An industry group says Idahoans are going to be hearing a lot about recycling.
The Idaho Council on Industry and the Environment launched a drive Tuesday to encourage recycling and reuse of critical materials with a Statehouse workshop featuring spokesmen for three disposal industries.The council used the workshop to start its effort to increase public awareness of waste problems.
The "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" campaign will include 50 billboards across the state encouraging people to think about disposal problems.
"Our intent is to explore positive, practical solutions to the challenges we face in the future for solid, nuclear and hazardous waste," said Suzanne Budge, executive director of the council. "The workshop is intended to present a national overview of these waste issues . . . "
Appearing on the panel were Robert Berglund, San Jose, Calif., manager of advance nuclear technology for GE Nuclear Energy; John Shuey, Houston, vice president of Browning-Ferris Inc.; and Richard Pastor, King of Prussia, Pa., director of government relations for Envirosafe Management Services Inc. Envirosafe has a hazardous waste disposal facility near Grand View and another in Ohio.
Pastor said recent figures indicate this country is generating about 270 million tons of hazardous waste per year, or about one ton for every resident of the United States.
"The emphasis is there right now for reuse, recycling and rethinking how we produce hazardous waste," he said. "The area is ripe for innovative ideas in cutting down the amount of waste that is generated in the process of manufacturing the goods that we all buy, sell and enjoy.
Berglund said besides efforts to find a suitable repository for nuclear waste, parallel efforts are under way to reuse nuclear material.
He said recycling radioactive material "can provide the U.S. with an enhanced energy position."