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15 May 00 - Eddie Bauer; EPR principles for electronics; laundry rooms ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- >From David Stitzhal, Full Circle Environmental, Seattle, WA: As I have mentioned before, I am helping manage and implement an Apparel Industry Product Stewardship Demonstration Program on behalf of the King County (WA) Solid Waste Division, the City of Seattle, and Region 10 EPA. We are working with Northwest-based apparel retailers to identify product stewardship opportunities both in-house and in the context of their vendor relations. As part of this program I have been in touch with representatives from Eddie Bauer, which is based in Redmond, WA. They have a number of concerns which I am hoping to help them address, in part through the creative solutions I am hoping you can offer. Please feel free to pass this e-mail on to other parties who you believe might be of assistance. PALLETS Eddie Bauer intends to send a letter to vendors outlining their desire to minimize pallet waste. This could include using durable, multi-trip wooden pallets, using returnable plastic pallets, using slip sheets, utilizing third-party pallet systems, etc. Before sending this letter, we would like to assemble a healthy amount of current background information to make available to Eddie Bauer's suppliers along with the letter. Please let me know of any resources, vendor names, case studies, etc., that you feel are relevant to this request. RECYCLED-CONTENT PAPER AND PLASTIC BAGS Eddie Bauer is reviewing two of their primary retail bags in hopes of increasing recycled content. Both are paper bags, one has a V-bottom, the other is lunch-sack style with rope handles. They are currently made from up to 15 percent pre-consumer stock with water based inks. Higher recycled content, preferably post-consumer, would be ideal. The bags are largely cream colored, so bleached paper is likely not necessary. I am looking for information on: - paper vendors with a wide selection of recycled-content stock. - bag suppliers with a wide selection of recycled-content stock. - examples of bags you like with high recycled-content. - other information you believe relevant to Eddie Bauer's quest. They would also like to increase recycled content for their plastic poly bags. The current bags are 50 percent reprocessed material/resin, including up to 25 percent post-consumer resin. They currently use water-based inks on two bag sizes, thick 2.25 and thin 1.25. I am looking for the same information as for the paper bags above. Thanks in advance for your replies. Many of you have already been very helpful to Eddie Bauer with your past responses regarding fixture and shelving reuse. Phone: (206) 723-0528 E-mail: Fullcircle [A T] nwnexus [D O T] com ----------------------- Excerpted from message from Ted Smith, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, San Jose, California (forwarded by Lisa Sepanski): On April 28, over 100 people attended a day-long workshop on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Mountain View, California. It was sponsored by the Electronic Responsibility Initiatives Taskforce (ERIT) and co-sponsored by Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Materials for the Future, and the California Resource and Recovery Association. Experts from Europe, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Seattle joined local activists, electronics recyclers, electronics manufacturers, and local officials from throughout California to discuss how to develop an EPR agenda in California and throughout the U.S. We developed 8 principles of extended producer responsibility. Here they are: ERIT Principles of Extended Producer Responsibility - April 28, 2000 - Zero Waste Principle. Set a goal of zero waste of electronic products going to landfills or burning by 2006. - Polluter Pays Principle. Internalize "end-of-life" management cost into the costs of producing products. - Design for the Environment. Producers must accept environmental and health responsibilities proportional to technical innovation goals; and phase out persistent, bioaccumulative toxics from their products. - Infrastructure Development. Develop effective infrastructure for reuse, recovery, and recycling. Work with all stakeholders to develop and demonstrate best practices. Encourage investment in domestic re-use, recovery and recycling processing systems. - Ban Waste Trade. Prohibit shipping hazardous materials overseas that violate the Basel Convention. - Implement Improved Environmental, Health and Safety Practices. Develop improved worker health and safety and environmental protection standards for vendors throughout the product chain in the U.S., as well as in facilities overseas. - Close the Loop. Incorporate recovered materials into new products. Develop closed materials cycles. - Green Procurement. Develop "Green Procurement" strategies and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing programs within government and throughout the entire product chain. For more information, contact: -- Ted Smith, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, (408) 287-6707, tsmith ( A T ) svtc ( D O T ) org -- Sheila Davis, Materials for the Future, (415) 561-6530, sheiladavis (A T) materials4future (D O T) org -- Ann Schneider, California Resource and Recovery Assn., (650) 962-0404, schneiderann (AT) juno (DOT) com ----------------------- The next two postings are in response to the recent postings about laundry rooms (the 5/10/00 posting from Yen Chin proposing that apartment buildings should have common-area laundry rooms - rather than washers and dryers in each unit - and the subsequent postings in response). -------------------- >From Lieve Priano, Priano & Associates, Gresham, OR: I wrote to Yen separately, but I have to let you know what gets me about his piece. He obviously never lugged hampers of dirty laundry, detergent, and baskets of clean laundry plus one or two babies and/or toddlers to and from a common laundry room. I have in my young and poor days. I can afford my own washer and dryer now, and no way am I going back to a common laundry room. And it has nothing to do with status, but wasted time, frayed nerves, pink undershirts and frazzled kids. E-mail: Priano (AT) mindspring (DOT) com ------------------- >From John Jakupcak, City of West Hollywood, CA: Given the overwhelming support for in-unit washers and dryers, I would suggest that Yen Chin develop an ordinance that requires the use of energy efficient/water conserving washers and dryers in all new developments that supply them. The difference in energy and water consumption between various models is significant. Perhaps an incentive could be offered to developers who choose to supply efficient models. E-mail: Jjakupca [AT] ci [DOT] west-hollywood [DOT] ca [DOT] us - end -