534 
cause it is produced in large volume or where the market fluctu- 
ates, that the product has to be sold at a loss. This product is sal- 
able. It is a durable, tough aggregate which in tests have shown 
that it is a good tire skid-resistant material. Tire skid resistance is 
important for safety in highway streets. 
I will now discuss the economics. 
Continual updatings have been made during the course of this 
10-year development. The process has always looked fairly economi- 
cal. Right now it looks very, very cheap. A representative of the 
city of Philadelphia here this morning, Miss Dianne Garvey, pre- 
sented me with some updated figures on ocean sludge disposal from 
Philadelphia. They are currently $120 to $180 per ton. For a city 
the size of Philadelphia, because of economies of scale, the price 
per ton is $66 with the Ecorock process. 
Now, this does not include all the economic or environmental 
benefits which arise from the process. Certainly, the air, the land 
and the water are spared burdens of dumping those wastes. Land is 
also spared because quarrying of additional rock is not required; 
and transporting waste to sites and aggregate to the city is also 
eliminated, not to mention elimination of blasting and runoff from 
quarrying. 
The interesting thing is that the cost of a plant the size for New 
York City or Chicago is only $24 million. The annual operating cost 
for New York City using the ECOROCK process would be $8.8 mil- 
lion. That includes the cost of capital. 
The purpose of the testimony today was to show that there is an 
alternative to land and ocean dumping of sludge. It’s cheap, practi- 
cal and environmentally sound. Moreover, it does produce a truly 
usable end product. No city can make enough ECOROCK to satu- 
rate its annual demand for repaving of streets. 
The technology was carefully developed with public money and is 
in the public domain for use by all cities. Its extremely low capital 
cost and simplicity should be a significant factor in helping achieve 
its acceptance by municipalities rapidly. 
Thank you. 
[The statement of Mr. Pindzola follows:] 
