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16 Aug 99 - dry cleaners; benefits of direct mail; packaging ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive ------------------- >From Tom Watson, coordinator, National Waste Prevention Coalition (NWPC): The NWPC's Dry Cleaning Waste Prevention Project - one of the first national projects to focus on reduction of both toxics and solid wastes in a particular industry - has completed a long evaluation process and is announcing the results of its Model Cleaners Project. Below is an excerpt from our press release. For additional information see our website at: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/nwpc/dryclean.htm Feel free to distribute information on this project to newsletters or other publications. If you have a model cleaner in your area, and you have specific ideas on who we should send the release to, please let me know. (We are sending out regional versions of the release in each area, but I'm sure we're missing some relevant publications.) ------- NWPC NAMES MODEL CLEANERS Fifteen innovative cleaners from around the country are being recognized as Model Cleaners by the National Waste Prevention Coalition for pioneering new approaches to waste prevention in the dry cleaning industry. The innovators include: -- A dry cleaner in Arizona that collects 500,000 hangers a year from its customers for reuse, saving $16,000 a year on the purchase of new hangers. -- A Denver cleaner that has reduced purchases of cleaning solvent by 65 percent. -- A Chicago cleaner that offers customers a reusable garment bag that converts into a laundry bag, reducing the need for disposable plastic garment covers. -- A cleaner in Southern California that cleans 2,300 pounds of clothes a week with a new, non-toxic "wet cleaning" process, thus avoiding the use of perchloroethylene, or "perc," the toxic solvent traditionally used by dry cleaners. The model cleaners were selected after a thorough evaluation. More than 20 agencies and organizations were involved in the evaluation effort, including state agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nominations came from the public, government agencies and the dry cleaning industry. The result is a group of cleaners that can serve as models - for the dry cleaning industry and other industries - as we prepare to enter the 21st Century. Following is a list of the Model Cleaners, by state, with the states listed alphabetically: ARIZONA Prestige Cleaners Store #8, Scottsdale, AZ. CALIFORNIA California Oak Cleaners, San Francisco, CA. Cleaner By Nature, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, CA. Hosanna Cleaners, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek, CA. Vogue Cleaners, Mill Valley and Belvedere, CA (3 stores). COLORADO Comet Cleaners, Grand Junction, CO. La Nouvelle Fine Cleaners, Denver, CO. ILLINOIS Greener Cleaner, Chicago, IL. NEW YORK Crystal 74 Cleaners, New York, NY. Drycleaning Depot, New York, NY. Meurice Garment Care, New York, NY (2 stores). NORTH DAKOTA Marcine Clean, Fargo, ND. OREGON 45th Avenue Cleaners, Portland, OR. TEXAS Dutch Girl Cleaners, Amarillo, TX area (3 stores). WISCONSIN Natural Cleaners, Brookfield, WI (3 stores in metropolitan Milwaukee area). The Model Cleaners Project also gave Honorable Mention to one cleaner: Hangers Cleaners, in Wilmington, North Carolina. E-mail: tom (D O T) watson (A T) metrokc (D O T) gov ------------------- Excerpted from a 7/28/99 press release from the Direct Marketing Association, New York City: A July, 1999, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) report says that shopping by mail produces significant environmental benefits that far outweigh its costs. These benefits include: - A reduction in air pollution emissions of 66,000 tons. - A reduction of gasoline consumption of 97 million gallons. - Saving nearly 40 lives and avoiding thousands of accidents, with a corresponding savings of property damages of $47 million. In total, the USPS report calculated the environmental benefits derived from shopping by mail at $400 million annually. The report also assessed the waste management cost of advertising mail and concluded that it cost only $126 million to dispose of advertising mail. The entire report, "The Environmental Impacts of Standard (A) Mail," can be found on the USPS website, in PDF format, at: http://www.usps.gov/environ/webpages/amail.pdf (You need Adobe Acrobat software to open PDF files.) --------------------- >From the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse website: The Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse was formed in 1992 to promote the Model Toxics in Packaging Legislation, which has been adopted by 18 states. The mission of the Clearinghouse is to develop public policy actions that reduce the amount and toxicity of packaging at the source, before it enters the solid waste stream. For more information on the legislation and the Clearinghouse, see their website at: http://www.statesnews.org/tpch/tpch.htm - end -