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12 Jan 00 - pallet waste; EPR; Nintendo ad; online info distribution; scholar awards ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- >From Vincent O'Brien, Davie, FL: I work in the shipping business, longshoreman specifically. We handle a huge amount of wooden pallets. They are easily broken and we throw away huge quantities every month. This is in the passenger end of the business. All the food and supplies are on wooden pallets. I know that industries use standard size pallets so they can be interchanged. I just wondered why they haven't gone to a standard size heavy-duty plastic pallet, such as the type of recycled plastic they are using in outdoor park benches. That seems to be the ideal material to use in pallets, much stronger and resistant to breakage, and recyclable. Has to be cheaper than wood. E-mail: POBVOB123 (A T) aol (D O T) com --------------------- >From Melanie Russo, Eastern Research Group (EPA contractor), Lexington, MA: NEW EPA WEBSITE ON EXTENDED PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste has launched its website on Extended Product Responsibility (EPR). The site address is: http://www.epa.gov/epr The EPR website is designed to inform consumers, businesses, state and local government agencies and others about this powerful concept. EPR is a product-oriented approach to environmental protection that challenges players throughout the product chain to work together to reduce the life-cycle environmental impacts of products. The site provides information on the concept, what initiatives are underway in the U.S. and internationally, and a wealth of related resources such as public-private alliances, academic research, publications, involved organizations, and more. The electronics and the packaging product sectors are featured now; special sections on other products will be added in future updates. E-mail: mrusso ( A T ) erg ( D O T ) com ------------------- >From Jeannie Roberts, Snohomish County government, Everett, WA (originally forwarded by Marcia Rutan, also with Snohomish County): The 1/10/00 posting with the "Step by Step" newsletter info about tips on kids and consumerism, and the mention of the Saturn advertisement, prompted me to pass this on. My television is mostly used for the VCR in our home, but I did happen to catch this commercial on during prime-time "kid shows" and was appalled. A black screen with white type reads: You've finished your chores, You've helped your sister with her homework, You're thinking of volunteering at the local hospital. We can change all that. Nintendo 64 game systems. Additional comment by Marcia Rutan (after Tom asked why this ad is relevant to waste prevention): Here's how I saw the solid waste prevention angle. This is another example of an advertisement pushing consumption of a material good to use up someone's time and energy. And this ad shows a particular lack of respect for social service. This is exactly the antithesis of the holiday waste prevention message many of us promote, which is to give a gift from the heart instead of a material item. In this case, it is not even a material gift for another, but material acquisition for self in lieu of a gift for someone else. I find it disgusting. Jeannie's e-mail: jeannie ( DOT ) roberts ( AT ) co ( DOT ) snohomish ( DOT ) wa ( DOT ) us Marcia's e-mail: marcia (D O T) rutan (A T) co (D O T) snohomish (D O T) wa (D O T) us ------------------- >From Roger Guttentag, consultant and writer, Harleysville, PA: My comments are a follow-up and expansion upon Bruce Nordman's typically pithy but insightful 1/10/00 thoughts on the merits of online information distribution. In many ways, debating the merits of paper vs. online information distribution is a waste of time. Any organization that needs to distribute information effectively for either commercial or public interest reasons will need to use both channels for two reasons. First, electronic-based communication (presumably via the Internet) is probably or shortly will be at the level of a necessary technology much like telephone or automotive technologies are currently. Second, cultural and personality factors dispose people to prefer different modes of communication. Some like it fiber-based, others like their information served up on electrons and finally there are curmudgeons like myself who like it both ways. The more critical question is, what is to be the design basis for future reports, official documents, etc.? Paper-based and electronic-based documents are different creatures. The latter have features that are not available in paper formats such as: text searches, multi-media content, user annotation / bookmarking, on-the-fly updating and so forth. These features, if implemented correctly, enhance the user's ability to more effectively access and utilize the document's content. This alone helps to justify electronic-based information. Finally, I agree with Bruce that hard data on the waste reduction benefits of electronic-based information is hard to come by and explains why it is mostly anecdotal. It can also be maddenly difficult to ascertain. For example, do electronic documents really reduce paper usage? It should for the publisher. However, suppose putting a document on the Internet makes it far more available to a larger audience than a paper document and further, suppose everyone who downloads a copy then prints it out for future reference and convenient access (since portable electronic readers are only starting to become available)? There are numerous user - content interaction scenarios, and the material utilization implications of each are probably difficult to predict. For this reason, I believe the bottom line questions for the publisher are these: 1. Does electronic documentation reduce information storage and distribution costs (including cost of materials) for the publisher? 2. Does it contribute to improving the quality, accessibility and usability of this information? The justification for electronic-based information weakens or even disappears, I believe, if the answer to either question is a no or even a maybe. E-mail: rgutten ( A T ) concentric ( D O T ) net -------------------- >From Susan Krueger, Houston Advanced Research Center, The Woodlands, Texas: CALL FOR PROPOSALS The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) is accepting proposals for the 2000 George P. and Cynthia Mitchell International Young Scholar Awards for Sustainable Development. The awards were established in 1991 to recognize contributions in the study of sustainable development made by individuals age 35 and younger who are Master or Doctoral students, or post- Master/Doctoral young professionals in business, academia, or the non-profit sector. The awards for 2000 will be decided on the basis of proposals for developing and analyzing a single case study of a corporation that has begun pursuing sustainability. Proposals must be submitted no later than June 1, 2000. Authors of the winning proposals will receive a $1,000 stipend and an invitation to the October, 2000, Woodlands Conference at The Woodlands, Texas. Up to ten winners will be selected. For application instructions and further information, visit: http://www.harc.edu/cgs/call_proposal.html E-mail: skrueger (AT) harc (DOT) edu - end -