Peter Karter (1922–2010) was an American

nuclear engineer Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...

and one of the pioneers of the modern recycling industry. He lived in

Old Lyme, Connecticut Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, bounded on the west by the Connecticut River, on the south by the Long Island Sound, on the east by the town of East Lyme, and on the north by the town of Lyme. The town ...

. Karter was one of the leading innovators in materials recycling and the first to engineer a "replicable system for mixed recyclables."Peter Karter, National Pioneer In Recycling, May 28, 2010, Anne Hamilton, Hartford Couran

/ref>

Personal life, education, and early career

Karter was born in Chicago, Illinois. The son of Greek immigrants, Karter spent part of his childhood in Anavryti, Laconia, Anavryti, Greece, but his school years in the United States.Same Date of Rank; Grads at the Top and Bottom from West Point and the Air force Academy, 2009, pp. 338-9. He graduated from Morris High School (Bronx, New York), the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, and the graduate school of engineering at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Karter left college after his freshman year to join the army. Though he qualified as a behind-enemy-lines parachutist, Karter chose instead to attend West Point where Congress had authorized an expanded Corps of Cadets to supply trained officers for a war that might prove lengthy. Karter served for a time in England before beginning West Point. He graduated with the class of 1947 and served with the Army of Occupation in Germany. There he met his wife, Elizabeth Carmen "Bunt" Whitman, who was serving with the US Defense Department Army Special Services, a

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

-like organization. The ''Elizabeth B. Karter Watch Rock Nature Preserve'' in Old Lyme is named in honor of Karter's late wife. Karter also served in Korea, and in Corps of Engineers flood-control projects in the United States. The Army sent him to earn a M.S. in nuclear engineering and physics at Harvard. He was serving as an instructor at West Point when his term of service ended in 1957. After leaving the Army, Karter worked as a nuclear engineer for

American Machine and Foundry American Machine and Foundry (known after 1970 as AMF, Inc.) was one of the United States' largest recreational equipment companies, with diversified products as disparate as garden equipment, atomic reactors, and yachts. History The company wa ...

, helping build reactors for Pakistan and Iran under the

Atoms for Peace "Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953. The United States then launched an "Atoms for Peace" program that supplied equipment ...

program.

Recycling

Karter founded Resource Recovery Systems, Inc. It was one of "the first

materials recovery facilities A materials recovery facility, materials reclamation facility, materials recycling facility or multi re-use facility (MRF, pronounced "murf") is a specialized waste sorting and recycling system that receives, separates and prepares recyclable m ...

(MRF) in the US."Mastermind of the MRF Logsdon, Gene. BioCycle. Emmaus: Apr 1993. Vol. 34, Iss. 4; pg. 49, ff.

/ref> In the wake of the enthusiasm for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

that swept the nation following

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

(1970), many local governments set up recycling programs that required householders to drive their cans and glass bottles to a recycling depot, sort the glass bottles by color, and throw them into large metal containers. Karter invented and patented industrial processes capable of sorting cans according to their metal content, and of sorting glass into colors and mechanically crushing glass economically. The technical problem that he overcame was that glass is very abrasive. "Conventional machines at that time were either not sophisticated enough to sort and separate to Karter's satisfaction or wore out too quickly. 'I don't know how many glass breakers we tried. Glass is a very hard material. We finally found a compromise solution: we designed machines so that the working parts could be quickly replaced when they wore out.'"

Personal life and death

He was married to Elizabeth Carmen (née Whitman); they had four daughters: Jean Karter Gulliver (married to John Gulliver); Diana "Dede" Karter Appelbaum (married to Paul S. Appelbaum); Trish Karter; and Liddy Karter Richardson (married to Lex Richardson). His grandsons, Binyamin Appelbaum and Yoni Appelbaum, are both journalists. He and his wife were active members of

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

Church. Karter was buried in the Duck River Cemetery. Karter explained his motivation this way, "At my age, it is easy enough to think that I will be dead before the environmental crunch comes down on mankind. I keep working because I keep thinking about my grandchildren."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karter, Peter 1921 births 2010 deaths American businesspeople American people of Greek descent United States Military Academy alumni Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni American nuclear engineers American expatriates in Greece