The Blog

Modern Recycling and Daemen College in Amherst have collaborated this academic year to recycle food scraps and raise awareness about the value of composting.

“Daemen College is deeply committed to following best environmental management practices in all operations,” said Daemen President Dr. Gary Olson. “Implementing campus organics recycling will enable the College to lead by example and promote environmental awareness locally and globally.”

Students in Daemen College’s Spring 2012 Sustainable Design course were challenged with designing a system that would reduce the College’s environmental impact. The response from students was to develop a plan to collect pre-consumer kitchen scraps from the College’s dining hall and send them to a third party for processing into compost.  Kenzie Reynen, one of the students, took on the challenges of implementing the plan. She worked with Daemen food service director John Suckow to design an efficient system for separating food scraps from other waste and place them in wheeled carts for collection. Implementation stalled when they weren’t able to find a hauler to transport the material to a compost facility.

Modern Recycling began its organics recycling service in the summer of 2012 to provide customers another service option in support of its customers’ sustainability goals. Modern learned about Daemen’s student project as it was developing its own collection and processing program and the two programs fit well together.  When students returned to campus in September, Modern started collecting Daemen’s dining hall kitchen scraps and the program has continued since then. “Creating the system was actually much easier than we anticipated,” said Suckow. “We were already tossing those items in the trash, and now we have a system that takes it back to the earth.”

Modern’s cart-based program accepts food scraps like vegetable trimmings, fruit peels, stale breads and pastries and coffee grounds from commercial and institutional customers. The organic material is delivered to Modern’s compost facility where it is processed along with plant waste from Modern’s H2Gro Greenhouses. “We believe interest in organics recycling programs will grow regionally just as it has nationally because it’s the next big step in recycling,” says Modern’s Sustainability Coordinator & Educator, Katy Duggan-Haas.

Food scraps make-up 14% of municipal solid waste discarded in the United States each year. Recycling food scraps into compost presents a significant opportunity to:

• Reduce waste.
• Convert waste into a value-added product – nutrient-rich soil amendment.
• Improve soil structure and moisture retention for better crop and plant growth.

About Daemen College:

Daemen College is a private, 4-year, coeducational college, offering a mix of liberal arts majors, pre-professional programs, and graduate degrees in education, health care, and business-related fields. Daemen prides itself on maintaining a student-centered atmosphere and a close professional and collaborative association among all members of the College community.

About Modern:
Modern is a group of companies specializing in state-of-the-art solid waste management and innovative sustainable environmental practices. Modern has more than 500 employees in New York and Southern Ontario, Canada.

 

The very idea of a turtle in its shell seems so logical and correct. As a matter of fact, can you imagine the world without them? Well, you would have to go back 220 million years or so to experience such a time. “Turtle Day” is May 23, however, every day is turtle day in my mind! I look at it as a sort of “shell game” and the prizes are the amazing facts hidden under each and every magnificent shell.

 

Let’s look at what these unchanging, long-living icons of constancy are all about. Take the Eastern Box Turtle for example, the creature with the perfect name. “Box” refers to this turtle’s awe inspiring design. The underside of its shell, called the plastron, is segmented into two independent pieces, both capable of closing into an impenetrable, sealed “box.”

The Common Snapping Turtle is the very definition of the word “camouflage.” Its cryptic shell is a study in geological rock mimicry right down to the green hair algae that grows on it. Unlike other turtles, the underside of its shell is almost non-existent, allowing for greater flexibility so they can sneak up on their unsuspecting prey. This small plastron also eliminates a snapping turtle’s ability to retreat inside its protective shell, an unnecessary tactic since its fierce demeanor in the face of an attacker can repel even the most persistent of predators.

Have you ever wondered how this turtle can survive our harsh cold, snowy winters buried in the mud under a frozen pond? Get ready! In order to breathe, a snapping turtle can prolapse its anus allowing it to absorb oxygen directly to the bloodstream through this thin exposed skin protruding from its back end.

Let’s move on to a semi-aquatic turtle most are not familiar with, the North American Wood Turtle. Its deeply sculptured shell is reminiscent of a finely carved wooden box. This turtle’s resilient adaptability allows it to live in almost all of our local habitats, be it field, forest or stream. Unfortunately, their ability to survive in such diverse conditions is born out of an admirable intelligence, which made them worthy of confinement as a permanent house guest. They were almost hunted out of existence by overzealous people for their pet quality.

Oh, by the way, “all” turtles native to New York State are illegal to keep as pets, so hands off! I believe observing and learning about turtles is reward enough for us to resist the need to capture one.

 

On Thursday, May 23rd, the Clean Air Coalition and the Coalition for Economic Justice will be driving a participatory budgeting process forward to ensure that any money from the historic Tonawanda Coke trial that stays local will be used to directly address community concerns. Not only will the money meet the needs of community members, but community members are given the unique opportunity to actually identify and craft projects that would improve conditions in their neighborhoods. This is such a monumental moment for Western New York.  This blog is intended to provide a bit more detail on what Participatory Budgeting is, where it has been effective, and why bringing it here is a pretty big deal!

In many cities in North America, community members are usually forced on the sidelines during public budgeting with little power to shape the spending decisions that concern their everyday lives. Many people are left feeling powerless while their communities are experiencing budget crises, which are leading to painful cuts in public services and infrastructure—especially for communities with the greatest needs.

There is an alternative however, to sitting on the sidelines and watching others decide what your money is spent on. Participatory Budgeting (PB) offers a unique, modern alternative to traditional public budgeting. Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It allows taxpayers to work (not watch) with their government to make budget decisions that will benefit the community as a whole and promote citizen involvement.

Participatory Budgeting was first used in Brazil in 1989, but today there are a whopping 1,500 participatory budgets around the world. Participatory Budgeting has mainly been used for city budgets, but it has also been successfully used in towns, housing authorities, schools, coalitions, and universities! Numerous institutions and governing bodies can benefit from Participatory Budgeting. It has also worked in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, and New York City, just to name a few.

It is clear that Participatory Budgeting is an innovative and contemporary way to help communities better decide how to spend their public funds. Participatory Budgeting also has the potential to transform communities through providing marginalized community members a say in decisions they would otherwise be left out of, through uncovering a process by which communities and electeds makes better and more equitable decisions,  PB connects politicians with constituents,  and lastly, makes government more accountable and efficient.

Keep your eyes peeled as to the outcomes of the project development brainstorm on the 23rd, the first of many meetings to identify and build out projects that will directly impact the quality of life for residents in and around Tonawanda.

For more information on Participatory Budgeting  in Tonawanda, please call Rebecca at 852.3813.

Resources

Interesting Video about PB in NYC (http://video.pbs.org/video/2222472787/)

This video helps to show Participatory Budgeting in action in New York City, which is not too far from Buffalo. If it can happen in the Big Apple we can surely make it happen in Buffalo!

This is also a great video to show how Participatory Budgeting works (http://vimeo.com/65169312#)

To learn more about Participatory Budgeting, visit the PB Project’s website at (http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/participate/connect/)

(http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/about-participatory-budgeting/where-has-it-worked/)

(http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/about-participatory-budgeting/what-is-pb/)

I’m sure you’ve heard, and maybe even used the word snag before. But have you ever used it in reference to a dead tree? When you are walking on a trail in the woods, and you see a dead tree that is still standing, it is called a snag.

A snag provides a home for many different animals and insects in the forest. Birds and bats often sleep in snags. Although they aren’t the most visually appealing lawn ornament, if you have a snag near your house it’s important to leave it be. Taking down a snag might invite these critters to find shelter in your attic. They also provide a habitat for insects, providing food for some of the birds and bats sleep in it.

Snags act as a ‘hunting stand’ for certain birds of prey, because they are often situated by a small clearing in the woods due to the recent death of the tree. Snags are important for wildlife, but equally important for the forest. As the dead tree decays and falls apart, it provides new rich soil for future growth in the forest.

So, go outside and bring your friends. Make sure to point out the snags along the trail, and impress your friends with your nature knowledge!