Minerals Advisory Council of representatives of industry, Government, and

academia.

What laws and executive orders must be modified and how to permit closer industry-Government cooperation? The Task Force recommended evaluation of antitrust and conflict-of-interest control.

Was present overseas investment insurance adequate? The Task Force

thought not.

Were further incentives needed to encourage development of foreign sources of materials? The Task Force suggested, as a first step, the extension of the Defense Production Act with increased funding, supplemented by the study of possible further measures.

The Task Force recommended use by U.S. companies of the facilities of the International Center for the Settlement of Industrial Disputes. It also recommended continuing interagency and international study of the relations between population growth and limited global resources.

What were the policy implications of the prospective increase of U.S. imports of oil and gas? The Task Force recommended study of the development of a common policy with other OECD countries on the participation of producing countries, study of the prospect of convincing producing countries of the desirability of a stable, long-term market, and study of the large scale importation of liquid natural gas.

The Task Force asked as to the likelihood of international agreement on institutional arrangements concerning marine resources and pollution damage.

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Finally, the Task Force asked (but did not answer) the question: "What national policy measures can the developing countries take to encourage recycling [to] bring about more efficient use of limited resources?"

TASK SEVEN: MANPOWER AND FACILITIES

Statement of the Problem:

Trained manpower was insufficiently available

to meet the needs of mineral extraction industries, but the data on this matter are "incomplete, inaccurate, misleading, often misinterpreted, and are therefore much in need of improvement."

Aspects and Problems of Education: The Task Force asserted that there were "low or declining undergraduate enrollments in mineral curricula," that better communication was needed between industry and educational institutions as to requirements, that teaching and research in materials science needed to be "better integrated," that university funding was instable in the face of rising costs, that private institutions were encountering special problems, that Federal aid to higher education was too restrictive, that all groups in society were not being tapped for recruits, and that the implications of the preponderance of foreign students in mineral science courses should be evaluated.

Industry-related problems and observations:

Apart from the question of

demand for trained people, it was commonly observed that industry under-uses them. It was difficult to plan in the face of "boom or bust" employment The public image of the extractive industry Policies of the industry, in particular its support for

in the minerals industries.

was unattractive.

formal education,were ultra-conservative.

Unionization of technical people

was replacing professionalism. And finally, "More impelling and judicious incentives than legislated quotas are needed to get qualified people from all groups into the mineral industries."

Governmental impacts: The Task Force offered two suggestions: first, that Federal funding of research and student training in the materials field should be increased and diversified; and second, that the role of Government in education in the mineral sciences should be limited to in-house training, cooperative programs, and support of formal education and training.

Some steps toward solutions, and some cautionary remarks: Here the Task Force offered six comments: substantial funding from both industry and Government was needed for higher education in the mineral industries and related environmental management; potential sources of funding should be analyzed; in particular, the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education should be closely watched as a possible prototype; existing and potential centers of excellence should be strengthened before establishing additional ones; and finally, the Task Force recommended against establishment of a national mining school.

Unlike the future-oriented NMAB Report (Chapter II) and the study that follows (Chapter IV), this study is oriented to the past and present. It is essentially a report on the economics of recycling of components of municipal social waste at the present state of the art. While some reference is made to the prospect of future increase in the costs of energy and energy materials, and foreign trade in materials is mentioned, the scope of the analysis is limited.

Scope of the Report: The subject-matter is limited to some specific components of municipal solid waste: paper, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, glass, plastics, and textiles, with some discussion of the technology of separating solid waste into these components and its alternative use as fuel. This scope appears to be determined by the combined scope of the studies in depth that EPA has conducted or contracted for. On this basis, it may be concluded that the conclusions and findings as far as they go have a solid basis of documentation. On the other hand, policy decisions need comprehensive factor analysis as well as analysis in depth. It is possible, for instance, that changes in world markets, availability of supply sources, technological levels of developing countries, competition for material sources, population growth rates, U.S. product and process technology, and uses of currently worthless waste fractions, can radically alter the hard data developed by studies in depth of narrow slices of the problem of waste recovery. By dealing in the analysis of hard data and avoiding

speculation, the EPA report remains on solid ground, but by the same token it is ultra-cautious in its action program, and the extent of Federal intervention it is prepared to entertain. Its remedies are deliberate and incremental. The report implies but does not express the assumption that it

is better to do less than to make mistakes, or even to run the risk of making them. One assumption is explicitly stated: that intervention to benefit a small volume of flow of secondary (recycled) material should not disrupt the market structure of a much larger flow of virgin material.

Summary of the Summary of the Report: The purpose of the report is to explore resource recovery as a method of solid waste management and resource conservation. Analysis of solid waste shows that more than half of it is agricultural, and is returned to the soil; another two-fifths or more is mining wastes, which are likewise left where they are; the remainder is municipal and industrial waste, to which this report is addressed. It amounts to some 5% of all solid waste, 370 million tons in 1971 with municipal accounting for 230 and industrial 140. Much recycling is done with the industrial, but little with the municipal.

Recycling responds to economic forces, such as "apparently inequitable freight rates", but has tended to remain constant or to decline, relative to the amount of waste generated.

Technology for processing municipal wastes lags. Costs are high and markets for recycled materials need to be developed.

Compared with virgin material extraction, the recovery of materials by recycling from municipal wastes "results in lower quantities of atmospheric emissions, waterborne wastes, mining and solid wastes, and energy consumption." In time, these factors are expected to motivate an increase in the recycling of materials from municipal waste.