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09 Mar 00 - New Zealand query; cups; Real Simple; swaps; rechargeable batteries ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- >From Christine Byrch, Waste Management Unit, Christchurch City Council, Christchurch, New Zealand: I am looking for examples of programmes in the U.S. that have successfully changed behaviours and attitudes within communities, with respect to waste in particular and environmental concerns generally. For example, awareness that waste minimisation is not just recycling, and that the impacts of waste disposal are more to do with resource consumption than landfills, etc. I realise this is a big question, but does anyone know of any programmes that I could contact? Regards. E-mail: Chris ( DOT ) Byrch ( AT ) ccc ( DOT ) govt ( DOT ) nz -------------------- >From Carl Hursh, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, responding to the 3/6/00 posting from Marty Davey seeking interesting facts about the environmental benefits of using durable coffee cups rather than disposables: This isn't what you wanted but I thought I'd relate some first-hand experience on this issue. We wanted to lose the foam cups in our snack bar. We couldn't convince the operator to do so, and we couldn't find a recycling outlet either. We were able to talk him into fronting the money to buy custom ceramic cups from Weisenbach Specialty Printing in Columbus, Ohio. We had a "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" message on one side and he had "Nick's Place" imprinted on the other side. Nick offered the cups for $1.75 or so, with the first cup of coffee free. This made a nice impression on first-time visitors. The price went up to $2.25 later. We had some comments that the cups should have lids, particularly from people using the elevators. I observed people carry the cups in the elevators without incident. Lids would have meant plastic cups, which are available with recycled-content plastic. Nick, and the cups, are gone now. If I had to do over, I'd do the same thing again. E-mail: Hursh ( DOT ) Carl ( AT ) dep ( DOT ) state ( DOT ) pa ( DOT ) us Note from Tom: The e-mail address that was given for Marty Davey in the 3/6/00 Forum was incorrect. The correct address is: martydavey ( A T ) aol ( D O T ) com Sorry about that! --------------------- Excerpted from column by Marilyn Gardner in the 2/23/00 Christian Science Monitor (forwarded by Bill Sheehan): (Comment from Bill: Here is a new spin to simple living: Do Less, Buy More. Yechhh!) DID THOREAU HAVE IT RIGHT AS A MODEL NON-CONSUMER? It has been nearly a century and a half since Henry David Thoreau, hardly a man burdened with too much stuff or too many commitments, offered a gentle warning to those who were. He urged his readers to "Simplify, simplify." Good advice then, even better advice now. So good, in fact, that Thoreau, or at least his philosophy, is coming soon to a newsstand near you. Late next month Time Inc. will launch a magazine about simplifying life, called Real Simple. Playing off the maxim that "Less is more," its theme is "Do less. Have more." Note that first verb. It's not "Buy less," but "Do less." Getting readers to buy is, after all, the purpose of most magazines. With 110 pages of ads in the first issue, among them such upscale names as Chanel, Cadillac, DeBeers diamonds and Nordstrom, the magazine does not encourage readers to consume less. Instead, according to a spokeswoman, the idea here is to consume more selectively. But finding the perfect object takes time and effort, too, not to mention a steady paycheck to keep those platinum credit cards in good standing. Real Simple is targeting its pages to overcommitted working women and mothers who are college-educated and have a median age of 36. Their hunger for simplicity appears so great that the magazine reportedly represents the biggest launch in Time Inc. history, with a projected initial circulation of 400,000. Real Impressive. In theory, this "less is more" ideal carries irresistible appeal. During the past decade a movement called "Voluntary Simplicity" has sprung up to preach the virtues of less to a culture obsessed with more, more, more. Whole forests have been felled to print books with titles such as "Simple Abundance," "Getting Control," "Slowing Down to the Speed of Life," "The Simple Life," "Frugal Luxuries," even "Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui." But in practice, "less is more" faces stiff obstacles. Economist Juliet Schor labels the problem "competitive consumption." No longer, she says, are the Joneses down the street the ones most families aspire keep up with. The new role models grow out of the images of affluence relentlessly portrayed by entertainment media. Schor warns that this "upscale emulating," or "new consumerism," however harmless it appears, carries huge price tags. It requires both parents in a family to work, which adds costs in child care, transportation, convenience foods and services, and stress. It funnels private money away from charitable donations. It steals time from community and social activities. It gives business interests greater influence on government and culture. And it contributes to ecological problems. To counter these tendencies, Schor proposes a new "politics of consumption." She urges Americans to form a consumer movement in which people weigh their basic needs against their desires and place new values on family, leisure, and community time. Loosening the hold of clocks and datebooks will require institutional and systemic changes: Changes in work schedules. Changes in commuting patterns. And changes in domestic arrangements. By targeting women, Real Simple inadvertently raises an interesting question: Where are the men in the simplicity movement? Women are hardly the only ones with bulging day planners and long lists of Things to Do. Although men's participation in childrearing and housework is showing heartening progress, what sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls the second shift - the work parents do at home in the evening after their day jobs are over - still falls disproportionately to women. Little wonder, perhaps, that they make up the largest audience for what could be called the simplicity industry - not only those soothing self-improvement books but also products and services ranging from aromatherapy and spas to personal coaches and organization experts, all designed to promote the three C's of contentment, control, calmness. For many Americans, paring down and cutting back will continue to be Real Hard. The siren call of the marketplace, now including e-commerce, exerts a strong pull. But by urging people to ask, "What constitutes a good life and abundance?," the simplicity-movement books and magazines might encourage redefinitions of success and fulfillment. Until then, the phrase "Less is more" will continue to be little more than a warm and fuzzy ideal, overshadowed by the reality that more is still more. Until then, the search for harmony, balance, and free time will go on. To which Thoreau could only say, "I told you so." The full article is at: http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/02/23/fp18s1-csm.shtml -------------------- Excerpted from article by Catherine Greenman in the 3/2/00 New York Times: Several new Internet websites allow people to swap used items. These sites are designed to make online swapping as attractive as online auctions. None of the swap sites currently charge a fee for swaps, but Swap.com said they plan to start charging a fee in April. Sites mentioned in the article are: WebSwap: http://www.webswap.com/ SwitcHouse: http://www.switchouse.com/ Swap.com: http://www.swap.com/ -------------------- Excerpted from an article by Jennifer Files in the 3/9/00 Dallas Morning News (forwarded by Kinley Deller from the Health Care Without Harm listserv): RECYCLING PROGRAM PLANNED FOR RECHARGEABLE MOBILE PHONE BATTERIES A nonprofit group plans to make it easier for consumers to recycle mobile phone batteries starting next year. The program, sponsored by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp., will collect lithium ion and nickel metal hydride batteries through participating retailers, corporations and community round-ups, then ship them to recycling plants. It's an extension of a 4-year-old effort to recycle nickel cadmium rechargeable batteries, the main power source for cordless tools and for older model cellular phones. Manufacturers now use lithium ion and nickel metal hydride because they provide more power and weigh less. Most rechargeable batteries can already be recycled, but manufacturers don't make it easy. The battery that comes with Nokia's 6120 model phones, for example, has a label stating "must be recycled or disposed of properly," with a symbol indicating it shouldn't be thrown away. The label doesn't say what proper disposal entails, and most consumers simply toss out their old batteries. Currently, only one in six households with cordless power products recycles rechargeable batteries, according to a study funded by Rechargeable Battery Recycling. The program started after a 1996 law required manufacturers to develop a plan for recycling nickel cadmium batteries, which contain some toxic materials but can be recycled. The nickel and iron residues from batteries are used in stainless steel products, while the cadmium can be used in new batteries. Organizers hope that more consumers will participate once the program includes all types of mobile phone batteries. By next year, organizers say, manufacturers are expected to label all three kinds of batteries with an 800 number that consumers may call to find participating retailers in their area. The program, which is funded by manufacturers, pays shipping costs for sending boxes full of batteries from stores to a recycling plant in Pennsylvania. The program includes 29,000 retail and community collection sites, based on the number of outlets whose headquarters offices have signed up for the program. Participating retailers include Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, Target and Circuit City. - end -