From: Rob Chandhok <Ravinder.Chandhok@CS.CMU.EDU>
To: Harry Bovik <bovik+@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU>
Subject: newpaper recycling
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 89 13:09:26 EST
Message-ID: <1298.627674966@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU>
Sender: Ravinder.Chandhok@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU


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26-Oct-89 11:15    Joseph.Tebelskis             newspaper recycling update
From: Joseph.Tebelskis@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU

Last week GRIP, the Group for Recycling In Pennsylvania, had its annual
meeting, and the president of Atlas Waste Paper Corporation spoke about the
chaotic newspaper recycling situation.  The reason why it is becoming
difficult to recycle newspaper in Pittsburgh is purely economic: there are
not enough de-inking plants to buy all of the collected newspaper from the
recycling centers.  (A de-inking plant is where the newspaper gets bleached.)
It is not a simple matter to build more de-inking plants, as they must be
situated near waterways (they use copious amounts of water), and they each
cost about $300 million to build.  Atlas Waste Paper Corporation sends its
newspapers to de-inking plants located in Mexico, believe it or not.  

Next year (September, I believe), Pittsburgh will begin its mandatory
recycling program.  Obviously, this will put even greater strain on the
newspaper recycling market.  In the long run it is expected that the forces
of supply and demand will result in the construction of new de-inking
plants.  However, in the short term, people will have to deal with the
inconvenience of taking their newspapers to a smaller number of collection
centers.  Furthermore, most of the collection centers are getting more choosy 
about the quality of newspaper they will accept -- they ask that you remove 
all colored sections from the newspaper, including the Sunday Comics and the
Parade section, and especially all glossy advertisements and magazines.
(Actually, the de-inking plants typically allow 10% of the collected papers
to have color inserts, but color is more difficult to de-ink than black and
white is, so they prefer to buy from collection centers that can offer them
higher percentages of black and white.)

In the past, GRIP came to CMU on the last Sunday of each month to collect
newspapers.  They no longer do so.  Here is a list of places in the
Pittsburgh area which still accept newspaper:

Atlas Waste Paper, S. 24th and Wharton, on the South Side, 431-5329.
	Open Mon-Fri 7:00-4:30.  Your best bet.  This place has tremendous
	volume; its president said Atlas is probably the only recycling center
	in the country that can still handle more business than it's getting.
	Also, they accept color pages (but not glossy advertisements).

Churchill, Woodland Hills Administration Building:  1st Sunday, 10am-1pm.
Edgewood, Borough Building:  last Sunday, 11am-1pm.
Fox Chapel, High School: 2nd Sunday, 9:30-12:30.
Greensburg, behind the SW Borough Maintenance Bldg:  3rd Sunday, 10am-2pm.
Monroeville, Mellon Bank on Rt. 22 near Howard Johnsons:  last Sunday, 10-1.
Mt. Lebanon, Markham Elementary School:  3rd Saturday, 9am-noon.
Murraysville, American Legion, Old Wm. Penn Hwy:  every Saturday, 9am-3pm.
North Hills, Builders Square, McKnight Road:  last Saturday, 10am-noon.
Upper St. Clair, Cook School Road:  last Sunday, noon-4pm.
Yelinek & Sons, Scottdale: 887-4030.

Thank you for caring enough about your planet to recycle your waste.

  -- Joe Tebelskis
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