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02 Sep 99 - alternatives to Swiffer; sense of humus; Second Chance Week ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive ------------------- The first three items are in response to the 8/31/99 posting about the Swiffer, a new floor sweeper from Procter & Gamble that uses disposable, "electrostatically-charged" cloths: ------------------ >From Heather Abrams, Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, Walnut Creek, CA: I had never heard of the Swiffer until you brought it up, but reusable electrostatic mops are pretty common, I think. I bought mine at Walgreens. It looks about like a traditional mop, with lots of strings, but you use it dry and it attracts dust, hair and cobwebs. When it's dirty you simply unscrew it from the handle and throw it in the washer (no drying required). I hate to admit it, but I learned this from a Martha Stewart magazine, and it really works. E-mail: abramsh (AT) wastediversion (DOT) org ------------------- >From Yen Chin, City of Seattle: I haven't seen the Swiffer, but it sure sounds like another bit of unnecessary consumer product. If the issue has to do with the appearance of cleanliness (i.e. removing dust bunnies and the stuff that eventually spawns them) a broom and some kind of sweeping compound will do the trick just fine. The purpose of the sweeping compound is to cause the clumping of small particles so that you minimize sweeping them up into the air where they can be easily breathed and from where they will resettle in a few minutes. I have long used spent tea leaves as a sweeping compound. The dampness of the leaves both dispels static charges that cause small particles to repel each other, and it provides damp surfaces to which particles will naturally stick. If you're a real green neatness freak, you can compost the stuff you sweep up. Or, if you live in a house with a yard, you could just throw it out the window to be absorbed by the garden. I suppose spent coffee grounds could also be used, but I suspect there might be an odor problem coming from their use. --- Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. -Anais Nin E-mail: Yen (DOT) Chin (AT) ci (DOT) seattle (DOT) wa (DOT) us -------------------- >From Tom Kacandes, Empire State Development, Albany, NY: ATTACK OF THE DUST BUNNIES I have something I bought from Real Goods called a "Sweepa" that also picks up dust electrostatically, but its head is made of charged rubber with a straight edge (good for pushing little piles of dirt around) and a broom-like bunch of rubber "fingers" that have lots of surface area for picking up the dust. When the head is full of dust, you position it over the garbage pail and knock it against the side to release the dust (not all comes off), so no replaceable cloths are involved, no waste. It also does not give you cloths for cleaning furniture or the like, but regular moist rags work well (not that I actually do so much dusting myself...). Disclaimer: I bought it because I don't like hauling out the vacuum cleaner for every little thing and it was great for cat hair, not because of waste prevention concerns. Also, I love gadgets! This one works pretty well. Couldn't find it on their web site - maybe they don't sell it anymore. Real Goods does sell something called the "MagicMop" for $18.95. It's on their website at: http://www.realgoods.com/products/indexClean.htm (It uses washable, terry-cotton cloths, not disposable cloths.) E-mail: TKACANDES [ A T ] EMPIRE [ D O T ] STATE [ D O T ] NY [ D O T ] US --------------------- >From Renee Kimball, Recycling Advocates, Portland, OR, responding to the recent postings about slogans promoting home composting: Compost saying from Australia: What the world needs now is a good sense of humus E-mail: rrrrenee (A T) aracnet (D O T) com -------------------- >From the Second Chance Week website: The third annual Second Chance Week, which promotes reuse and repair in California, will be held Oct. 16 - 24, 1999. The week is coordinated by the Local Government Commission, a Sacramento non-profit. The first annual Second Chance Week in 1997 involved over 125 organizations, sponsoring more than 95 reuse activities statewide. The second event, in 1998, involved over 180 organizations, sponsoring more than 100 reuse activities. In total, these local events have put more than 190 tons of reusable goods and materials back into circulation, and significantly increased public awareness of reuse opportunities statewide. For more information, see the Second Chance Week website at: http://www.choose2reuse.org/ - end -