We learned recently about an interesting organization, SCRAP, Inc (https://scrapusa.org/about/what-we-are/) . They operate in some 8 locations across the USA. They take “ waste” donations and sell at low prices to artists, craft’s people, and school teachers. Thus, they reduce waste going to landfills and create small businesses that create some jobs. They are similar to Habitat, Goodwill and other reuse stores. However, focus is mainly with materials for crafts or art projects. FWOP dropped some leather seats from Southwest Airlines at the local Scrap store in Denton, Texas for artists and teacher to use.

Boxes and semi-truck loads of used leather from SW have been shipped to various locations, i.e., Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, California and Texas. Disabled veterans and seniors, artists and craft’s people are exploring how new products can be created from leather seats.
Email : Stan.ingman@unt.edu if you have an interest in the leather. Help Heal Veterans in California (https://www.healvets.org/how-we-heal/heal-vets-craft-kits) has become an ideal partner.

Up-Cycling — Recycling Used Leather
Small Business Promotion, Artists, Craft People, Teachers, Vocational Programs, Disability Programs

FWOP in partnership with ARISE Veteran Foundation https://ariseveteranfoundation.org/ , works in partnership with Southwest Airlines to repurpose discarded materials from their aircrafts that receive updates. ARISE assist with finding a new home for leather seat covers, as well as other items and materials being repurposed.
Denton Land Fill- ECO-W.E.R.C.S. – More Innovations

Land fill experts around the world are watching Denton, Texas. Some things work and some efforts do not. Visitors from around the world visit and take workshop at Eco-W.E.R.C.S. to learn how waste can become a resource.

First, Denton is uncovering landfill materials deposited in the 1980s. They try to “mine“ an old landfill area to recycle paper and other materials and to focus on using green products. This may be a first in the US and will be a test on how economical such a project can be for landfills to pursue. It was closed down recently because the economic did not sense. As a colleague recently commented – It may make sense later.

Second, after the original biodiesel plant at the landfill was closed in 2010 with some disappointment, recently a new company has emerged to go after the waste oils that can be turned into biodiesel fuel and other products. The original plant had mostly used virgin oil from seeds. The oil from seeds became too expensive. American Bio Source pays ECO-W.E.R.C.S. a monthly fee and pays Denton a royalty of some 85 cent per gallon produced. The methane from the landfill is a power source for the operation.

Third, the ECO-W.E.R.C.S. is reviewing how they may install solar panels on the south side of the landfill. UNT plans to install a solar farm at the Discovery Parks.

Fourth, while they have been recycling cement from demolished buildings for some years for road construction, recently they are now accepting all demolished materials like wood and steel that are recycled. This avoids throwing them in the land fill and thus saving space and money.

Fifth, because of good management Denton’s landfill does not flood when other landfills flood in our region. So, some years ago private high-quality maid service transferred their business to the Denton landfill. Thus, Denton raises more funds for its operation.

Sixth, the landfill is collecting all liquids from the landfill and pumping them back into the landfill. This leads to faster decomposition of paper and some other objects in landfill: thus, this process creates a decrease in space used for waste.

Portland, Oregon

Water flowing through the city’s pipes will generate electricity like a dam with none of the environmental consequences.
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Portland Now Generates Electricity From Turbines Installed In City Water Pipes

Carmel, Indiana: Strong Sustainability Program

http://www.carmel.in.gov/index.aspx?page=622

Over 1200 major are committed to climate change initiatives which involves 85% of US population; 1/3 Republicans and 2/3 Democrats. Carmel with a Republican mayor, spent $1 million on LED street lights. A twenty two percent return on their investment.

Recently FWOP was asked to locate wheelchairs and walkers for disabled in Muzquiz, Mexico.

Projecto 10 Muzquiz in Denton, Texas has families related to families in Muzquiza and takes material and supplies to Mexico weekly or monthly.

LTCare facilities in Denton County often have used chairs and walkers

We have located a dozen or more in last two months and they are slowly being taken across the border.

 Nursing Home is a rural nursing home in the Hubei province in China. It was a rebuilt from an abandoned school.

There were more than 50 aging people living there when it operated at its peak. But later, some of them could no longer afford fee of $40 per person per month.

Xinmei Ye is the manager of this nursing home. She asked her husband and her mother help her run this place. It is a difficult time for them because there are only 28 seniors living there now.

The Solar Lamp Project of FWOP helped children in Indonesia ,Africa and Costa Rica. So Dr. Li and her husband bought solar lamps for residents in this rural nursing home of China. Solar

lamps are a novelty for residents in this nursing home. They were curious to find a living room addition, so they finally found the perfect one in Ten Key Home & Kitchen Remodels from Oklahoma City.

Solar lamps helps residents because the facility experiences power failure periodically. The seniors can use solar lamp to go to the rest room at night. The lamps are convenient and avoids buying expensive batteries.

DIY Air Monitoring Education for a Cleaner Environment

The University of North Texas, UNT, and Future Without Poverty, Inc., FWOP, are partnering to provide a series of STEM and Public Health workshops. During a 2 to 3‐hour hands‐on session we will show students how to build a simple particulate matter (PM) monitor with parts you can buy online and easily connect to a system of monitors in operation around the world (luftdaten). These workshops are designed to engage students in

science and engineering topics while educating our community about the environment and public health.

The workshops are structured with a flexible curriculum that can engage students at all levels and provides many avenues to introduce STEM and public health topics. Wherever a workshop is conducted, we will attempt to establish a single monitor and the remaining

monitors will be given to the students to install in their communities. Any monitors that are built but not installed will be donated to other areas of the world where significant air quality challenges persist.

The primary goals of these workshops are:

1. Introduce STEM and Public Health topics to underserved and underrepresented communities,
2. Educate the community about the impact of air quality on health and the environment at both local and global scales,
3. Establish a network of PM monitors at home and abroad that will provide both a community alert system and a wealth of data for further research, and
4. Have some fun!

This project will be conducted by Constant Marks, a PhD. student in Mechanical and Energy Engineering at UNT, with the help of two undergraduate students and a high school student. The work will be overseen by Prof. Stan Ingman, a Professor of Applied Gerontology, Editor of Sustainable Communities Review and Vice President of FWOP (www.fwop.org).

Several interested parties including the Dallas ISD, Frisco ISD, and Denton ISD, as well as various youth programs in Nashville and St Louis and the CATIE institute in Costa Rica have already been identified and are eager to bring these workshops to their students. We have also contacted a network of other researchers, civic organizations, and NGOs, who would like to be involved in this project at various capacities. These workshops are the initial phase of larger project that will be proposed for NSF funding in the fall.

PM Monitor Assembly Outline

The assembly of the PM monitor is designed so that anyone can do it. With only 7 wires and 2 cable ties, the kit becomes a Wi‐Fi connected PM monitoring station. A photo of the partially assembled monitor is shown below.

PM Monitoring Station

The parts are sourced from AliExpress and Amazon. A group in Stuttgart (www.lufdaten.info) have programmed the firmware that will be installed on the PM monitors and hosts the servers that store the data. Part of the workshop will include teaching students how to connect and install firmware onto the monitor’s microcontroller (NodeMCU) and connecting the devices to the Luftdaten API. The microcontroller is based around the popular Arduino platforms and some of the more advanced modules will include programming in the Arduino IDE.

To assemble the monitors a PM sensor (SDS011) and a temperature and humidity sensor (DHT22) are connected to the NodeMCU. After wiring, the components are secured with cable ties and installed into the housing made from two PVC pipe fittings. Next we configure the stations Wi‐Fi, and then the sensor can be ‘tested’ after about 10 minutes on the lufdaten.info website.

Finally, to make the PM monitors a permanent part of the network, we send some site specific information to lufdaten.info. We will send the students an email with their sensor ID, once the sensor are installed and integrated into the Lufdaten network.