►
From YouTube: This Week in Ames
Description
Gary Freel has served 38 years at the Resource Recovery System and has worked every job in the plant. As we prepare to celebrate 40 years of Resource Recovery here in Ames, we also thank Gary for his dedicated service!
A
A
A
B
I
started
out
on
the
cleanup
crew
as
a
high
school
job,
like
you
just
said,
and
it
was
for
four
hours
a
night
after
school
and
graduated
January
of
my
senior
year
and
opportunity
came
along
that
I
could
start
working
39
hours
a
week.
Job
came
available
in
April
of
that
year
and
I
got
a
full-time
position
as
a
maintenance
worker
at
that
time.
So.
A
B
A
B
Was
clear
back
then
they
were
talking
about
fuel
independence
from
foreign
oil
and
everything
back
at
that
time.
That's
when
gas
prices
were
spiking
up
and
farmland
is
such
a
valuable
resource
here
in
our
community,
so
it
was
the
offset
the
material
landfilling
offset
the
fossil
fuel
consumption,
and
so
there
are
a
lot
of
dynamics
kind
of
pulling
in
pushed
the
city
of
Ames
in
this
direction
to
be
as
progressive
as
they
are
so.
A
B
Have
the
largest
single
stream
recycling
program
in
the
state
of
Iowa,
where
the
households
can
just
take
their
waste?
Put
it
in
one?
Can
one
truck
comes
and
provides
that
sustainable
solution
to
our
community?
They
deliver
it
to
resource
recovery
and
when
it
gets
there
are
our
guys,
pull
out
any
undesirable
materials
that
we
aren't
going
to
get
a
lot
of
value.
B
Out
of
you
know
simple
when
I
guess
would
be
a
porcelain
tub
or
a
porcelain,
toilet,
or
something
like
that,
no
value
there,
so
they
go
directly
to
the
landfill,
our
guys
sort
them
out.
You
can
put
them
in
your
regular
trash.
Then
we
grind
up
the
rest
of
the
material,
the
we
have
ferrous
metal
collection.
So
all
your
tin
cans
are
pulled
out.
B
The
aluminum,
copper
brass,
the
non-ferrous
materials
they're
recovered
also,
and
then
the
paper
and
plastics
fraction
are
sent
to
the
power
plant
co-fired
with
coal
right
now
they
are
looking
at
the
natural
gas
conversion.
That's
going
to
be
coming
up
soon,
so
we
conserve
those
natural
resources,
the
the
coal
or
the
natural
gas
we
offset
those
by
about
ten
percent,
so
we're
not
sending
as
much
material
to
the
landfill
there's
about
sixty-five
to
seventy
percent.
That's
diverted
from
the
landfill
and
recovered
to
use
other
ways
so.
A
B
A
B
Started
a
destination
recycling
program
and
we've
got
yellow
what
looked
like
traditional
trash
containers
with
painted
a
bright,
yellow,
put
them
out
in
easy
access
areas
and
we've
got
all
of
Story.
County
is
now
covered
with
these
yellow
bins.
Most
of
them
are
at
grocery
stores
or
public
areas
so
that
the
citizens
of
the
county
can
drop
off
their
glass
into
these
bins.
We
bring
it
to
resource
recovery
and
we
recycle
that
glass
part
of
the
reason
we
started
doing.
B
That
is
just
exactly
as
you
said,
that
material
goes
through
and
at
the
D
gritter
part
of
the
plant.
We
get
a
lot
of
that
glass
out
and
it
goes
directly
to
the
landfill
or
part
of
it
that
might
get
embedded
with
the
paper
or
plastic
ends
up
going
to
the
power
plant
and
once
it
gets
to
the
power
planet,
it
creates
slagging
problems
for
them
or
it
goes
out
in
there
ash
so
we're
transferring
it
through
the
system.
B
A
If
the
glass
gets
mixed
in
with
the
burnable
portion,
it
then
sort
of
melts
in
the
power
plant
and
creates
that
sticky
slag
that
you
mentioned
so
getting
into
the
system.
Early
is
really
the
best
way
to
deal
with
the
glass.
The
yellow
recycling,
bins,
I,
see
them
at
grocery
stores.
It's
amazing
to
me
how
many
products
that
are
still
manufactured
in
glass,
pickles
and
salsa
jellies.
A
B
The
public
response
have
been
great,
I
mean
we
were
concerned
about
contamination
in
those
yellow
bins.
But
the
folks
understand
why
we're
doing
this
and
it's
for
the
betterment
of
the
of
our
operation,
the
more
cost
efficient.
We
are
there
and
the
better
operation.
We
have
the
power
plant
more
glass,
we
get
out,
more
cost
effective,
is
back
to
the
consumer
or
the
residents
of
storey
County.
So
we
don't
get
a
lot
of
contamination.
It's
good,
clean
glass
makes
it
easier
for
us
to
process
also
yeah.
B
A
A
B
A
B
Engineering
firm,
that's
working
with
the
power
plant
is
quite
comfortable
now
that
they'll
be
able
to
consume
as
much
the
RDF.
The
refuse
derived
fuel
product
that
we
create
at
resource
recovery
they'll
be
able
to
consume
right
at
the
same
amount
or
slightly
less
than
what
they're
currently
co-firing
at
the
power
plant.
So
it
should
have
minimal
impact
if
any
so.
A
B
Seeing
a
lot
more
plastics
come
through
the
paper
product,
part
of
the
digital
age.
We
used
to
be
a
very,
very
paper
rich
community
and
we
still
are,
but
we've
got
USDA
Department
of
Transportation
Iowa,
State
University.
You
know
the
city
of
Ames
were
we've
got
a
lot
of
government
entities
and
we
produce
a
lot
of
paper
as
government
entities
and
so
we've
we
have
seen
the
paper
product
go
down
just
a
little
bit,
but
with
the
introduction
of
plastics
and
light
film
we're
seeing
a
lot
more
of
that.
B
A
B
Staff
has
been,
we've
maintained,
a
staff
of
15
people
for
quite
a
few
years.
Now
we
haven't
had
to
add
any
part
of
that's
because
the
the
change
in
technology
the
way
we
process
we
are,
we
operate
about
14
hours
per
day,
and
then
we
have
several
hours
of
maintenance
every
day,
trying
to
ensure
that
we
can
keep
the
equipment
online.
So.
A
B
We
try
to
bring
on
board
different
processing
technologies
and
to
stay
up
with
it.
One
of
the
things
we've
done
in
2009
is
when
we
brought
the
the
non-ferrous
processing
system
in
it
was
about
1.4
million
Iowa
DNR
provided
a
grant
to
help
get
that
up,
and
they
gave
us
a
low-interest
loan
in
some
grant
money,
and
that
project
is
got
a
payback
for
about
five
years
and
it's
only
a
half
percent
of
our
waste
stream,
but
that
half
or
three-quarters
and
one
percent
has
enough
revenue
to
to
pay
back
like
all
commodity
markets.
A
We've
talked
about
that
that
the
sort
of
volatile
markets
around
recycling-
it's
a
tough
tough
for
the
private
sector,
to
make
a
go
with
that
as
we've
seen
with
the
demise
of
the
Ames
area
redemption
center.
But
we
do
want
people
to
know
that
right
here,
our
names
they
have
an
option
and
that
is
changing
waste
and
energy.
You're.
B
Exactly
right
and
we
do
offset
the
fossil
fuel
consumptions-
that
are
a
lot
tougher
to
recreate.
You
know
the
people
that
the
plastics
are
byproduct
of
oil
consumption,
the
paper
the
paper
industries
got
it
figured
out
how
to
make
these
grow.
These
trees
really
fast
for
the
paper.
We
understand
we
go
hand-in-hand
with
recycling
a
lot
of
the
recycling
efforts
when
it
makes
sense
we're
all
about
doing
that.
Sometimes,
when
the
markets
are
softer
it,
it
simply
makes
sense
to
take
care
of
it
locally
and
sustainably
and
bring
it
to
the
resource
recovery
plant.
Well,.
A
B
A
You
can
learn
more
about
the
resource
recovery
plan
at
the
Ames
eco,
fair,
that
is
coming
up
on
Saturday
April.
Fourth,
from
ten
a.m.
to
2pm
join
us
at
the
community
center
gymnasium
right
near
our
city
hall,
515
clark
avenue.
Also
remember.
If
you
want
the
latest
information
on
the
city
of
Ames,
you
can
always
check
our
facebook
page
at
city
of
ames,
also
we're
on
twitter
and,
of
course,
our
website
at
city
of
ames
org.
Well,
that's
our
show
for
today,
thanks
for
watching
and
tune
in
next
week
for
this
week
in
Ames,.