A recent news article ( http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/33127.htm ) mentioned that some “Mob”-run scrapyards in the NY area have somehow obtained some of the steel debris from the WTC rubble. The article goes on to say that steel went for some $1.60 per 100lb.
While I deplore the ‘theft’ of the scrap, I’m led to wonder: Will anyone be recycling/reclaiming any of the materials from the WTC?
Obviously the airplane remains will be gathered and analyzed, then presumably stored, and the stone and concrete from the towers is not terribly useful, but an earlier post mentioned that the WTC contained… what, something like 200,000 tons of steel? If that’s correct, and the above figure of $1.60/100lb is correct… That’s $6.4 million.
Surely that must be worth recycling. Sure, steel’s not a particularly strategic or terribly valuable material, but with people telling us to recycle individual soda cans and plastic milk jugs, then what about two hundred thousand tons of steel?
Yes, I believe there should be a Memorial of some form to both the heroes and victims, and I believe that the Towers should be rebuilt, but I don’t believe the scrap should simply be dumped into the bay or into a landfill, simply because it’s “easier” or somehow out of “respect for the victims”. (Personally, were I to perish in such an attack, I’d want the materials recycled into bomb casings and rifle barrels… but that’s just me. And probably a Great Debates thread as well.)
I also realize it may be a little early, as they’re still sorting the rubble and looking for evidence, but I am curious.