Where will they put all the debris from the Katrina damage?

[unrepuke]

NBC news last night showed a few guys scooping up a tiny bit of trash on the tip of a shovel, putting it into a plastic bag for disposal. Looked like the fairly dry part of N.O. I imagine this is supposed to show us it's all just down to a little sweep up and the gulf is good to go again, thank you very much, Mr. Bush.

On the other hand, they've also shown roads cleared by bulldozing off to the side through entire communities = mountains of busted stuff. And they haven't begun to bulldoze the destroyed buildings that are still under water. 600,000 of them just in New Orleans? They want to rebuild this whole area - it all has to go somewhere - are they going to truck it to somebody else's back yard? Are the tree haters aiming for the Grand Canyon again? "Aw, it's just a big hole in the gound. It's our resource, let's use it."

It's going to take a Hell of a lot of Hefty Bags.

What about all the materails needed to make a new city? When they knock a house down around here (Southern Calif.) it's very seldom anybody takes it apart first to recycle the reusable lumber, and then it's always a small, one truck outfit up from Mexico and they are in a super rush to get their truckload of two by fours out of the way of progress, so they don't get much.

If that sort of waste prevails in the south, and they just want to level the place and start over - hang the expense - where does the lumber come from? National forests? Reagan said "When you see one tree, you've seen them all." O, Canada - watch out!

[Gin]

1. I think I read or heard its being shredded....I dont think the wet stuff

can be shredded but trees can be. Could turn into mulch and be sold on the open market at Wallmart...or other places.

Katrina Mulch...buy some and help the rebuilding effort.

[trof]

2. That's a big problem. Where to put it?

My friend has the contract for debris removal for Jackson County, MS.
County officials estimate 5 million cubic yards worth.
Most of the landfills were already near capacity.
They're looking for private landowners they can pay to let them dump on their property.

And the MS trash is not nearly as toxic as the stuff in and around NOLA. That requires (or SHOULD require) special handling. EPA is already talking about relaxing rules for toxic dumps.

The estimate for NOLA is 30 million cubic yards, and counting.

[leftofthedial]

3. why not landfill for negative elevation urban areas?

[Skink]

4. There's some land in Crawford available.

Good photo Op potential.

[librechik]

8. exactly--it's a hard mouthful to swallow

and there will be toxic waste issues, but jeez, just bulldose it, sanitize it and build on top--above sea level.

[WiseButAngrySara]

20. Exactly...that was my first thought. Turn it into ground elevation and/or

levee support if that can be done.

[kestrel91316]

12. Yep, use it as landfill for the low spots in NOLA and, voila,

end of problem!

Unfortunately, it probably won't be that easy, but it seems like a way to kill two birds with one stone.

[unrepuke]

16. Landfill is another problem of its own. It's unstable, there are

whole communities here that were built on landfill that are sinking and toxic fumes will be coming up for centuries.

[leftofthedial]

24. there also are examples of large areas built on landfill

that work well.

The Bay Area has instability problems due to earthquakes, but much of the Netherlands is built on reclaimed land. Hong Kong is mostly built on reclaimed land now.

Not a panacea, but they need to rebuild at a higher elevation somehow.

[kestrel91316]

25. It's already sinking there, what's a little more?

They could put parkland/nature reserve there rather than BUILDING on it. And I doubt earthquakes/liquifaction are a problem in NOLA.

Just trying to do some brainstorming outside the box, here.

[daninthemoon]

17. That would make too much sense.

[stlsaxman]

5. Well, all the nameless dead will be fed to Wu's pigs.

Just think- they're gonna be some FAT little pigs!

[OneBlueSky]

6. send it to Crawford . . . I know a "ranch" that's only used . . .

by one person for his frequent and extended vacations . . . let him go to Disney World . . .

[Quixote1818]

7. I hope they recycle all that wood and brick. nt

[ret5hd]

11. bricks maybe...

but i wouldn't want a house built from 2*4's that soaked in water for a few days. they're warped/warping and useless.

[unrepuke]

14. Wood will dry out, bricks are seldom salvaged around here

and as for time to recycle - do we not have an awful lot of homeless around not doing anything? Even more now - and the ones from there want to return to the area...jobless

trash companies here hire people (albeit at minimum) to comb through trash on conveyer belts. The amount of gold and jewelry that people toss out is mind boggling.

After the Northridge earthquake bricks by the millions were piled up in the streets and even stacked on pallets, with signs begging people to please come take them away - for MONTHS! There is a mountain of them off the side of the 14 freeway now.

[ret5hd]

15. wood WILL dry...it just won't be straight, nor will it be stable...

for a long time.

[Quixote1818]

18. Yes but it can be chipped and made ito particle board, wood chips

for gardens etc. etc. It can also be turned into cardboard and other things.

[txindy]

23. I'd be too wary of the effects of the black mold in the resulting products

I, for one, wouldn't want any recycled products from NO or any other community in the Gulf Coast.

[Quixote1818]

19. That wood can be made into cardboard or particle board etc.

nt

[trof]

9. Here are some answers to your questions:

There's just not time for recycling.
It's very labor intensive chipping apart bricks and mortar, pulling nails from lumber.

I have a 120' long, 4' high brush pile on the street now. So do many of my neighbors. We've had no rain since Katrina. If one of those piles ignites it would set off a raging brush fire that would quickly spread to trees and homes. Luckily debris removal starts tomorrow.

Yard waste (anything growing before the storm) can be ground up for mulch, and usually is. Unless it's been soaked by toxic flood waters, like in NOLA and some MS towns.

There's not much you can do with construction debris except dump it. Too much metal in it for grinding.

White goods (appliances and manufactured goods) can eventually be ground up (or compacted) and recycled, but first all freon, oil, etc. must be removed.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. They could leave it in my bedroom. No one would notice...

(I'm sorry for the levity... It's clean up day)

[Lindsay]

13. I did hear or read somewhere that a paper company

is going to re-open two plants in the gulf coast area to take advantage of the downed trees. So that's some clean-up and some jobs, albeit probably temporary.

[kentuck]

21. An entrepreneur could start his own lumber yard....

Much of the lumber looked brand new....

[txindy]

22. My best guess: fill.

I'm willing to bet they use it to expand (or raise the level of) NO just as they used the rubble from the great earthquake in SF in 1906 to expand that city. Of course, the '89 earthquake showed the folly of building on trash/fill and this wouldn't work out any better in NO, esp. with the trash being moldy and toxic with who-knows-what in it.