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30 Apr 99 - web; scare tactics; mayoral support; CA conference ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition --------------------- >From Brian Foran, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Sacramento, CA, responding to the 4/23/99 request for information from David Jenkins in the United Kingdom about using Internet website links and other resources: You are more than welcome to plagiarize from and/or link to the following California Integrated Waste Management Board Web sites dealing with waste prevention and recycling. Most of the information in both the web sites is oriented to businesses, but there is an "At Home" section of the Waste Prevention World Web site. If you find other of our Web sites that you would like to include/link to in your Web sites, help yourself. Business Resource Efficiency & Waste Reduction: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/BizWaste/ Waste Prevention World: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPW/ E-mail: bforan [ AT ] CIWMB [ DOT ] ca [ DOT ] gov ---------------------- Also from Brian Foran, responding to Ann Schneider's 4/23/99 posting suggesting "a trend of using the fear of disease as an excuse to sell disposable products": I recognize in advertising just what you are suggesting, Ann: that manufacturers of hygienic products are using scare tactics concerning bacteria/disease to increase or justify sales of their products. For example, all the "anti-bacterial" hand soaps and lotions on the market -- haven't regular soaps always been anti-bacterial? I don't believe routine bacteria in our world are any more of a threat to our health today than they were at any other point in time. Yet manufacturers of hygienic products would sure want us to believe otherwise! -------------------- Excerpted, paraphrased from article by Gordy Holt in 4/29/98 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: SEATTLE MAYOR LEADS CAMPAIGN FOR GRASSCYCLING, PESTICIDE REDUCTION Framed by sacks of lawn fertilizer, some poison and a mulching lawn mower, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell yesterday opened the lawn-care season by taking firm stands against overfertilizing, overwatering and overuse of pesticides. Now that the Puget Sound Chinook salmon has been listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, he said, it's time for everyone to shape up and go natural. That includes the city, Schell conceded. In late March, city workers were caught spraying a herbicide on a traffic island. Yesterday, Schell used the parking strip at a city branch library to launch his lawn-care campaign. He brought along backyard experts who drove home the importance of alternative grass-care methods. Annette Frahm, a King County clean-water specialist, said the salmon listing "is forcing everyone to question what they're doing and to change what needs to be changed." If crane flies are a problem, for example, she urged people to forsake the use of such chemicals as the neurotoxin diazinon, a carcinogenic chemical now banned on golf courses and turf farms because of bird kills. Crane flies -- mosquito-like insects that neither bite nor sting, and have long legs -- lay eggs in grass, and their larvae eat the grass roots to create round brown spots. Poisoning them also kills good bugs, birds and fish. Instead of chemicals, Frahm recommended spreading a batch of worm-like nematodes to eat the crane-fly larvae. Chuck Pavlich of Sky Nursery said nematodes, sold in garden stores, don't hurt beneficial creatures such as the earthworm and butterfly larvae. Aside from nematodes, the mayor's lawn-care campaign came out in favor of mulching grass clippings and using battery-powered mowers. David McDonald, a city conservation planner, said grass clippings left to rot help to eliminate thatch as they return nitrogen to the soil. He said battery-powered mowers cost about 12 cents to charge. McDonald said a battery-powered mower costs about the same as a gasoline-driven model ($350 and up), and a replacement battery, required about every seven years, costs less than $100, compared with the $250 for a seven-month, seven-year gasoline bill at $1.30 a gallon. "And don't forget, no oil, no spring tuneups -- and they start," he said. Older gasoline-powered mowers spew 10 times the air pollution of one modern automobile, McDonald said. For more information about natural lawn care, call 1-888-860-LAWN (5296). Web sites to visit include http://www.metrokc.gov/hazwaste/house/ and http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/util/rescons/ -------------------- Excerpted from California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) press release: The annual CRRA conference will be held June 6th - 9th at Fort Mason in San Francisco. The conference will have an entire track devoted to climate change and pollution prevention issues, including sessions that will cover the automotive lubricant life cycle, including oil recycling and the use of rerefined oil; case studies on pollution prevention in the dry cleaning and metal finishing industries and mercury reduction options; pollution prevention through public policies; promoting hazardous waste collection and how waste prevention, reuse and recycling can help reduce global warming. The conference also features the first ever professional state association healthcare waste workshop. This workshop, designed to help participants implement cost effective, standardized, sustainable waste prevention, pollution prevention and recycling healthcare programs, will be conducted by experts from around the country. The conference features 11 different tracks, with up to eight sessions per track, as well as tours and workshops. "The Zero Waste Connection: Community, Business And Sustainability" is the conference theme. The event is expected to attract more than 1,000 people, including representatives from businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations. More information, including the agenda and registration information, can be found on the CRRA website at: http://www.crra.com/1999Conf/1999home.htm - end -