in fundraising and construction—but we still have quite a way to go before we can move in. We need your help to make it happen this year. Since we started the campaign in 2002, the price of steel, concrete and other building expenses have skyrocketed. Cost overruns have become the norm in most major building projects, and BRING’s project is no exception. In April, BRING’s board voted to adjust the campaign goal from $1.8 million to $2.3 million, adding $499,000 to cover the projected cost increases. The new goal does not alter the vision for the project or dampen our spirits. In fact, it helps to illustrate how urgently we need the Planet Improvement Center. People, especially those on limited budgets, need to have convenient access to affordable used building materials. Everyone in our community needs to understand how to reuse and recycle useful materials and why it’s so important to keep resources in use—not in landfills. That’s why the Planet Improvement Center is being built.
Here’s what your gift or pledge will help us do: 1) Complete our flagship office/public gathering building with educational green features, a green roof, passive solar, natural lighting, radiant heating, reused materials, and more. 2) Get our fabulous new reuse sales and demonstration buildings ready for convenient, all-weather shopping and learning — shelving, lighting, heating, windows and more. 3) Move operations to the new site — so we don’t spend one more winter in the swamp! YOUR GIFT WILL BE DOUBLED by a $150,000 challenge grant from the Murdock Trust. How you can help: • Send in your gift or pledge in the enclosed envelope (mark capital campaign). • Make a credit card donation from our Web site (designate capital campaign). • Make a gift of stock—see our Web site or call for details. • Make a regular monthly gift by check, credit card or automatic transfer. Call and we’ll help you set it up. • Volunteer. • Host a house party. You provide the guests, we provide the program. • Tell your friends about us.
Take the Tour! Now that summer has arrived, and construction is in full swing, it’s the perfect time to tour the site of BRING’s future home, the Planet Improvement Center. View the plans, hear about the vision, walk the site, and see the progress we’ve made. Tours may be scheduled on Tuesdays at noon and 5:30P.M.. Bring your lunch, your friends, your group or organization. Call 746-3023 to arrange for special tours and/or to get directions. BRING Tag Sale Nets $2,057 Thanks to the many people who donated items for our tag sale in April and to everyone who braved the nasty weather to attend. With your help, we raised more than $2,000 for the Planet Improvement Center. Next year’s sale is already on the calendar, so save the date: May 18-19, 2007. PLANET IMPROVEMENT CENTER UPDATE
A Need for Compassionate Communication: For All Those Energy Zealots In the last issue of BRING’S Used News, I introduced myself as an “energy zealot,” probably drilled into me as a child growing up in what used to be East Germany, land of “abundant shortages.” That and seeing efficiency as a kind of game with added benefits have combined to make me an eco-efficiency expert. Sometimes, I’m not certain that being so focused (OK, obsessed) with efficiency is a pure blessing. It’s definitely a challenge for me at times (perhaps related to my cultural background) to find the compassion and diplomacy necessary for working with people who are not as tuned into, or knowledgeable about, energy and material efficiency matters. Believe me, trying to understand why someone needs to warm up their clothing in the dryer (5,600 Watts) before putting it on is one of the biggest challenges for me. Same goes for 20 minute showers. Luckily, Eugene is one of the best places in the U.S., perhaps the world, to a) learn how to handle situations like this (i.e., practice “compassionate communication”), and b) develop a heightened sense of the importance of environmental and social responsibility in our community. For those who are very familiar with statistics on the rapid decline of the world’s ecosystems, the emerging effects of climate change, and the increasing conflicts over natural resources, it comes as no surprise that the most consumptive nation in the world (this one right here) needs radical changes in its relationship with the environment. However, here’s the rub, the U.S. is probably the least willing society to change its way of living by responding to “requests,” be they government-issued or coercive “education” by activists. It takes a more gentle approach. A fitting bumper-sticker idea might be something like “Radical Ideas, Compassionate Implementation.” I believe it’s up to every one of us not only to become educated on how we affect the world around us in our daily actions and how we can radically reduce our environmental footprint, but also to learn how to communicate knowledge, suggestions, ideas, even requests in ways that do not alienate the “unknowing.” I am very grateful to all those people who teach and practice compassionate communication around the country. I am convinced that this is one of the most powerful ways to transform people’s attitudes and behavior. After all, in a country where the market still doesn’t provide much of an incentive to reduce one’s environmental impact (i.e., reduce waste generation and energy consumption), our values and knowledge are perhaps the main driving force for making the right choices regarding social and environmental issues. Learn about how many people are working to walk more softly on the Earth—and how you can, too—by visiting the Northwest Earth Institute’s Voluntary Simplicity link at www.nwei.org. Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at “compassionate communication”—what is it and how do we do it? In the meantime, you can visit <www.orncc.net> or <www.communicationfromtheheart.com> to learn more. —Peter Reppe, BRING Board Member In This Hot Summer Weather, Stay Hydrated While You Reduce Your Resource Use By: • Drinking water from the tap or water fountain (we have some of the very best drinking water in the country). • Using your own durable reusable water container (don’t forget to wash it regularly). • Remembering to recycle any of the clear plastic water bottles that you come across. Those clear plastic water bottles (made from # 1 “PET” plastic) get turned into all sorts of things when they’re recycled. For example: • 14 bottles yield enough “eco-fiber” for an extra large T-shirt, a square foot of carpet, or for stuffing a ski jacket. • 63 bottles can become a sweater and a dozen more will be enough to stuff a sleeping bag. (Note: “bottles” refer to the 20-oz size). Recycling Factoids Using recycled materials instead of raw-from-the-Earth ones prevents tons of water pollutants from being created. For example: • A ton of paper made from recycled material saves 7,000 gallons of water and reduces water and air pollutants by more than a third than if the paper were made fresh from trees. • Turning recycled steel into new steel products reduces water pollution by 76% compared to making it from the original magnetite rock. • A whopping 97% less water pollution is released by making new aluminum from old (recycled) aluminum instead of from the original bauxite ore. Recycle Concrete, Save $$! Eugene Sand & Gravel is accepting clean, broken concrete rubble for recycling. There is no fee to recycle. The material must be free of asphalt and dirt, but some rebar is okay, if chunks containing rebar are separated from clean chunks. Concrete rubble will be stockpiled until sufficient quantity has been collected to crush. The crushed concrete will be sold as a green alternative to gravel base rock in construction projects. Call Dale Fortner at 683-6400 for more information. Good Garden Buys at BRING:  One of the best ways to lower your landscape’s water needs is to build up the soil with compost. This improves the soil’s water-holding capacity—not to mention the healthier, more beautiful plants you’ll grow! Make compost the easy way with an Earth Machine composter—on sale at BRING for $50. It will last you for many, many years to come.Or, if you want a different style of composting, build a bin out of used lumber (like pallets) and chicken wire. Get creative! Build the world’s most attractive and/or funky compost bin for next to nothing using materials found at BRING. Other items you may want to pick up while you’re shopping at BRING could be a watering can, plastic plant pots, soaker hoses (for drip irrigation), lumber for raised beds, bricks and cement squares for garden pathways, materials for a future bird house/feeder/bath…and don’t forget to pick up a bargain hose! We usually have lots of hoses for just a couple bucks. Water Ways to Save? Here are some tips for improving your outdoor water use: • Water your lawn (and garden) less frequently but for longer periods of time so that plant roots go deeper and become more resilient to extreme heat; consider using a timer to avoid overwatering. • Cut down on evaporation by watering early in the morning or later in the day. • Mulch plants and add compost to improve soil quality and water retention in the root zone. • Plant native plants or other species that don’t require a lot of water and that are disease resistant (this will help you avoid the “to spray or not to spray” dilemma). • Look for sprinkler, hose or faucet leaks and fix them (see the article on page 8 on hose repair and shaded box below for leak detection). • Grow food not lawns! Gardens require up to half the amount of water that lawns do. Visit EWEB's website <www.eweb.org/home/water/> to learn more. If you're an EWEB customer, take advantage of the free home water surveys offered in the summer months. Anyone can take advantage of EWEB’s Green Grass Gauge (updated weekly under the “Water Smart Guide” of the above link) which provides watering information based on local weather patterns. Here are some simple things you can do to use less water and/or protect it inside your home: • Replace toilets made before 1991 (the date is usually stamped under the lid); newer toilets have the same flushing power but use less water. • Check for leaks anywhere in the house (see shaded box)—in one day, you can lose 200 gallons of water through a leaky toilet! • Try to run only full loads in your dishwasher and washing machine and use 100% biodegradable soaps. • Install water efficient showerheads and aerators on your faucets. • Don’t be a drip: use water with intention whether it’s while you brush your teeth, take your shower, or wash your dishes. • Eat less meat: a pound of beef takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce; factory farms are a leading cause of water pollution; and cow flatulence is a major source of methane gas (a primary greenhouse gas). For you hard-core water savers out there, consider installing a rainwater catchment system. It’s an ancient technique that is coming into vogue in this country. Just one inch of rainfall on a 25x40 foot roof will net 400 gallons of water! See below for information about a workshop this summer. And for the truly hard-core water savers, learn about greywater, bioswales, and composting toilets. So take a quaff—a long, thirst-quenching one—and imagine where that water may go next…Perhaps into the body of a salmon headed out to sea? Or maybe into a beer that will be guzzled at a future Ducks football tailgate party? Who knows?! Wherever it does go, though, let’s do everything we can to keep water clean and available to all, as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.
School Grants for Waste Reduction Feeling Puzzled? Try this word-search for some clarity. See if you can find all the words below (hint: be sure to look up, down, backwards, and diagonally!).The letters that are left over, when written down in order, spell out the “theme” of the puzzle. Here’s the list:
 Thanks to Bill Rodgers for submitting this! Upcoming Workshops  2006 Compost Demonstration Schedule
The GrassRoots Garden is located behind St. Thomas Episcopal Church at 1465 Coburg Rd., Eugene. The Matthews Garden is located at West 15th Ave. and Hayes Street in Eugene. For more information about composting contact the OSU/Lane County Extension Service Compost hotline at 682-7320 or the City of Eugene Compost Specialist at 682-5542. Worm Bin Composting Workshops Workshop participants will receive everything needed for a worm bin (including the worms) plus 1-1/2 hours of instruction, handouts,and follow-up support. When:
Where: OSU/Lane County Extension Service Auditorium 950 West 13th Avenue, Eugene 97402 Cost: $25.00 pre-paid and pre-registered. Call Cindy at 747-1419 to register or if you have further questions.
Rainwater Harvesting Design/Build Workshop At Lane Community College’s Downtown Center: June 28 – Aug 30, 2006; Wednesday, 6-9 pm Pass/No Pass; Instructor RN: 12651; Course # XCG9130 To register please call LCC or register online at <www.lanecc.edu>. The instructor is Tammie Stark, M.A., founder of Eugene Rainwater, LCC Faculty & lead for the EWEB Rainwater Catchment Pilot Project. For more information email tammie@eugenerainwater.com or see <www.eugenerainwater.com>. Master Recycler Training: Sign Up For The Class Starting In Late September! Do you want to learn how to reduce your waste, conserve natural resources, motivate others to change their habits, and make a difference in your community? If so, you should join the Lane County Master Recycler Program. Lane County Waste Management Division is offering a training course this fall that provides comprehensive training in return for 30 hours of volunteer outreach focused on teaching fellow Lane County citizens how to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink. The Master Recycler training course includes 35 hours of instruction—9 classes and 3 field trips to area solid waste and recycling sites. Instructors are local experts in solid waste from the business, government and non-profit sectors. Call 682-2059 for more information. Bored This Summer? Invite BRING’s education coordinator to your summer camp, youth group, or neighborhood gathering to inspire you about new ways to live well with less waste. Tours, presentations, craft projects, worm composting and more available for free to Lane County residents of all ages. Just call BRING and ask for Jo Rodgers at 541-746-3023 or email her at jor@bringrecycling.org.
BRING Recycling Warehouse Reusable Building Materials at Bargain Prices Donating your unwanted but usable building materials is tax deductible to the extend the law allows. Shopping for second hand building materials at BRING’s resale yard reduces waste and saves you money.
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Eco-Tip for Reducing Your Footprint:
So Long
The City of Eugene Solid Waste and Recycling program and Lane County Waste Management Division have teamed up to offer the 2006-07 K-12 Waste Reduction Grant Program.
