North Carolina Recycling Group Thinks Out Of The B

Ashville, NC, July 14--Cleaning up the environment is sometimes a balancing act, as reported in the Ashville Daily-Times. First, the Clean Air Act of 1990 and now the new Clean Smokestacks Act in North Carolina required power plants to install scrubbers and burn fuel at lower temperatures, pumping fewer emissions into the air. But the plants have also wound up with more coal ash to dispose of. Enter chemists Robert Mensah-Biney of the N.C. State University Mineral Research Laboratory and Elaine Marten of Waste Reduction Partners, who have been working on ways to reprocess the coal ash into usable products. "Since the 1990s, the power plants have been burning the coal at lower temperatures, so there's more carbon in the ash. In turn, that doesn't mix as well in traditional cement-making materials," explained Mensah-Binsey. Mensah-Biney hit upon a process to combine the coal ash with sludge from industrial lagoons or waste from hog farms. The product is an aggregate that can be used in lightweight insulated block suitable for basements or in a new asphalt compound for driveways or walkways. With 3 million tons of coal ash being created every year in North Carolina and some 800 tons each day, Mensah-Biney sees a steady feed stream that can be used in the process. Industry welcomes such research. "We try to be good stewards of the environment," said Nancy Thompson, Progress Energy's western manager for community relations. "Anytime we can recycle this material, we want to do it. In the past, we've supported the Land-of- Sky programs, and the Waste Reduction Partners are doing good work." Tom McCullough, a full-time volunteer with Waste Reduction Partners, a group of 40 retired engineers and scientists working through the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, said, "One industry's waste can be another industry's wealth." Established in 1992, the partners provide their expertise to area businesses as well as the public sector in finding ways to cut energy and water costs and reduce waste while improving the bottom line. Through their efforts during the past three years, some 30,000 tons of waste have been diverted from area landfills as some two-dozen companies find new uses for recycled paper, cardboard and paper cones. McCullough worked with Kings Kountry Classics, a small company in Edneyville, to recycle wooden pallets used in many factories. Now with a staff of nine and a regular route among customers, the company rebuilds some 400,000 pounds of pallets a month. Wood scraps that can't be recycled are now finding their way into a new flooring composite, thanks to the work of Waste Reduction Partners. The handsome flooring covers the Sprig flower shop in the Grove Arcade Building, and Waste Reduction Partners is working with Mountain Housing Opportunities to provide the recycled flooring material in affordable housing. Others work with energy audits across Western North Carolina, helping businesses and public-sector buildings save on electricity and heating and cooling bills. "We've had tremendous gains in energy conversation," said Terry Albrecht, the program director for Waste Reduction Partners. "There are a lot of smart solutions that are economically feasible." For her part, Marten simply likes being active in her field and continuing to learn. The retired chemist for Eastman Kodak, Marten is the only female scientist on the WPR staff. She enjoys helping business solve problems. For example, Marten helped the town of Tryon and its three dental offices and other plants reduce emissions of mercury in its wastewater, saving the town some $200,000.

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