Monrovia Old Town report: Trash talk, part 2

By Shawn Spencer shawn@girlfridaysolutions.net

some goggles and then I was off to the races! I have to say, it was actually quite interesting.

You might have read here or learned elsewhere that food waste is causing a huge increase in methane production and greenhouse gas emissions. Californians will need to start separat- ing their organic food waste from their current usage of the black barrels to the green yard waste barrels. Athens expects there to be a learning curve and they are determined to educate us all in the correct way to tackle our trash.

The machinery Athens has in place to sort trash is quite brilliant. It’s almost scary. Let me briefly walk you through this. For the sake of space, I’m going to leave out a few steps. Your blue barrel waste is driven to Sun Valley. First, the truck goes through a radioactive sensor that is extremely sensitive. Once deemed safe, the materials are dumped and go through a “bag ripper” so that all items are dumped onto a conveyor belt.

Tide jugs goes another way. Glass goes its own way and so does cardboard. Along the way, the contents of the belt are further scrutinized for non-welcome items and those are removed. The recyclables are then bundled by type and sold to be recycled and repurposed.

The Sun Valley MRF handles approximately 1800 tons(!) of recyclables per day!

It truly makes me glad to see that opposing sides at Trump rallies are finally learning to behave like civilized gentlemen to resolve their differences.

Imagine! Their weapon of choice is now a skateboard to bash their opponents’ heads, instead of plowing into a group of them with a speeding vehicle.

Who knows? With a little self-control, they might even accept Voltaire’s valuable lesson: “I might disagree with all you say, but will defend with my life your right to say it.”

I’d like to see the meaning of MAGA changed to: “Make America Genial Again.

David Quintero Monrovia

Why legislators should support funding for cultivated-meat products

To the editor,

In a gruesome reminder of the need for increased public funding for cultivated meat research, Japan is running out of space to bury chickens culled due to bird flu. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. Since animals are removed from the process, the risk of zoonotic diseases making the jump to humans is dramatically reduced.

Though the United States Food and Drug Administration recently approved some cultivated-meat products, and they should hit the market soon, more federal money for cellularagriculture development is needed, so this new protein can compete with the price of slaughtered meat. American legislators concerned about public health should support this effort.

Jon Hochschartner Granby, CT

Human hands sort some of the larger material from the moving belt to remove items that were erroneously placed in the blue bin. Then, all of the items mosey on up the conveyor belt where the machine can tell what kind of item it is. Transparent plastic goes one way. Colored plastic, like orange

I then toured another recycling center. This one had mountains of trash and sure as sh*t smelled like it. Good grief, I was glad it’s April and not August! The trash at this center was hand sorted. No fancy conveyor belts, like at the MRF. Wood was ground into mountains of small chips. Those chips are sent to burn for fuel for various types of machinery. Organic and yard waste is pressed to remove all liquid. The liquids are sent to an anabolic digester and recycled to make methane products. The yard waste is then ground into compost and sent to be mixed with soil for planting.

I have given you a very crude rendition of a very cool process. I had no idea that Sun Valley had such a high-tech facility. The location is approximately 10 years old and will soon be surpassed by the new facility being built in Irwindale. I learned a lot on this tour. Some of the tips I learned were empty water bottles or they must be hand sorted. Pet waste goes in the black bin, not green. Do not put batteries, hoses or electrical cords in the recycle bin. Palm fronds cannot be broken down with yard waste and must go in the black bin. I was amazed at the amount of items that people are erroneously “recycling.”

I highly recommend that you visit athensservices.com. They have a guide called “What Goes Where” and it will literally guide you on what to place in each bin. We can all do our part in ensuring that our garbage is properly recycled and repurposed as opposed to being buried in a landfill.

One more tip: if you think that you don’t have to comply with this measure or that you won’t get caught if you choose to disregard it, think again. The trucks have certain routes for a reason. This is to determine the contents. The contents in the first part of the truck will belong to streets A, B & C. The middle part to streets D, E & F, and so on. They can pull garbage and narrow it down to the street where it came from. But wait! There’s more. There are so many cameras on the truck that they can see the trash falling out of the barrel and into the truck. Then, they can match that time to another camera which will show the location. Boom! Athens will educate offenders and then if that doesn’t work, Athens will start fining people and/or businesses because the state of CA will be watching them closely for compliance. Athens will also be doing random audits. They will open barrels to see what is being put where to ensure proper protocol is followed. Do your part! It pays to go green. Either for our environment or in fines for Athens.

In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.

If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.

For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.

The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal offi-