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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1991)
Smoke Signals June 1991 page 11 Culture Forum Underway The Erst meeting of the "Culture Forum" group was held April 11th. For those of you wondering what the -Culture Forum is; the group was called to action by the Economic Development Department to give feedback on the tourism development process. Our department needs tribal input about which areas of our history and culture are sacred, and not for sale; and which areas are safe to promote. A second goal of the group is to coordinate and encourage cultural and historical education among tribal members. In order to instill pride within ourselves about our culture and heritage, it is important that each one of us understands what it means to be Indian. An important facet of that understanding is knowledge of our ancestors-their lifestyles, traditions,' arid history. Drumming and dancing classes are being provided by the Pow Wow Committee. For those of us who would like to learn more about our Indian heritage, this is a good place to begin learning. Do you have a child? It is imperative that our children learn traditions and customs as well, so please encourage their participation in the classes. We are looking for new ways to reach tribal members interested in learning their culture and history, and any suggestions are welcome. Another group project is the Tribes's cultural center. We will be researching the development process and making implementation recommendations. There are several similar projects in the ares, and we will be using their experience to guide us in our development and operation. At the May 13th meeting, Dennis Werth, a Grand Ronde archeologist came and showed slides on .the Grand Ronde artifact collection in London. There are approximately 156 items at the British Museum that were purchased from Grand Ronde tribal members in the 1800's. R.W. Summers. Mr! Summers was a minister in McMinnville who collected Indian artifacts while in this area. We welcome all interested tribal members to our meetings. A June meeting has not been scheduled, but is you are interested in participating in the group call Shelley at 879-5211 EXT. 153. The Environment 1 H K What goes around, comes around: The economics of paper recycling Did You Know? Kathryn Harrison displays tribal baskets during recent community presentation on tribal history and culture. Recycled paper has struggled for acceptance in the offices of America. Initially, looks and quality were against it. Twenty years ago, recycled paper tended to be brown and speckled, a reputation that has lingered, even though today's recycled paper is just as white and bright and strong as its virgin-pulp parent. Price continues to be a negative factor. It would appear that it costs less to produce recycled paper than virgin paper, so people don't understand why they are charged more for it. So what's happening? First of all, recycling mills are smaller than their traditional counterparts. Twenty years ago, a recycling mill was competitive if it produced 200 tons of paper per day. Today, virgin-pulp mills can produce 600 to 800 tons of paper a day on a single machine, paper that is primarily for office and offset printing use. The larger size of the "supermill" allows it to operate with produc tion costs averaging 13 percent below the recycling mills. Secondly, the virgin paper market is soft right now, while demand for recycled products is high. This combination lowers the price of virgin-pulp papers and raises the price of recycled. ' : Thirdly, the industry hesitates to sink large amounts of capital in re-fitting plants for recycling in case the new environmentalist is a short-lived fad. Consumers have to choose recycled product over virgin consistently so the industry knows for sure where the trend is headed. Fourthly, the technological advances that permit recovery of laser and toner printed papers are only now beginning to make their way into printing and . writing paper mills. Finally, we've only started to recycle paper on the scale that would support a papermaker who under took to build a recycling supermill. Business contributes an enormous share of post-consumer waste paper, so ! business recycling is an integral part of bringing prices down. How you can affect the taws of supply and demand Collecting paper is only half of recycling, buying recycled product is the other. Many people think there is an oversupply of recycled paper right now because a Mi lot of collected newsprint sits in warehouses waiting to A jj f be used again. The paper sits because no one is buying vjjf it! Most newspaper publishers continue to print on virgin proauci. This situation is being remedied. Several states have recently enacted legislation requiring publishers to buy recycled newsprint. While these laws will have some effect on the market, newsprint is only a drop in the landfill. Fact: We toss nearly twice as much high-grade paper into landfills as newsprint. Fact: Fine-paper markets are growing faster and using less recycled product than any other paper category. You are the marketplace. Your demand fuels supply. From copy paper to computer paper, from toilet paper to stationery,recycle and buy recycled products. Paper has been made from wood only since the mid- 19th century, around 150 years. Before that, paper was recycled from rags. The Industrial Revolution created a demand for paper products that soon out stripped the supply of cotton and linen. Wood pulping techniques yielded the most commercially successful processes. The caustics used in de-inking recycled papers are not on the EPA's list of toxic chemicals; the caustics used in making virgin pulp are. Not only is the sludge from many de-inking mills non-toxic as defined by stringent state standards, it is a valuable agricultural soil-conditioner because of its heavy clay content. Paper fibers can be used up to one dozen times without significant loss of quality. One edition of the Sunday New York Times consumes 60,000 trees. The papermaking industry is currently con ' structing two million tons of additional high-grade papermaking capacity over the next three years-none of it includes recycling capacity. Not All Papers Are Created Recyclable Some papers cannot be recycled because they contain metals, adhesives, plastics, or other foreign elements that cannot be separated from the paper. A few examples of non-recyclable papers are: Self-stick notes, aluminum-foil lined juice boxes, envelopes with plastic mail pouches, carbon paper, waxed paper and food wrappers. But the vast majority of office paper can, and should, be recycled. Copy paper, computer paper, stationery, yellow pads, newsprint, carbonless paper, thermal (fax) paper, index cards, tab cards-even photo papers-can be used to make more paper. When you start an office paper recycling program you should sort paper by type. Here are the categories: White Office PaperComputer Paper Copy, ledger, drawing paper with black, blue, or less than 10 of another color ink. Colored Office Paper Any colored high-grade paper, white paper with other than black or blue ink, binder paper, yellow note paper, envelopes without plastic windows or self-stick mailing labels, manila envelopes without metal clips, folders, non-glossy flyers, business cards, and high-grade colored art paper. Newsprint Non-glossy, color supplements are O.K. Cardboard Brown paper bags, boxes, cereal-type boxes, milk containers, packing materials. Trash and Glossy Papers All magazines, books, brochures, etc. Courtesy of Office Club News & Views
