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30 Sep 99 - appliance repair; packaging systems; cloth diapers ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive ------------------- >From Betty Patton, Environmental Practices, Portland, OR: I need help in regards to programs set up for used appliance repair and dismantling for recycling. This is becoming a labor-intensive and expensive endeavor. How is it done in other cities? Are there any municipal programs for this in existence? Are there any examples of enhanced producer responsibility in this area? Who pays for the service of collection, dismantling, recycling and proper disposal of white goods? I am in Portland, Oregon and our local non-profit, religious-affiliated organization can no longer afford to subsidize this activity. If we lose this service, we will have over 70 tons of dead Kenmores and Frigidaires on our hands every month. Any ideas or avenues for assistance would be greatly appreciated. E-mail: EPractices [ A T ] spiretech [ D O T ] com -------------------- >From Kathy Frevert, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Sacramento, CA: I recently received a request for quality printed materials or videos on current and emerging packaging systems to reduce waste. I believe it is for a college course. If anyone has any appropriate materials, please contact Paul Relis at this e-mail address: Puesta75 [ AT ] aol [ DOT ] com Thanks. -------------------- >From Jesse White, Resource Management Group, Sarasota, FL, responding to the 9/22/99 news item about cloth diapers making somewhat of a comeback, mainly through sales on the Internet: My wife and I chose the "modern hybrid" approach to using cloth diapers for our son (Isaac, now 17 months). The hybrid is cloth at home and disposable when we are out. It just became too much of a smelly mess to have used diapers with us when traveling or even when out and about around town. Plus, daycares require disposables for sanitary reasons. It's tough to choose cloth, but overall we think our compromise has some net benefit, if nowhere else than our pocketbook. Disposables are $0.30 to $0.50 per diaper, so reusables pay back quickly. By the way, the birth of our child coincided with the opportunity to purchase a frontloader washer, so our water/energy use is low for diapering. We had NO incentives from the utility department for this upgrade. OF course, the real culprit in the disposables issue is the whole way that we live our lives. Not to beat a dead horse, but you know the drill - convenience, speed, ease, these "values" have replaced our former definition of "simple." Simple used to be easy to maintain, fix, reuse, and recycle. Now it means easy to consume and dispose of. E-mail: Jessewhite [ AT ] aol [ DOT ] com - end -