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Pasco Letters to Editor

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 3, 2007

Support Proposed Landfill

It has come to my attention that Pasco County is considering two different means of managing the county's increasing quantities of municipal solid waste (MSW). One is to expand the waste-to-energy facility (WTE). The other is to construct a materials recovery facility (MRF) and a bioreactor landfill for the residues.

The purpose of this is to point out data that show that the latter option is preferred for two major reasons. The first is that the energy saved by recovering the materials in the MRF is far greater than that obtained in the WTE facility. The second is that greenhouse gas emissions are much greater for WTE than for the MRF and bioreactor.

The data I will cite are from EPA "Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases," available at www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/waste/downloads/gre....

For all components of MSW, a life-cycle analysis of the energy required for replacing consumed materials with virgin ones shows a net energy loss relative to recycling the materials by factors of up to five, depending on the material. In other words, the energy gained from the fuel is less than the extra energy required to replace the materials with virgin ones.

Furthermore, pollution of water and air is far greater for producing virgin materials to replace those consumed for fuel than for recycling the materials. For paper, recycling requires 80 percent less water; air pollution is 95 percent less. Plastics are even worse and are mostly made from non-renewable fossil fuel. Recycling industries provide many jobs that cannot be sent offshore, while WTE provides only a few.

The EPA report gives specific examples for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that clearly show source reduction and recycling are several times as effective as WTE. (You may calculate your own carbon footprint and the environmental benefits of recycling using the calculator www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator....)

The report states, "Different wastes and waste management options have different implications for energy consumption, CH4 emissions, and carbon sequestration. Source reduction and recycling of paper products, for example, reduce energy consumption, decrease combustion and landfill emissions, and increase forest carbon sequestration."

The EPA document has the following to say about bioreactor landfills: "Bioreactors are a form of controlled landfilling with the potential to provide reliable energy generation from solid waste, as well a significant environmental and solid waste management benefits ... The result is to shorten the period of landfill gas generation, thereby rendering projections of landfill gas generation rates and yields that are much more reliable for landfill gas recovery."

I urge the county to take advantage of the proposal to construct a MRF and bioreactor landfill as the most environmentally effective and economically beneficial method of managing MSW.

E. DWIGHT ADAMS

University of Florida

'Sprout' Uprooted

Bright House Networks just started a new channel lineup. So far I have seen many mention their disapproval of relocating government and public access channels to the upper tier. I am more concerned with another issue: PBS KIDS Sprout is not on the new lineup.

My family, including three children, recently moved back to the Tampa area after living out of state for two years. During those two years, we came to love the children's programming on Sprout. If I had known that Bright House Tampa Bay had no intention of adding it to the new lineup, even though their parent company has a contract with Sprout and shows it in other places in the country, I would have signed up with Verizon FIOS instead.

Bright House does carry a few Sprout programs on channel 351 (Kids on Demand Preschool), but good luck getting the channel to work. Most of the time an error message greets you instead of Barney and Sesame Street. My kids are not happy!

DAVID BORKOWSKI

Land O' Lakes

Holiday Spirit

Toys for Tots of East Pasco proudly announces its seventh annual veterinary holiday party. This year we will host 25 Cox Elementary School third-graders. The party will take place Dec. 10 at Pasco Veterinary Medical Center, 4575 Pet Lane, in Wesley Chapel.

We will start the fun at 11 a.m. Dr. Marlene Siegel and her staff will lead the children on a tour of the facility, and the kids will be allowed to pet some of the animals. Lunch for the children will again be provided by Publix Super Markets. Hopefully again this year, Marines in their immaculate dress blue uniforms, acting for Santa, will hand out presents to each tot.

On a personal note, this party always tops my holiday experience, and I assure you the spirit of the season will be present!

BOB LORING

Toys for Tots of East Pasco

Race To $4

I don't want to hear another person complain or moan about gas prices. People are still racing 15 to 20 mph over every speed limit.

From jackrabbit starts to keeping the pedal to the metal, until jamming on the brakes at the next red light, people are not making an effort to change their poor driving habits.

You want $4 a gallon for gas? Keep speeding - we'll all get there faster.

CAL JOHNSON

New Port Richey

The writer is emeritus professor of physics.

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