Trash

Recycling

You watch as a recycling truck carries off material scraps. It is a heartening sight to see recycling centers of all kinds hard at work. You observe as scrap metals and tires, that might have taken up space in a city dump or incinerator, be carried off to its respective center, and knowing that it shall be re-used and spare a small burden on Earth makes you rejoice. However, as you draw near the center you notice billows of black smoke rise into the air. You stand there flabbergasted. You watch in disbelief as a facility designed to recycle materials in the interest of helping the planet is instead turning solid waste into another kind of pollution.

This terrible scenario occurs more times than one might think. The noble enterprise of recycling materials that would otherwise be burned or used to further pollute the Earth is not completely dominated by those who have green views. Though recycling centers are thought to be pro environment, there are some that pollute and harm the community. Some recycling centers have rejected to work harmoniously with nature and instead further pollute the environment to the woe of the citizens who live around them. Whether to increase profits, productivity or just through ineptitude these "bad" plants are not true recycling centers, and should be shut down.

The history of recycling stems from World War Two, when food, rubber, and metal were all being rationed. The government urged civilians to reuse material whenever possible. This trend was established more to limit waste than to take on a "greener" view of the environment, however. This trend to retain precious resources did not last though. At the conclusion of World War Two the U.S middle class experienced a great boom in growth and prosperity, which in turn caused further carelessness, waste, and a demand for newness that sharply and quickly harmed the environment(St. James). This age of wastefulness began to wane in the 1960's when Americans realized that, as a whole, the U.S was the most advanced, and yet the most resourcefully inefficient country in the world. Gas shortages, toxic leaks, and oil spills were all examples of U.S carelessness and at the dawn of the 70's Americans knew that change was needed. Local citizens began to rally and organized recycling plants to reuse garbage and limit waste(Book Rags). Since then green industries have sprouted and prospered thanks to the mantra of "reduce, reuse, recycle", not all of them are pure of heart however.

One such center is located in Gahanna, Ohio. The plant is called Columbus Steel Drum. It is a steel drum plant that reconditions 55-gallon drums and makes them re-usable. The fifty thousand or so drums that are recycled there go through a harsh process because at least a fifth of the drums have hazardous chemicals or wastes in them (Columbus Steel Drum). In March of 2003 a group of citizens led by the Ohio Citizen Action group filed a formal complaint against Columbus Steel Drum. Local citizens had been complaining of terrible odors, headaches, nausea, and respiratory problems for years. They were finally fed up with the mistreatment of their neighborhoods and asked the local judge to force Columbus Steel Drum to comply with Environmental Protection Agency laws and reform plant operations to end the misery of the locals. Columbus Steel Drum delayed the trial several times before trying to settle with the city. Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro did not allow such a maneuver and brought up 31 counts of environmental infractions upon the plant. The Ohio EPA also added to those citations and told the plant manager, Ron Grannan, if improvements were not made the plant would be shut down. With civil and judiciary pressure mounting the plant decided to open its doors and share information with all who wanted access. These "good neighbor" talks began on May 1 and went on for less than a month before Steel Drum continued to break additional environmental laws. These battles continued until the end of 2003, in which by that time, Steel Drum looked as if it were going to be evicted and its property sold to Duke Realty. The plant resisted the eviction accusing the city of "conspiracies" and "violating Constitutional Rights". At the beginning of 2004 Steel Drum met with the leader of the Ohio Citizen Action group to discuss possible solutions to the complaints by the local residents. The next day Ohio Citizen Action accused Steel Drum of attempting to bribe the group with 5,000 dollars. The group file a complaint to the judge overseeing the case and Steel Drum was quickly summoned to answer the accusations. Steel Drum reportedly said it was a misunderstanding that the plant wanted to donate 5,000 dollars to the local schools. The spokeswoman of the Ohio Citizen Action group, Simona Vaclavikova, continued to pressure the courts into speeding up the trial and bringing additional fines to the company. In August of 2004 a fire engulfed the