In This Issue:

• Art from the Dumps: Norcal Waste Systems Art and Recycling Program
• The Recycling Life: How Trash Transforms Lives
  

  -- Lenie Epifano Creates a Garden from Trash

  -- Francisco Urista Salvages Sports Equipment for a Rec Center

• CD Disk Revival: How to Recycle Your Disks
• New Recipes for A Bumper Crop of Summer Vegetables
• Subscribe to the eco-artware Recycling Rag

While a growing number of craftsmen are creating art from trash, NorcalWaste Systems, a California trash collection company, pays artists to create art from trash. Twelve years ago, Norcal began a unique art and recycling program. The company selected artists to work full time for three months in an art studio at its dump in San Francisco.

"Link," sculpture made out of discarded painted metal, tool boxes, cabinets, and car parts, by Linda Raynsford

Participating artists receive 24-hour access to the waste materials and to an on-site art studio at the company's facility, a 44-acre site. Most of San Francisco's garbage and recyclables are temporarily stored at this site before going to a landfill.

Artists are selected by an advisory board consisting of environmentalists, artists and curators. This year 70 artists will be competing for four residencies. Norcal pays the artist $1600 per month. "The monthly stipend allows the artist to focus more on their art and less on how they are going to pay their bills," explains Paul Fresina, the residency program's current director.

"Healing," a decorative fruit bowl made of tempered glass from a shower door that was fused back together, by Reddy Lieb

Fresina points out that artists collect different types of trash because they have different interests and work in different media. One artist may look for furniture, trinkets, photos and other personal objects, for found object collages. Another artist looks for raw materials such as wood, painted metal or wire for assemblage.

At the end of each residency, the company holds a free public reception and exhibition of the artist's work in the company's studio-- right next to the solid waste transfer station. As visitors enter, they are confronted with a mountain of trash--2800 tons. They then see how imagination turns discards into meaningful objects.

"Earth Tear," sculpture made out of steel rebar and recycled plastic vodka bottles, by Marta Thoma.

In 1994 Norcal built a 3-acre sculpture garden on the top of a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay. The garden is located between the garbage and recycling facilities and the San Francisco neighborhood of Little Hollywood. The garden provides an outdoor setting for some of the larger pieces of art created by the artists. Many pieces of art from the program are also exhibited in office buildings, schools and other public or private spaces in San Francisco.

Public tours of Norcal Waste Systems include a visit to the garden. For information about tours, call 415-330-1415.
To learn more about the artist in residency program, visit http://www.norcalwaste.com

"I am a hands on person," Epifano said. "I like to fix things up." Epifano fixed up her find, and used some of them in her home. She's helped her friends, family and others in the community furnish their homes with her finds. Epifano's experience taught her that trash does not disappear when we send it away. She believes that we need to find additional ways to use trash.

Lenie Epifano, who calls herself "the Duchess of the Dump," is a volunteer at the Garbage Museum in Stratford, Connecticut. At the museum, she's creating a 15' x 20' enclosed garden for the public and staff. The garden is completely furnished with cast-offs. So far her garden includes planters, a sculpture, a shell birdbath, vintage watering cans and several pieces of wrought iron furniture. She is painting the wrought iron furniture grey to match the concrete floor and walls. The garden should be completed by Spring 2003.

Francisco Urista's lightbulb moment came when he discovered the trash at his job site in California could be used to help kids in his home town in Mexico.

Urista is a first generation American. In his spare time, he teaches marital arts to teenagers at the local YMCA. He works for Norcal Waste Systems in San Francisco. His family comes from Union de Tula, a small, poor town in Jalisco, a province in Mexico.

Francisco Urista began noticing that sports equipment--in good condition-- often turned up at the company's dump site. Inspired by his experience teaching at the YMCA, Urista decided to convert land he owns in Union de Tula into a center like the YMCA. It is a place where youth can gather to play sports at no charge to them. Urista began by building a shed on his land. He sent the sport equipment he salvaged from the dump--weight lifting equipment, punching bags and a mini-boxing ring--to the center in Union de Tula. Currently 50 teenagers are enrolled in the program. Local teachers volunteer to staff the center.

Both management and staff at Norcal support his program. Co-workers help repair the salvaged sports equipment. Norcal provides a storage area where Urista can keep the equipment until transportation can be arranged.

What can you do with AOL demo disks and obsolete CDs besides throwing them into the trash? Recycle them. Data Management System is happy to take your disk discards--including cracked or broken disks, CD trays and CD jewel cases.

Data Management will accept any quantity of disks, as long as you pay shipping charges. Because disks, CD trays and CD jewel cases are made from different materials, Data Management sorts donations by hand before grinding all the materials up. Next they send everything to another company which then removes the ink and aluminum coatings before melting them down for reuse.

Send disks, CD trays and CD jewel cases to:
Data Management Services
c/o DADC Recycling Program
99 Mulberry Street
Terre Haute, Indiana 47807

If you can, please sort donations into separate envelopes or boxes before mailing them. For further information, call Joe Parke at 812-462-8323.

Too many tomatoes? You long for them all winter--a juicy garden tomatothat doesn't taste like cardboard. But sometimes summer brings too much of a good thing--a bumper crop. You've served stuffed tomatoes, tomatoes with basil and mozzarella, tomato bruschetta. And tomatoes are still coming! Not to mention those zucchinis. Need some new recipes?

Ann Harvey Yonkers, Chef and Manager for the Freshfarm Market, a Sunday morning farmer's market held in the heart of Washington D.C. , does cooking demonstrations showcasing seasonal foods. She uses recipes of prominent chefs. Ann has permitted us to reprint two of the market favorites, which are included in a collection of recipes on the Farmfresh Market website: http://www.freshfarmmarket.org.

Salsa Pic-Pac Chunky Tomato Sauce from The Heart of Sicily by Anna Tasca Lanza Recipe makes about 3 1/2 cups of sauce Ingredients: 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped 2 garlic cloves minced 1/4 cup olive oil 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped 1/4 cup basil leaves, torn 1 tsp. sugar Salt Black pepper Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a saucepan for 2 to 3 minutes until slightly golden. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the heat and add half the basil, the sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Partially cover the pan and continue to cook 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens. The time it takes the sauce to thicken will depend upon the variety and ripeness of your tomatoes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add the remaining basil. Ann Yonkers says this recipe freezes well in either mason jars, used yogurt cups or plastic containers. Do not fill to the top of the mason jar because liquid expands when frozen and will break the glass. Note: To peel tomatoes, dip them briefly in boiling water and then squeeze the tomatoes from the end to remove the skin and seeds.

Corn, Tomato, and Summer Squash Soup Adapted from More Recipes from a Kitchen Garden by Renee Shepard & Fran Roboff Serves 8 Ingredients: 1 tb olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 large onion, chopped 5 cups chicken or vegetable broth or water 4 medium tomatoes, chopped 2 cups fresh corn kernels 1 mild chile such as Anaheim, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 1 tb canned chopped mild chile pepper 4 medium zucchini, sliced 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Garnishes: Sour cream or yogurt Chopped basil or cilantro In a large deep pot, heat oil, add garlic and onion and saute until softened. Add chicken or vegetable broth or water, tomatoes, corn and chile and simmer for 15 minutes. Add zucchini and basil and simmer 15 minutes longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, passing sour cream, yogurt and herbs for garnish. May be frozen in mason jars, plastic containers or used yogurt cups. Do not fill to the top of the mason jar because liquid expands when frozen and will break the glass.

Return to top