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THE CLACKAMAS
PRINT
OPINION
October 31,199
Recyling measure won't make state any greener
Oregon is the most beautiful, unspoiled
land that I have ever experienced. It is
evident that environmental issues are at
the core of our concerns. We pass laws and
amendments that reflect a deep apprecia
tion for the welfare of our natural resources.
Sometimes, however, the desire to do
“the right thing” is orchestrated in such a
way as to accomplish the exact opposite.
Measure 6 is clearly an example of such an
instance. •
OSPIRG, the Oregon Public Interest
Research Group, has sponsored a measure
that is being touted as the best solution to
our difficulties with non-recyclable wastes.
It is a regulatory measure. It is also a puni
tive and unjustifiably expensive measure.
As part of their promotional propa
ganda, OSPIRG is reminding us all of their
success with the “Bottle Bill.” What they
are purposefully omitting is the fact that
the “Bottle Bill,” a regulatory measure,
also included substantial monetary incen
tives. When you hear someone extol the
virtues of Measure 6 and proclaim that
“Regulation Works!,” ask him who is pay
ing for it.
Bill Hanneman, author of Oregon’s
“Bottle Bill,” has sent out letters to his
voters asking them to defeat this bill. In his
letter he explains that “The bureaucracy
required to enforce Measure 6 will be sub
stantial. Yet Measure 6‘provides not one
dime to pay for [itself]... and administer
hearings and appeals on exemptions for.
thousands of products annually.”
The DEQ has estimated that 1 million
dollars is needed to establish and enforce
the bill — including the first year’s salaries
for seven staff members needed to perform bill. On the surface the meaning reads that
regulatory functions. OSPIRG estimates packaging manufacturers are not to com
1/2 million dollars would be required and plicate the process of resource recovery,
however, the actual net result may be the
-only 2-3 staff members.
Regardless of the cost, if we vote this death of recycling as an industry!
Recycling and resource recovery are
measure into law our legislative assembly
currently not economical
will be constrained to find a
in either their administra
way to fund it -- although it Environmentalist's
tion or their mechanics. »
is you and I that will actu
Grimoire
The marketplace has be
ally pay for it Before we
by
come flooded with mate
bity it let’s take a closer look
Rändel Hodgins
rials that the industry has
at the merchandise..
no capacity to turn into
Measure 6 lacks any
usable, saleable commodities that can turn
form of positive reinforcement. What it
a reasonable profit.
lacks in incentives it makes up for in
We need to develop new technologies
penalties of up to $10,000 per day for
like those that introduced plastic lumber.
violations. In order to escape the puni
The reverberations from that one innova
tive actions built into Measure 6, a pack
age manufactured or distributed and then
tion atone may soon help breathe life into
Oregon’s distressed lumber industry. Where
sold in Oregon must fit into one of the
is the incentive for (or even the smallest
following categories:
consideration of) advancement in the IN
(1) It must be usable a minimum of
DUSTRYof resource recovery in Measure
5 times. This doesn’t sound too bad but
6? Nowhere.
consider the most likely material to con
(3) Ifconditionsland2cannotbemet,
form with this requirement: glass. The
the packaging must be constructed of 50%
costs of transport, toss due -to breakage,
recycled materials. A trip to your local
industrial, re-fit, sterilization, and civil
grocery will reveal that a large percentage
liabilities in dollars and energy make this
of packaging is already made from recov
condition ridiculously impractical.
ered materials - “If ife GREY its OKAY!.”
Currently glass and other materials
Admittedly there is much room for
are broken down and reformed at a con
improvement — and there are packagers
siderable savings in energy atone. Reus
that are purposefully sly in the way their
ing products like lumber and appliances
“recyclable” claim is made.- Paper packag
makes a tot of sense, but Measure 6 has
ing, from an industry viewpoint, is the lowest
targeted (wrongly) packaging atone.
grade of recovered material; for the most
(2) The product must be recyclable
part it already contains recycled fibers and
within existing systems. This is the most
technically cannot be recovered due to the
insidiously deceptive requirement in the
shortness of their fiber length.
There are two likely consequences to
this criterion; products will be over-pack
aged to compensate for a lack of structural
tions, lounge space for staff, faculty and
integrity (who pays for that?), or the fibers
students. These are long time needs which
will end up in pulp mill sludge ponds and
may be rectified with new building comple
tion. However, no contest should exist
between a Game Room and instructional
programs. I won’t enter!
Elimination Game Room solution
Dear Editor:
I would like to take a stand on the
Game Room relocation proposal. On page
5, of The Clackamas Print. Oct 17,1990,
where several faculty/staff contacted for
response, “were undecided or would not
respond to the question” a blank spot was
printed. I found the blank spot symboli Judith Peabody
cally revealing. Indeed, the faculty are a Tutorial Coordinator
“blank spot,” for we have not been heavily
involved in the latest round of rapidly, shift
ing scenarios of where to place the Game
Room, yet this allows the institution to
offer students vital academic services at a
time when campus space is a scarce com
modity.
I tested my “blankspot” assumption at
Editor-In-Chief: Angela Wilson
the Oct. 25 Faculty Senate Meeting where
FeatureEditor: Jennifer Soper
I found more kindred spirits. My proposal
Sports Editor: Aaron Brown
is simple-that we add to the list of Game
Photo Editor: Lane Scheideman
Room solutions the. elimination of the
Rhaposdy Editor: Ron Jagodnik, Jr.
Business Manager: Gregg Mayes
Game Room. I submit the following ra
Staff Writers: Carle Gradener
tional:
1 Access to game room activities abound
along Mcloughlin Blvd., Molalla Ave., and
Beaver Creek Rd. for like minded students.
2. This is a commuter, not a residential
college.
3. The “business of instruction is in
struction” and there appears to be no in
trinsic instructional value in the Game Room
(See also, “The Music Man” for reference).
4. The Student Government Budget is
primarily funded by mandatory student fees
paid through tuition and other revenue
sources, not the Game Room revenues.
5. If Randall 101 were a reasonable so
lution, this concept might have been im
plemented years ago (“Read my lips-no
simple solutions”) .
In conclusion, I urge you to choose a
value system which gives priority to in
structional programs over pool tables (See
again the “Music Man” or “If you don’t
stand for something, you’ll fall for any
thing.”) I am for student space, more study
zones and study carrels, more tutorial sta-i
Heatherie Himes
Brenda Hoden
Heidie Hoffman
Frank Jordan
Noian Kidwell
Jennifer Lessard
Richard Marx
Jane Wilcox
Photographers: Kyle Moe
Darby Pereira
David VanKeiren
Eva Worley
Production StaffrAnthony Porter
Jillian Porter
Tricia Schneider
Computer Tech: Scott Johnson
Ad Salesman: Dan Chample
Darkroom Tech: Debbie Felix
Advisor: Linda Vogt
The Clackamas Print aims to be a fair and
impartial newspaper covering the college com
munity. Opinions expressed in The Clackamas
Print do net necessarily reflect those of the
college administration, faculty of Advertisers.
The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication
distrbuted every Wednesday except for finals
week. The open advertising rate is $3.75 per
column inch. Clackamas Community College,
19600S. Molalla Avenue, Oregon Chy, Oregon
97045. Trailer B. Telephone: 657-6956, ext. 309
(office), ext.578 (production) and ext 577 (ad
vertising).
accumulate. Does it really make sense i
divert this tow grade material into a mark
that is already glutted on recoverable ai
useful paper products?
The ideology behind this measure
simple; Regulation works ~ stricter sta
dards will initialize recycling. Well there
a certain logic to this idea... the same kii
of logic that led Joeseph McCarthy to pe
secure and terrorize a nation that unwj
tingly gave him not only the permissio
but the power to do it! McCarthy believi
that persecuting popular public figures
communists would reveal them as comm
nists.
. A seemingly strange analogy until y<
read Measure 6 and discover that any ci
zen can file suit (at theexpense of theSta
whether they prevail or not) against a
company for selling/distributing/manufa
turing a package that doesn’t conform
the above criteria as tong as the suit
“advancing the cause” of the bill. The on
group that is likely to profit from this kii
of legislation is the legal community.
This nation has a tong history of i
warding the extraction of virgin materia
for production. It is now time that we <
reorient ourselves and become resour
recovery minded. I believe in recycling ai
I believe in God; but neither one should I
force fed through legislation. Measure
was perhaps a good idea, it just needs
spend a little more time on the blackboar
We must continue to recover and recyc
our resources; however, a poorly define
punitive piece of legislation that offers i
incentives, no advancement, and no su
port is not going to help. On Nov. 5, sei
Measure 6 back to be recycled; Vote f
and Kill the Bill!
NEXT: THE EXISTING ANSWER
The views expressed in The Clackamas Print are those of The Clackamas Prim
staff, and do not necessarily reflect those of Clackamas Community College.
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