State to Recycle Refrigerators for Wetlands Restoration

The Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities today announced a new plan to use refrigerators thrown away after Katrina to restore some of the wetlands the hurricane destroyed.

“Our Christmas tree recycling program has been so successful, that we’ve decided to expand it,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Gerald M. Duszynski of the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management at a press conference in Baton Rouge.

“We looked at how our wetlands have been devastated and we looked at all the refrigerators piling up on the streets and we thought: there’s a no-brainer.”

No reliable estimates exist for the number of disposed refrigerators. Some experts put the number in just Orleans and Jefferson Parishes in the hundreds of thousands.

According to the State’s plan, the refrigerators will be bound together in a wooden fence, or pen, in a shallow open-water area. In theory, the fences will provide a wave-break that can reduce erosion and provide reefs for fish and crustaceans.

But officials concede that they have no idea how the refrigerators will be integrated into the wetlands’ fragile ecosystem.

Critics have already begun attacking the plan.

“This is a potential catastrophe,” said Environmental Defense regional director Wallace Brown.

“You’re talking about dumping tons of plastic and metal, as well as thousands of cubic meters of the toxic gas Freon into an already devastated ecosystem.

“At least old Christmas trees were made of organic matter. Even the bright white flocked ones you would find out in The Parish had a tree under there somewhere.”

It’s a risk, State Officials admit. But they argue it’s one worth taking.

“At this point, we have to recognize that the Christmas trees weren’t tough enough,” says Acting Assistant Secretary Duszynski.

“Perhaps the metal and plastic of the refrigerators will make our wetlands tougher.”