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01 Mar 99 - reusable disposables; investments; food banks; cereal ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition ----------------------------------------- From Brian Foran, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Sacramento, CA: Would you mind posting an inquiry to the Forum regarding Zip-Loc's rigid plastic containers, introduced recently? According to one of our staff, the containers are like Tupperware & Rubbermaid reusable containers, but not quite as strong. The troubling part about these containers is that the manufacturer promotes them as reusable and disposable! If our convenience-oriented society has entered the phase in which reusable containers are marketed as disposables, we are really in trouble. E-mail: bforan [ A T ] CIWMB [ D O T ] ca [ D O T ] gov --------------------------------------- From Moira DeRosa, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Application deadlines have been extended for businesses who want to apply for the Western Recycling Investment Forums. Businesses who want to participate in the May 17, 1999, forum in San Francisco, CA, should submit their application by March 15, 1999. Businesses who want to participate in the July 12, 1999 forum in Irvine, CA, should submit their applications by May 7, 1999. For more information contact: Coy Smith or Linda Christopher, Materials for the Future Foundation, 415-561-6530, mff (A T) igc (D O T) apc (D O T) org U.S. EPA Region 9 and the California Integrated Waste Management Board are sponsoring the Western Recycling Investment Forums. --------------------------------------- Excerpted and paraphrased from an article by Andrew Revkin in the Feb. 27, 1999 New York Times (article started on the front page): Food banks and soup kitchens serve more than $1 billion worth of food each year to more than 20 million Americans. They have come to rely on donations of surplus, mislabeled and outdated products from America's giant food-making companies. The key to that relationship was the grocery manufacturing industry's propensity for waste. But today, the food makers are working hard to create less waste. They have done this by improving their manufacturing and marketing systems. After rising steadily until 1995 -- when they reached 285 million pounds -- annual donations from the big national food companies dropped to 259 million pounds in 1998. To a certain extent, the food charities had become their own worst enemy by making waste so identifiable, according to Janet Poppendieck, a sociologist and author of a book about food banks. Some manufacturers have tried to compensate for their reduced donations of surplus, damaged and outdated products. For example, Golden Grain, a pasta maker, now runs its factory at times of low market demand to create noodles just for the food bank. Other companies, such as Kraft, have shifted to cash donations. --------------------------------------- From Tom Watson, National Waste Prevention Coalition coordinator: We've had several postings on the Forum about Breakfast Mates, the wasteful Kellogg's product that features individual servings of cereal, with milk. I recently heard about an effort by Kellogg's in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to promote this product by conducting breakfasts at schools. Apparently if a school would sponsor a breakfast where parents and their kids could come in and try this product, Kellogg's would make a donation to the school. It sounds like in the Twin Cities, some or all of these breakfasts might have been canceled due to logistics problems. But I'm curious how extensive this promotional effort is, and whether these breakfasts have actually been held in some cities. If anyone has heard anything about this, please let me know, and I'll share it with the group. Thanks! E-mail: tom [D O T] watson [A T] metrokc [D O T] gov - end -