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24 Nov 99 - reuse ads; durable dishware; Dryel; EPP; dry cleaning; computers ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- >From Darin Cosgrove, Reuses.com, Brockville, Ontario: This is a follow-up to my request to this forum way back in May for examples of newspapers that assist reuse programs by printing free "give-away" classified ads. I thought people might be interested to hear about the eventual (strange) outcome after I compiled that info and approached the local paper. My idea was to propose a partnership between the Brockville Recorder & Times and www.brockville.reuses.com, the community reuse Web site that I built in cooperation with the city's solid waste management department. The goal of the partnership was cross-promotion: as a community service, the paper would promote the free reuse listings on the Web site, and in return the Web site would promote the paper's regular pay classified deals to online visitors. My initial meeting with the paper was met with enthusiasm. They were interested to learn about other newspapers which were supporting reuse programs through their classified pages and I was invited to write a detailed proposal to be presented to management, which I did. As it turned out, management liked the proposal so much that they decided to go it alone and begin offering free reuse classified ads without any partnership with the city's existing Web site! In August, the Recorder & Times began promoting their new classification, the "R&T Recycler - Give it away and you don't pay! 3 lines, 3 days, for free!" And so it came to pass that Brockville had "competition" in the free reuse classifieds business! But it didn't last long. As many of you know, one of the biggest challenges facing reuse programs is ongoing, creative promotion & education. Yet despite running over two full pages of promotional ads for their new classification over approximately 3 months, the newspaper only garnered about a dozen ads. So last month, the paper quietly dropped the classification and "the R&T Recycler" became history. Throughout all of this, www.brockville.reuses.com continued to receive new listings. The manager of the solid waste department and I worked together to come up with other promotional ideas, including flyers which are now distributed at city hall and the waste transfer station, and my favourite, a half-hour "www.brockville.reuses.com TV show" which airs once a week on the community cable channel (and consists of give-away listings from the Web site which scroll on the screen). Ironically, if the newspaper had been more creative in promoting its R&T Recycler classification, the end result would have meant more reuse in the community with less work on the part of the solid waste department and myself (we wouldn't have had to come up with those other promotional plans). I'm still inclined to think that a cooperative effort between the paper and the Web site would have had the greatest impact. Nevertheless, without any such partnership, Brockville's reuse Web site soldiers on. It just registered its 85th listing and is poised to surpass the 20,000 "hits" mark next week. And we continue to receive positive feedback from local residents who are giving away their unwanted reusable items online. So once again, thanks to everyone who responded to my initial query. As it turns out I wasn't able to successfully use that information for my intended goal, but I'm sure stranger things have happened in the world of reuse. E-mail: darin ( A T ) reuses ( D O T ) com Brockville's reuse Web site is located at: http://www.brockville.reuses.com/ --------------------- >From Glenn Meyer, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, St. Paul, MN, responding to the 11/19/99 request for information on the cost and environmental benefits of disposal vs. durable dishware: J. Winston Porter, Waste Policy Center, did this report: "Environmental and Public Health Aspects of Reusable and Disposable Foodservice Packaging." (April 1996 - $20) The research was based on 30 other studies. A summary of the report is at: http://www.winporter.com/page22%20Foodservice%20Pkging.html I can't recall that much about it, but it did address some life-cycle issues, especially durables. I believe they made a big deal about the energy needed to make one ceramic mug relative to the cost of polystyrene; while they acknowledge the many benefits of reusables - "solid waste, air pollution, and energy usage" standpoints - they point out the need to get at least several hundred uses out of the mug. Is that a lot? I figure that I use my reusable ceramic mug for at least 2 cups of coffee per day, making for over 200 uses in less than 3 months: 5 workdays x 4 weeks x 2 uses x 3 months = 240 uses In this report, issues of hygiene were very important. The Foodservice and Packaging Institute also pushes that angle. The "bugs in the mugs" story from last April - the research by 2 gentleman at the University of Arizona on bacteria found in common break-room areas like reusable mugs and dish cloths - made for "news." The report makes mention of some other trade-offs, noting that in areas where water is scarce, solid waste may not be the largest concern. E-mail: glenn [DOT] meyer [AT] moea [DOT] state [DOT] mn [DOT] us -------------------- >From Jeff Gaisford, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, responding to the 11/15/99 posting about Dryel, a new product from Procter & Gamble that allows people to clean clothes at home that are labeled "dry clean only": I actually tried the Dryel product. I was impressed with the packaging (very minimal and much of it recyclable in mixed waste paper recycling). The fact that the bag can be used for 20 cycles (you can put about 4 garments in per cycle, depending on the garment) will definitely cut down on trips to the dry cleaner. After the clothes have gone through the Dryel treatment, they also don't seem as "chemical-ly" (my own technical term) as when I pick something up from the dry cleaner. E-mail: jeff [ DOT ] gaisford [ AT ] metrokc [ DOT ] gov ------------------- Excerpted from a message from Alison Kinn, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program, Washington, DC (forwarded by Lauren Cole from the EPP listserv): EPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program is pleased to announce that the EPP database, recently revamped to ease navigability, is now available on our Web site at: http://notes.erg.com/ The database contains environmental attribute information for a wide variety of products - from Appliances to Vehicles. It also includes contract language that has been used by others to obtain products and services they consider to be environmentally preferable. More information will be added over time. We will soon begin Phase II to include additional product categories and programs and to improve the user interface. We would appreciate any comments regarding the information currently in the database, as well as feedback on what product categories you'd like to see added. You can provide your comments by using the database's "User Comments" feature, or e-mail us at: epp [D O T] pilot [A T] epa [D O T] gov -------------------- >From the 11/19/99 Daily Tax Report (forwarded by Jeff Tumarkin, U.S. EPA): TAX CREDIT BILL INTRODUCED FOR LESS ENVIRONMENTALLY HAZARDOUS DRY CLEANING EQUIPMENT On November 17, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) introduced the Small Business Pollution Prevention and Opportunity Act (S 1939). The bill would allow a tax credit for 20 percent of the cost of certain types of dry cleaning equipment that use reduced amounts of hazardous dry cleaning substances. The targeted chemical products are chlorinated solvents, solvents that contain more than 10 percent of petroleum derivatives, and other federally-regulated hazardous substances with carcinogenic potential in humans or with bioaccumulative properties. The tax credit would expire on December 31, 2004. Dry cleaning establishments would be limited to one tax credit per year. -------------------- Link to informative, statistic-filled article on computer waste by Eric Scigliano in the 11/18/99 Seattle Weekly (forwarded by Lisa Sepanski): http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/9946/tech-scigliano.shtml - end -