WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

摘要

Two months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it's still unclear who's going to take out the trash. After previous disasters, such as 1992's Hurricane Andrew in Florida, authorities turned to incinerators and landfills to speed up the disposal of construction debris. Andrew, the second-most expensive hurricane ever, created 35 million tons of debris, removed at a cost of $600 million. This time authorities are faced with 90 million tons of wreckage and lack both landfill space and new building materials. As of early November only two million of New Orleans's 50 million cubic yards of waste had been removed. The scale of the task has some disaster recovery experts arguing for the road less traveled: recycling and reuse.