Category: recycling

What’s been keeping me busy? Trash

Plastic debris fouls a bridge over the Catawba River. Photo: Nancy Pierce

What’s been keeping me from blogging regularly these days? Trash.

To be more specific, I’ve become involved in a three-year project, through the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture, to highlight environmental issues in and around Charlotte. We call it KEEPING WATCH.

Year One, which we are in the middle of, is KEEPING WATCH on PLASTICS and focuses on plastics and recycling. We’re working with a whole flock of community partners — you can read the long and growing list at keepingwatch.org.

If you missed it Sunday, here’s a lengthy article in The Charlotte Observer that goes into much detail. “Debris to beauty: Keeping WATCH exhibitions reveal the beauty in discarded plastics” describes many of the arts-related events taking place this spring. Disclosure: The “Aurora Robson: Stayin Alive” exhibit at McColl Center for Visual Art was planned separately but the concept dovetails well with the overall theme. Robson’s work will be on display through July 26.

We’ll host a “Clean Martini night” June 13 at UNC Charlotte Center City, 6-9 p.m., with locally sourced drinks sponsored by Slow Food Charlotte, locally sourced nibbles, and a screening of the film “Growing Cities.” It’s free and open to the public.

Other pieces of the project have included articles at PlanCharlotte.org from local writer Mae Israel:

Finally, the Sustain Me Baby exhibit at the UNC Charlotte Center City gallery highlights recyclable plastics and the problem of plastics in the oceans. And Is This Yours takes art out of the gallery, with totems made of bales of recycled plastic, by Kurt Warnke, displayed in uptown Charlotte as well as placing recyclable vinyl stickers with photos by Nancy Pierce. all over town. 
Next year’s KEEPING WATCH will be bigger and better. We’ll focus on Charlotte’s creeks, those maligned and mistreated urban streams that are finally being taken seriously as amenities. Well, some of them are… 

Ahem, Charlotte: REDUCE, reuse, recycle?

Got an interesting e-mail from local architect Stephen Overcash of Overcash-Demmitt Architects, responding to my Saturday op-ed on Charlotte and recycling. He points out that there are other ways in which, in his opinion, the city’s operations could be far “greener.” Take, for instance, the dozens of very large paper plans you have to submit multiple times for every rezoning.

His note:

Hi, Mary:I enjoyed your article last weekend about the City of Charlotte not really being very green and I agree. I am an architect and am appalled at all the waste in the governmental system. There was a discussion over a year ago if the City should hire a Green Guru to help make recommendations, but the Mayor stated that he thought it wouldn’t be prudent to incur that expense in the midst of a downturn in the economy. First of all, a good Guru will save the taxpayer his salary many times over in reduced costs. Second, I think with all the professionals that are unemployed, it would be a good time to “get a bargain.”

I agree that we need better receptacles for recycling, but out of the three: reduce, reuse and recycle….recycling is a good, but distant third choice. The City of Charlotte should be striving to reduce…..

One example of my frustration: Every time I apply for a rezoning, I am told to submit 26 full-size sheets (sometimes the submittal is 2-3 sheets). Supposedly these are distributed around the various agencies that review them, but we only get comments from about 8 agencies. When I have repeatedly asked the Planning Department (and Debra Campbell directly), I am given some version of an answer that “that’s the way it is,” “that’s the way it’s always been done,” etc.

When I asked her where the additional 20 sets go, she informed me that many departments, such as DOT, have several reviewers and they all need their own set. Planning is not amenable to a couple of sets to share and a PDF to review on the screen … or better yet, just an electronic file where I don’t have to drive the hard sets down. Once we receive comments, they request another 26 sets, for the second review. Once we are approved, they request a final 15 sets. Where is all this paper going? Why can’t the City come into the 20th Century and only request an electronic file that would save storage space, additional files, air conditioning, on and on? (I pray that all the old sets of drawings are at least being recycled behind the scenes, but have been afraid to ask.)

I appreciate your articles trying to keep a little pressure on the Government.

Disgusted in Charlotte,
Stephen Overcash