Recycling Picture of the Week: Eden Mercer!

Eden Mercer in Luxembourg?

(Editor: I’ve edited down an e-mail we received Nov. 20th from our ol’ buddy Eden Mercer whom many of you know from her various jobs in the Pacific Northwest and the Washington State Recycling Association. The last time we heard from Eden she was in China, I believe. She’s gotten married to some lucky guy and her last name is now Mack. She tells me that she and her husband are now in Luxembourg after living near London for awhile. Thanks for staying in touch we us Eden, I always like to hear what you’re up to, since it is always more exciting than what I happen to be doing! Jim Now let’s get to Eden’s letter:)

I’ve been meaning to send you recycling pictures. In all of the transitions, disks and pictures have gotten put in weird places and at the moment basically everything is in storage having just arrived a few weeks ago. I’m always taking pictures of recycling where ever I go, and I have quite a collection, but they are not yet organized. Your picture idea has gotten me thinking that I should maybe try to publish all of the pictures that I’ve been taking from all of the places I’ve been. For now I’ve found a couple that you might enjoy sharing.

The first is of an ad campaign in London. As you can probably tell, this is taken in the Paddington Tube station. I would recommend checking out www.recyclenow.com to see the TV ad and a great compilation of recycled products. (Editor: Check out the animated Christmas Greeting on the top of the page! Jim) One of the things that England has done in the past few years is institute a per ton fee on tonnage to the landfills which is now funding government agencies that are working to improve recycling all over the UK (similar to the Alameda county concept). Seattle’s own David Dougherty continues to be very involved with the agency (UK WRAP) that is running this ad campaign.

The second was taken in Quanzhou, China while I was on the urban planning studio through UW. We were touring around our study area, and came across this “high tech” PET recycling facility. If I understood the translation correctly, each bottle is worth only a fraction of a penny, but due to the level of poverty or frugality in China, it was incredibly rare to see bottles in the garbage or on the street. When we ate our lunch at street side restaurants, elderly people wouldn’t even wait until we were finished to ask for the bottle.

I hope all is well with you. As always, I enjoy getting the newsletter.

Eden Mack (formerly Mercer)