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19 Nov 99 - durable dishes; battery charger; catalogs; consumption; packaging ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- >From Christine McCoy, National Recycling Coalition, Alexandria, VA: I'm trying to get some information on the cost and environmental benefits of disposal vs. durable dishware and cutlery. Does anyone know any sources of info on life-cycle analysis (LCA) of using durables vs. disposables? Someone contacted me who is doing a paper for college and writing an article for the school newspaper. I found some stuff, including some Foodservice & Packaging Institute materials and a few short case studies that reflect cost savings, but nothing in terms of larger LCA info. Anything you may have would be extremely helpful! Thanks much. E-mail: ChristineM ( A T ) NRC-Recycle ( D O T ) org --------------------- >From David Cera, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, St. Paul, MN: In response to the 11/15/99 posting about the car battery charger that works through your lighter, it is worthless. Consumer Reports looked at it several years back and noted that the wiring of your lighter is much too thin to be used to recharge your battery and would end up possibly ruining your wiring. I also saw one and it appeared to be powered by 24 D-sized alkaline batteries, still not enough to have any effect on a car battery. My advice to eliminate solid waste from this is to not buy it and spend the money on some good battery jumper cables or join AAA. E-mail: david [DOT] cera [AT] moea [DOT] state [DOT] mn [DOT] us ---------------------- >From Matt Fikejs, Business and Industry Recycling Venture, Seattle, WA: I came across this link while doing some other research. It's the summary of a 1999 report called "Greener Catalogs: Improving Paper Practices in the Catalog Industry," from the Alliance for Environmental Innovation, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The address is: http://www.edfpewalliance.org/catalogs.html The full report is also available at this site, in PDF (Portable Document Format). A web page called "Consumer Tips for Cutting Catalog Waste" is a companion to the report. It is at: http://www.edfpewalliance.org/catalogs_tips.html Note from Tom: These are great resources, with a lot of new, useful stats! ---------------------- Excerpted from an essay by Ron McFarland, dated 11/15/99, on the Motley Fool Personal Finance website (forwarded by Karen Hamilton): Postulate: The amount of garbage a household produces is directly correlated to the amount of money wasted by that household. Now, if I remember my geometry right, once a postulate is formulated, one must then present evidence to prove it. My proof is offered in the form of the following observation: In my neighborhood, each homeowner is required to purchase a big, black garbage container in order to use the municipal refuse disposal system. Each week, a large garbage truck rumbles by and, amid the hum of hydraulics, each container is robotically grasped, emptied, and returned to the curb. The cans cost $70 each and the weekly garbage service costs $5.40 per month for each container used. All my neighbors have at least two garbage cans and some have three. Despite the fact that I have the largest family in our cul-de-sac, we seem to get along just fine with a single container. I've long been puzzled by this disparity, but last Christmas I finally figured it out. As I looked around at all the over-flowing garbage containers, it was clear that our neighbors had opened considerably more gifts than we had. The garbage in those containers was the result of spent money. The sacks and boxes that contained the presents were immediately junked; but inevitably, the actual gifts will be discarded. The more stuff purchased and brought into the home, the more volume eventually needed to take it away to the dump - resulting in more "little annuities" paid to garbage handlers. The investment opportunity lost due to the use of just one additional garbage can is over $17,000 (initial purchase and the monthly lease invested at 11 percent for 30 years). Add that $17,000 to the wasteful spending that creates the need for the extra garbage container (or two) in the first place, and the result is a bona fide fortune literally wasted away. The full essay is at: http://www.fool.com/fribble/1999/fribble991115.htm ----------------- Links to two articles about trends in flexible packaging and convenience packaging, from a packaging industry newsletter (forwarded by Heidi Siegelbaum): "Fads Favor Flexibles": http://www.packagingnetwork.com/read/nl19991116/35800 "'Push-Up' Packaging": http://www.packagingnetwork.com/read/nl19991116/35818 - end -