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21 Jun 99 - disposable videos; CDs; Consumer Reports; vacation ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive ------------------- >From Susan Kinsella, Susan Kinsella and Associates, Novato, CA: Following are excerpts from an Associated Press article that was in my newspaper on 6/17/99: SINGLE-USE VIDEO DISKS FLOP -- CIRCUIT CITY, PARTNER JUNK CONCEPT "It was hailed as a replacement for video cassette rentals: Rent a movie for two days, then just toss out the video disk without having to return to the store. But instead of the disks, it was the entire concept of single-use Divx that was junked yesterday amid steep losses. The death of Divx, a version of the digital video disk (DVD), underscored the risks of introducing a potentially sound product without support from key industry players.... The collaborators behind Divx - electronics retailer Circuit City and an entertainment law firm - said they were abandoning the venture because Hollywood studios didn't make enough movies for the format, and rental outlets wouldn't carry the single-use product.... Hollywood studios were reluctant to release movies to both Divx and regular DVD format because they considered Divx a threat to their profitable rentals and sales of video tapes." Sounds like source reduction and sustainability issues didn't have any part in the consciousness here, only the same-old, same-old issues of protecting turf and making a buck. E-mail: SEEK251 ( A T ) aol ( D O T ) com -------------------- >From Maggie Clarke, Environmental Scientist, Hunter College, New York, NY: Does anyone have a good idea what can be done about the recent proliferation of free CDs from AOL, CompuServe and the like? Unlike the free diskettes (which could be erased and reused), what can be done about these? E-mail: mclarke ( A T ) shiva ( D O T ) hunter ( D O T ) cuny ( D O T ) edu Note: If your response deals with recycling, please reply directly to Maggie. If it deals with reuse or reduction, please feel free to post it to the Forum (by replying to this e-mail). ------------------- Excerpted from a short article in the July 1999 Consumer Reports about recycling and waste prevention (it accompanies a product-review article about garbage bags): (These excerpts mainly cover the portions of the article about waste prevention.) Reducing the amount of trash that's generated is an environmental goal that's even more important than recycling. One success story has been the "pay as you throw" program. For 15 percent of the U.S. population living in more than 5,500 communities, trash services are billed the same way as electricity, gas, and other utilities: Rather than paying a fixed fee, a household pays according to the amount of garbage it throws out. Seattle is one big city that adopted such a program. Residents and businesses pay for garbage collection by the can; monthly fees range from $10.05 for a standardized 12-gallon can to $16.10 for a 32-gallon can. Low-income households get discounts. Lisa Skumatz, a Seattle-based consultant, studied 700 communities to assess the effectiveness of pay-as-you-throw programs. She found that such programs have decreased the amount of garbage going into a landfill by 8 to 11 percent and have encouraged recycling. Seattle, with a population of about 500,000, is considered a model city when it comes to waste management. It spends about $1 million per year on public-information efforts that emphasize sound waste management. Since 1990, the city has subsidized the purchase of more than 50,000 compost and worm bins. A two-year program has subsidized the purchase of mulching lawn mowers. The city also publishes a directory that lists where residents can get household goods repaired and where they can donate or resell used items. -------------------- >From Tom Watson, Waste Prevention Forum moderator: The Forum will be taking a week off June 22-28, while I'm on vacation.... Thanks everyone for all the great participation and interesting postings lately! - end -