January 4, 2005

Environmental Watch: EcoBuilding Guild Spokane meeting

SPOKANE — The Inland chapter of the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild will present a movie and talk on Jan. 9 at 1 p.m. The talk will take place in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane's Thoreau Room at 4340 W. Fort George Wright Dr. in Spokane, and follows a 12 p.m. luncheon fundraiser for the Environmental Stewardship Group of the church.

Gregory Greene's film, "The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream," will be discussed by Eastern Washington University economics professor Melissa Ahern and Dennis Dellwo, former Washington state legislator and a member of the State Growth Management Hearings Board.

The EcoBuilding Guild says experts on global oil markets predict world production of oil and natural gas will peak within the next five years. The film presents scenarios of how society will be shaped by lack of preparedness in response to that event.

For more information, contact Tom Angell at (509) 747-7647 or tomangell@earthlink.net.

$829K for King County rec facilities

SEATTLE — King County Executive Ron Sims recently announced 25 grants for youth sports and recreation facilities. King County will give $829,000 Youth Sports Facility Grants to organizations that promote youth sports. Grant funds go towards building or renovating ball fields, playgrounds and sport courts, for example. Some grants are as large as $50,000.

King County approved sale of one of its last remaining parcels on the former Kingdome site, with proceeds of roughly $400,000 going towards the grants. The county is looking to sell another building west of Qwest Field, with proceeds also to go into the grants.

More than $7 million has been awarded since the program started a decade ago, and nearly 200 youth sports facilities have been built or renovated as a result. Recipients include school districts, suburban cities and community groups.

The program is administered by the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

2good2toss.com has its anniversary

OLYMPIA — In its first year, the http://www.2good2toss.com Web site has helped Washington residents exchange nearly 742,000 pounds of materials that would otherwise go to landfills.

The Web site lets people find new and reusable construction materials or household items. Some describe it as an online garage sale, where valuable items are free or low cost.

"The landfill isn't necessary for re-usable items," said Shelly McClure, who coordinates the online-exchange project for the state Department of Ecology. "This much success in our first year shows that other people around Washington welcome an alternative to dumping."

After operating online for a little over a year, the site has nearly 10,000 registered users in 16 counties and cities. For more information, see: http://www.2good2toss.com or http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/index.html.

Clean Harbors to operate Wastemobile

SEATTLE — King County's Solid Waste Division recently signed a contract with Braintree, Mass.-based Clean Harbors Environmental Services to operate its hazardous household waste disposal service called Wastemobile.

Wastemobile is the county's mobile household hazardous waste collection program. It is funded by a surcharge on fees for solid waste disposal and wastewater discharge, and serves more than 30,000 customers. Each year Wastemobile collects 1,000 tons of hazardous waste. Last year, it collected an average of 78 pounds from each of 17,000 customers.

Clean Harbors is an environmental services company that provides hazardous waste services around the country. Customers include the city and county of Los Angeles, and Fortune 500 companies.

King County's solid waste division will monitor cost savings in the first year. Any savings will be used to add household hazardous waste collection services for county residents. For more information, contact James Neely at (206) 296-4472.

King County looking for litter

SEATTLE — A King County program to clean public properties that are littered or have had illegal dumping is looking for new sites. Eligible locations are any city, county, state or federally owned property in King County that is outside Seattle city limits.

To report a problem litter area on public property, call the Solid Waste Division at (206) 296-4466. Or see www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/litter-cleanup/siteinfo_consentform.pdf and send information to King County Solid Waste Division, Attn: Morgan John, 201 S. Jackson St., Suite 701, Seattle, WA 98104. Or e-mail morgan.john@metrokc.gov.

King County's community litter cleanup program is funded by the Washington state Department of Ecology. The county's solid waste division has funded 430 cleanups on publicly owned parcels since 1998. For more information, call Morgan John at (206) 296-8443.

Deal OK'd to reduce paint waste

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Canadian company Solucorp Industries, Ltd. recently announced it has signed a sales and marketing agreement with Seattle's N.S. Technologies.

Under the agreement, Solucorp grants to N.S. Technologies the exclusive right to buy and use its molecular bonding system technology, which is used to treat heavy metal-contaminated paint ash.

Solucorp's technology treats heavy metal wastes by chemically binding metals so they don't leach and contaminate groundwater.

N.S. Technologies works to help companies around the country reduce hazardous waste. Treating paint filters onsite and handling process paint sludge properly are ways companies can cut hazardous waste. N.S. shares a customer base of about 2,200 companies and government agencies with Commercial Filter Sales & Services.

N.S. Technologies will market and sell filters, paint strippers and sand blasting lead remediation additive. The company will target clients in the aeronautics, railcar and automotive industries.

Solucorp Industries Ltd. is a Canadian corporation and the parent company of three U.S. corporations: Solucorp Industries, Integrated Fixation System Co. and WITS.