The Southwest Portland Post., August 01, 2008, Page 8, Image 8

8 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
August 2008
EarthTalk TM
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: What’s going on in
the music industry with all the CDs
and plastic CD holders undoubtedly
generating a lot of plastic waste?
-- John S., via email
According to the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA), CDs and
DVDs are typically manufactured by
combining various mined metals (alu-
minum, gold, silver and nickel) with
petroleum-derived plastics, lacquers
and dyes.
Given what complicated beasts CDs
and DVDs are—products with thin lay-
ers of different materials mixed together
are nearly impossible to recycle—most
municipal recycling program won’t ac-
cept them, leaving consumers to fend
for themselves in fi guring out how to
dispose of them. As a result, most dis-
carded discs end up in the trash.
These diffi cult-to-recycle materials
can pollute groundwater and, in turn,
contribute to a whole host of human
health problems. But the low cost of
producing such top-selling consumer
items means that replacing them with
something greener is not likely anytime
soon.
Research has shown that polylactic
acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic-
substitute derived from corn and
other agricultural wastes, could replace
plastic polycarbonate as a disc’s main
substrate, but the present high cost of
using such a material makes it unlikely
to catch on any time soon with those
paying to produce mass volumes of
CDs and DVDs.
As for jewel cases, most are made out
of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), an inex-
pensive petrochemical-based plastic
that is notoriously diffi cult to recycle
and has been linked to elevated cancer
rates among workers and neighbors
where it’s manufactured.
Furthermore, when PVC is thrown in
with regular recyclables it can contami-
nate entire batches, ruin equipment and
cause human health problems. While
cardboard and paper jewel cases may
be all the rage among a few record
labels—Warner Music Group’s U.S.
division, for example, has been using
30 percent post-recycled paper for the
packaging in all of its CDs and DVDs
since 2005—the high cost and low du-
rability of such alternatives have kept
them largely out of the mainstream.
So what’s a conscientious consumer
to do? Those willing to pay a small
processing fee can send old CDs and
DVDs to one of a handful of private
companies (such as Washington-based
GreenDisk) set up to recycle them into
high-quality plastics used in auto parts,
offi ce equipment, alarm panels, street
lights, electrical cable insulation, jewel
cases and other specialized items.
A shift in consumer preferences
already underway may be just the
thing that will make everyone’s per-
sonal collections of music and movies
greener. Consumers are already able to
download some six million individual
digital songs via the 500 or so legal on-
line music services now up and running
on the Internet.
According to the International Fed-
eration of the Phonographic Industry,
digital sales now account for some 30
percent of all U.S. music sales and 15
percent globally. And most consumer
analysts expect these percentages to
grow steadily in the coming years,
which is good news for the environ-
ment.
CONTACTS: EPA’s “Lifecycle of a CD
or DVD,” www.epa.gov/osw/students/
fi nalposter.pdf; GreenDisk, www.greendisk.
com; International Federation of the Phono-
graphic Industry, www.ifpi.org.
(Continued on Page 9)
CDs and DVDs are made with a combina-
tion of various metals, petroleum-derived
plastics, lacquers and dyes and as a result
are almost impossible to recycle. When
discarded, they can pollute groundwater
and contribute to a whole host of human
health problems. (Photo courtesy Getty
Images)
Sellwood Bridge closed temporarily for crack repairs
Sellwood Bridge repairs scheduled
for August are designed to extend the
service life of the bridge by fi lling con-
crete cracks to prevent steel corrosion
and further cracking. Field work is ex-
pected to begin on Monday, August 11,
2008 and last two weeks. The work will
require the bridge to be closed to traffi c
(except for bikes and pedestrians) on six
nights, August 15 and August 18 - 22,
from 6:30 pm to 5:00 am.
The vehicle weight limit on the bridge
was reduced to 10 tons in 2004 after
cracks were found in concrete girders
that support the bridge deck. This
summer’s repairs will not allow those
weight limits to be increased. But the
project should extend the life of the
bridge at its current service level until a
long-term solution is implemented.
The $100,000 project involves clean-
ing 450 lineal feet of cracks and fi lling
them with an epoxy. The process pre-
vents water from corroding steel rebar
in the concrete and slows the growth
of cracks. The work was recommended
by an independent engineering study
in 2005.
The concrete cracks are on the land-
based approaches to the bridge on both
sides of the river. The cracks will be in-
jected with epoxy on weeknights when
the bridge is closed to traffi c.
The bridge closures are needed in
order for workers to access cracks from
a vehicle mounted on the narrow bridge
deck and to allow the epoxy to cure
without vibrations from traffi c.
On two nights the northbound lane
of Highway 43 that passes under the
bridge will also need to be closed due
to work above the highway. The lane
will be re-routed west of the bridge so
that two-way traffi c is maintained on
Highway 43 at all times.
When the bridge is closed, the near-
est alternate river crossing to the north
is the Ross Island Bridge. Access to the
Ross Island Bridge is available via High-
way 43/ Southwest Macadam Avenue
on the west side and via Southeast Mil-
waukie Avenue and Powell Boulevard
on the east side. The nearest bridges
to the south are the Abernethy Bridge
(I-205) and the Oregon City Bridge.
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