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07 Sep 99 - Wall Street Journal reporter query; Swiffer update; junk mail ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive ------------------- >From Tom Watson, National Waste Prevention Coalition coordinator: I just got a call from Josh Prager, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal (thanks, Bill Sheehan, for referring him to me). He had a very interesting question. He has been talking to people with the Oxford University Press, who are working on their 2010 (yes, 11 years from now) Oxford English Dictionary. It is expected to be 40 volumes, double the current 20 volumes. However, they say they have been contacted by environmentalists who object to the dictionary being published in book form. These environmentalists feel that the dictionary should be online, to reduce the use of paper. Josh asked me to send out a message asking whether any of you on this list have contacted Oxford University Press about this. If so, he'd like to hear from you. Josh would also like to hear from you if you have comments on this issue. If you would like to make a comment, please e-mail Josh today or tomorrow (the sooner the better), at: josh (D O T) prager (A T) wsj (D O T) com In your e-mail, please include your agency or organization, city and phone number. Thanks! ------------------- Also from Tom, following up on the recent postings about the Swiffer, a new floor sweeper from Procter & Gamble that uses disposable, "electrostatically-charged" cloths: Interestingly enough, S.C. Johnson, a competitor with Procter & Gamble, has a new product that appears to be nearly identical to the Swiffer. It's called the Pledge Grab-It. I'm not sure which came first, the Swiffer or the Grab-It. Both use disposable electrostatically-charged cloths. In the Seattle supermarket where I saw them, both were retailing for $14.99 (that's for the sweeper, which the customer assembles, and some extra cloths). Additional cloths for the Swiffer cost $2.49 for a pack of 8 and $4.49 for a pack of 16. For the Grab-It, additional cloths come in packs of 10 or 20, and are slightly cheaper. --------------------- Below is the Internet address for a comprehensive article by Colleen Bazdarich on how people can reduce junk mail. It appeared on the CBS MarketWatch website, Personal Finance page, on Aug. 31, 1999. http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19990831/news/current/personal.htx?source - end -