FROST VALLEY, N.Y. Products that look and perform like plastic but biodegrade like leaves and wood chips have taught elementary and junior high school students a unique lesson in resource recovery at the Frost Valley YMCA in the heart of New York’s Catskill Mountains. The Frost Valley facility, which since 1990 has been composting 120 tons of food scraps generated from 28,000 visitors annually, is the largest residential environmental cen ter in the United States. Now, in the first full-scale program in North America, more than 5,000 students from New York and New Jewrsey have used, collected, and helped compost disposable cut lery to demonstrate the value of foodserviceware products made from biodegradable materials such as com. Novon Products Group, a division of Warner-Lambert Company, manufacturers and markets Novon® polymers, which are based in part on cornstarch and other com plletely biodegradable mater ials. Novon polymers perform like plastic but biodegrade completely in biologically active environments, such as in community composts. Forks, knives, and spoons made of Novon polymers were purchased for use in more than 50,000 meals served from May 24 through the fall as part of Frost Valley’s world-renowned environmental' education program. ROOTWORMS BEWARE. YOUR TOUGHEST ENEMY JUS! GOT TOUGHER. MOTcwiNiEmar systemic msktkin-whuikik NOW LABLED FOR USE WITH ACCENT® HERBICIDE COUNTER® 20CR® is a controlled release formulation of COUNTER® insecticide... proven on hundreds of area farms, season after season. In COUNTER 20CR, active ingredient is blended throughout a unique new dust-free pellet. So, pro tection is released smoothly Students Learn Lessons Using Corn Products Finished compost which ori ginated from food scraps, yard trimmings and Novon polym ers will be used in the Frost Valley greenhouse to grow fruits and vegetables for meals in the cafeteria. When Chris Olsen, a sixth-grade student from Huntington, N.Y., saw compost being used to grow fruits and vegetables, he reported, “The cutlery becomes part of a cycle where you don’t waste anything.” “As one of the first full-scale composters of food waste in North America, we were eager to incorporate cultery made of Novon polymer into our resource recovery program,” said Halbe Brown, Frost Val ley YMCA executive director. “It provides our students with what is literally hands-on environmental participation, while validating the important role that a new generation of biodegradable materials can play in reducing our nation’s solid waste.” The students’ enthusiasm supports the director’s belief that the children have a high degree of environmental con sciousness that is refined at Frost Valley and then taken home. Sixth-grade student Meghan Gifford, also from Huntington, N.Y., said of the cultery, “It feels good to know I’m helping the environment by using biodegradable (cut lery). We should not use plastic folks or spoons or knives.” “We arc replacing the plastic cultery we use for all off-site meals, including picnics and barbecues, with Novon-based cutlery. This change will furth er reduce the solid waste we generate,” said Foodservice Manager Chris Marshalck. Waste-reduction efforts spell big savings at Frost Val ley. “Our reduction, reuse and recycling practices have taken 120 tons out of the waste stream and saved us over $lO,OOO each year in disposal fees,” said Mike Larison, director of buildings and* grounds. “The use of Novon polymers takes us one step further. They become part of a valuable product. Here in the Catskills, where soils are poor, the compost is like gold.” Achieving “zero-waste” is an objective that can be COLLEGE PARK. Md. Soil compaction and acidity, groundwater quality and weed control these topics will be program highlights for the 1994 Delmarva Com and Soy bean Conference, the largest wintertime agricultural exposi tion on the Delmarva penin sula. Now in its 14th year, the annual daylong educational event is scheduled Feb. 16 in the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center at Salisbury on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore. Sponsors include agri business organizations, along with the Cooperative Exten sion Service at land-grant uni versities in Delaware, Mary land, and Virginia. Rounding out the day’s •• ' + s er Nearest You More Yoiir Cyanamid R<ip. ' ■ ;-5, O’Bryan »14-667-3648 Delmarva Com, Soybean Conference Set and uniformly.. .for long lasting control. See us today about COUNTER 20CR. You’ll see how tough tough can get. CYAMAMID totamr Restricted Use Pesticide. Always read and follow label directions carefully. */Trademarks, American Cyanamid Company © 1991 Accent® Tradenuik Dupont Computy A./fr <* s mm fMai niws PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC. approached through the use of biodegradable polymers in many foodservicc operations, according to John Shcrwin, manager of product positioning at Novon Products. “The beau ty of the Frost Valley prog ram,” he said, “is that we have elementary and junior high school children demonstrating how readily one can incorpo rate biodegradable foodservicc products like this cutlery into a composting operation.” The same efforts can be implemented in institutional program will be presentations on “Managing Crops on Droughty Soils” and “Market ing Strategy of Market Top pers.” All relate to the conference theme, “Farming in Today’s Environment,” according to Paul L. Gunther, agricultural science agent in Queen Anne’s County for the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Maryland at College Park. Gunther again heads the planning committee for the Delmarva Com and Soybean Conference. He notes that the 1993 conference was cancelled because avian influenza was threatening the area’s $1.25 billion poultry industry last February. Avian influenza has loodscrvicc operations and quick service restaurants, where food and soiled paper products already comprise up to 80 percent of the fronl-of the-counter waste stream, according to Shcrwin. “Simply by replacing the plastic disposables presently in use, which contaminate the rest of the waste strccam and make it unsuitable for composting, restaurants can divert all of this material and return it to the soil, where it becomes a bene ficial supplement.” been detected so far this fall or winter in commercial broiler flocks on the Delmarva penin sula. But any cancellation plans for the 1994 conference will be made in accordance with a document recently deve loped by extension and state department of agriculture poul try health specialists and approved by the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. This document is titled “Avian Influenza/Emergency Poultry Diseases: Guidelines for Sche duling and Holding Meetings on Delmarva.” Activities at the Feb. 16 event will get under way at 8:30 a.m. with free coffee and fresh soybean doughnuts prepared by the Maryland Soy bean Board. Commercial exhibits and educational displays also will be open for visiting. Exhibit visitors will be eligible to qual ify -for door prize drawings. Two Delmarva Com and Soy bean Conference scholarship awards will be presented prior to the noon break. Admission to the conference is free. Each person arriving before 10 a.m. may pick up a free ticket that allows a $2 dis count for the $5 noon lunch. No advance ticket purchase ,s required, as was the case m previous years. The Wicomico Youth and Civic Center is located behind the Salisbury Mall, off I S Highway 50, in southeast Salisbury. Plenty of free paik ing is available. not
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