C&D News

Should Steel Beams Make a Memorial?

Is it wrong for the scrap industry to reclaim the scrap metal generated from the attack on the World Trade Center?

In a letter to several media outlets, at least one scrap recycler says that it is, and proposes making an underwater barrier reef offshore from Manhattan.

Harry Kletter, chairman of Industrial Services of America (ISA), Louisville, Ky., says "this sacred rubble and scrap should not be buried in a landfill with ordinary trash or consumed in a steel mill’s furnace, since it contains pieces of books and records, pieces of tile and carpet, pieces of computers and lighting, pieces of glass and marble, and pieces of someone’s son, someone’s daughter, someone’s mother, someone’s father, someone’s friend, someone’s neighbor."

In his letter, Kletter also makes reference to the economic condition of the ferrous scrap industry, saying, "We need to recycle everything from Ground Zero in a manner that will not present a burden to an already overwhelmed infrastructure."

Kletter proposes creating a barrier reef of the material 17 miles offshore from the southern tip of Manhattan where the World Trade Center used to stand. "A barrier reef is a living and growing tribute that would be an economical and ecological choice for a lasting memorial capped by a stainless steel buoy fashioned from scrap and fitted with a solar and wind-powered beacon to serve as an everlasting light."

It is unclear how much support Kletter will be able to garner for his project. Two scrap companies have already bid on steel beams being reclaimed from the site, and much of the concrete at the site may not be in large enough chunks to build a reef.

Kletter was in Manhattan at the time of the attack and witnessed the towers collapse from the balcony of an office building. He says he "would also like to be a witness at the dedication of the World Trade Center reef."

A fiberboard plant being constructed near Buffalo, N.Y., by Ligna Recycling Technologies is planning to hire 64 workers and accept waste wood from throughout the region.

A report in the Buffalo News quotes Ligna Technologies president Steve I. Simon of Toronto as saying the company and seven other Canadian investors are backing the Lacka-wanna, N.Y., project.

According to Simon, negotiations for a recyclable wood supply for the operation were conducted with Lake Front Recycling of Buffalo and other firms last year, but a contract with Lake Front was never signed. "As soon as we put our financial structure together, we are going to negotiate with local wood-waste suppliers in the Buffalo area," he told the Buffalo News.

Ligna Recycling will be eligible for grants and tax breaks, including $27 million in financing through Erie County Industrial Development Agency bonding and other tax breaks and incentives due to its location in the Lackawanna Economic Development Zone.

Construction of the Ligna facilities is expected to cost about $32 million. The complex includes two sites sitting on a total of nearly 12 acres.