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20 May 99 - simplicity; newspapers; reuse; juice; training; PVC ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition --------------------- >From Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Public Works, Everett, WA: Thanks to Penny Mabie, City of Olympia, WA, for passing on information about an excellent curriculum called "Simplifying for Wellness" produced by the University of Northern Iowa. She gave me the web address where you can sample the curriculum, plus get information on numerous resource organizations for voluntary simplicity/"Your Money or Your Life" type of work. That address is: http:\\spider.cns.uni.edu/ceee/ Scroll down the page and click on "National Sustainable Consumption Initiative." Then click on the "Simplifying for Wellness" Curriculum link. One of the resources listed is Cecile Andrews with the Simplicity Circles Project. An alternative link for that project is: http://www.simplicitycircles.com E-mail: Marcia ( D O T ) Rutan ( A T ) co ( D O T ) snohomish ( D O T ) wa ( D O T ) us --------------------- >From Darin Cosgrove, Reuses.com, Brockville, Ontario, following up on his recent postings about newspapers that assist local reuse programs: I received three more examples of newspapers that assist reuse programs through free classified ads. Thanks again to everyone who wrote. -- MARTHA'S VINEYARD TIMES (Massachusetts) Here on Martha's Vineyard, the MV Times has a "Bargain Box" every week where you can advertise any item that is anywhere from free up to $100. These listings are free. Anything more than that is a paid classified ad. The Bargain Box is very popular and things go fast. From: Kate Warner -- BURLINGTON FREE PRESS (Vermont) Has a special classified ad column called "ABSOLUTELY FREE." There is no fee to post the ad if the item is free. From: Wendy McArdle, Chittenden (VT) Solid Waste District -- DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Texas) Publishes a weekly column (I think) called Pass It On. The copy that was faxed to me starts with: "Do you have items that you'd gladly part with if you knew they wouldn't end up in a landfill? Pass It On puts readers in touch with readers." Their contact info is: Pass It On, The Dallas Morning News, PO Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265-5237, e-mail: house&garden (AT) dallasnews (DOT) com From: Woody Raine, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission E-mail: darin [A T] reuses [D O T] com --------------------- >From Anne Frisch, Saint Paul Neighborhood Energy Consortium, St. Paul, MN: As you may know, the Saint Paul Neighborhood Energy Consortium operates the Free Market, an on-line exchange program for RESIDENTS of St. Paul (as opposed to many business-oriented materials exchange programs). We started about a year ago and have been running the website for about 7 months. Last Sunday, we received some great publicity by being featured in the local section of our local newspaper, The Pioneer Press. I am writing today just to share some good news. Since the article, we have had over 400 e-mails of people listing items or requesting info about items on the site. Here are some of the responses (don't worry, only 5). I hope you take a minute to enjoy them. Way to go REUSE AND WASTE REDUCTION!! -- " I listed a swing set last Sunday morning and someone picked it up from my home this evening. I had at least 4 phone calls. It worked very well. Thanks." -- "Just a short note to inform you that I was able to complete a transaction between myself and another person. We had replaced our front steps last fall and had a used rod iron railing that a couple wanted to place on their front steps. So they took it from us on Monday, May 17. Thank you very much for providing this web page to the citizens of St. Paul. It is a great service." -- "Please delete item: Home organ.... Item went in 24 hours. What a great program! Thank you." -- "Hi. I'm writing to inform you that we've made an exchange on the microwave oven that we listed.... Thanks for a wonderful service!" -- "....I am picking up the swing set, hopefully tomorrow!... I just found out about this site on the 18th of May and on the 19th I have an item I can really use and it was free. Thank you very much." Comments or questions, feel free to e-mail me back. Anne E-mail: annef ( A T ) spnec ( D O T ) org Website address for Free Market: http://www.twincitiesfreemarket.org/ -------------------- The next two postings are in response to the recent postings about unfrozen concentrated juices sold in the supermarket in aluminum cans: -------------------- >From Jim Talbot, King County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, Seattle, WA, My family has purchased unfrozen juice in the can for over a year now. Have not seen straight orange juice yet, but apple and "mixed" juice combinations have been the favored ones at our house. The big attractions were saving space in the freezer and the variety of juices. They tend to be more expensive than frozen OJ or apple juice, but I think that has more to do with market share and the container volume variety (only 11.5 oz. X 3 cans water). I love the ease of use and recyclable can. E-mail: James [D O T] Talbot [A T] ci [D O T] seattle [D O T] wa [D O T] us ---------------------- Correction from Tom Watson, National Waste Prevention Coalition coordinator: In my 5/14/99 posting, I said the end caps of the typical coated-paperboard containers for frozen concentrated juices are made of aluminum. That was wrong. I've been told they are made of tin-plated steel. ---------------------- Excerpted from e-mail from Cathy Buller, Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Seattle, WA: MEASUREMENT TRAINING The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) will hold a one-day training course on "Using Surveys to Measure the Results of Compliance Assistance" at several locations around the country from May through August of 1999. The training will help agencies learn about effective surveying to evaluate the impacts of assistance programs. There is no charge for the course. Here are the course dates, locations and contact persons: Wednesday, May 26th -- EPA HQ, Washington, D.C. Contact: Lynn Vendinello -- 202-564-7066 Thursday, June 3rd -- EPA Region VI, Dallas, TX Contact: Bonnie Romo -- 214-665-8323 Tuesday, June 15th -- EPA Region X, Olympia, WA Contact: Rhonda Almodovar -- 206-553-2424 Tuesday, July 20th -- Region V, Chicago, IL Contact: Linda Mangrum -- 312-353-2071 Monday, August 16th -- Region IV, Atlanta, GA Contact: Patty Jackson -- 404-562-9631 E-mail: cbuller ( A T ) pprc ( D O T ) org ----------------- >From the Health Care Without Harm website (news items originally forwarded by Stephanie Davis): America's largest maker of intravenous (IV) bags, Baxter Healthcare, has announced its plans to phase out the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for all of its IV products. Universal Health Services, the nation's third largest hospital management company, has also announced at its annual shareholder's meeting on May 19, 1999, that it will seek to replace PVC medical supplies with cost-effective alternatives. For more information, see the Health Care Without Harm website at: http://www.noharm.org/ - end -