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22 May 00 - cafeteria trays; Oregon order; meat vs. veggies ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- The first two postings are in response to the 5/18/00 query from Julie Rhodes about the environmental impact of polystyrene trays used in school cafeterias, versus reuse of plastic trays. -------------------- >From Karen Higgins, City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power: This is a recycling issue, but also source reduction related to polystyrene. The Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power is going to be testing a machine that shreds and melts polystyrene. You can process food utensils and computer packaging. Apparently neither the liquid that melts the polystyrene nor the resulting residue is hazardous. You mail back the residue (postage-paid) to the company and it's used it to make new polystyrene. The reduction factor is reported to be 8:1. We have tried to give away polystyrene for crafts projects and to mail houses, but we still have an abundance, especially since we are getting new computers. (There was contract language for the vendor to take back packaging, but somehow it was yanked at the last minute.) We compost a lot of our food waste and paper plates, waxed paper and waxed OCC (old corrugated containers), but the cost of paper products and cornstarch products is still higher than polystyrene. If the test is successful, we may recommend using polystyrene instead of paper products. The company is International Foam Solutions, Inc., 561/272-6900, or contact me in two months to see how the test went. E-mail: khiggi (AT) dwp (DOT) ci (DOT) la (DOT) ca (DOT) us -------------------- >From Sharon Aller, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA: I've been involved in the discussion of school reuse of trays and cups, vs polystyrene trays and cups. In my opinion, there are too many variables to have any kind of good answer. Even regionally there are variables. For example: the cost of operation of the facilities to wash trays (water, energy to heat the water and wash the trays, space), and the cost of labor to wash the trays - $4-5/hr in some areas, $10/hr in others - it varies around the country. Some places have their own wells (universities for example) and don't "pay" for water in the sense that municipalities do. Then there's replacement of trays. I did once visit a school in Mesa, Arizona, that was recycling their styro trays. Yuck! The district truck delivery person took them away to a recycling location where they were washed and baled and sold (a fair amount of water to do this, I might add). They were to come back in another life sandwiched between two layers of virgin styro. University of Arizona gave up trying to have all reusables because of their take-out eating. Too many trays, plates and silverware "walked" off campus intentionally and unintentionally (every department had its own set of dishes and utensils -never mind the dorms!). On top of all of that, the styro is so unbelievably cheap. And it's a petroleum byproduct, which, the makers will say, would otherwise be wasted. I don't think you can change to reusables for any kind of economic reason, so there's no point trying to create one. One would simply want to argue that it's better an as example for these kids to have solid reusable dishes the way they do at home. I imagine the teacher and her students possibly see the trays as a visible source of waste. But only 10 percent of foam is used in fast-food type uses, the rest is packaging. I would suggest looking at the food waste IN the trays and perhaps have a waste reduction program to end food waste. There are statistics about the amount of food a child in elementary school throws away each day (3.5 ounces). E-mail: sharon [ DOT ] aller [ AT ] metrokc [ DOT ] gov -------------------- >From Tim Honadel, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Portland, OR, following up on his 5/18/00 posting about the Executive Order that Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed last week, directing state government agencies to look at their operations from a sustainability perspective: A copy of the Executive Order can be found at: http://www.governor.state.or.us/governor/legal/execords/eo00-07.pdf (It's in PDF format, so you need Adobe Acrobat software to read it.) Contact me at honadel [ DOT ] tim [ AT ] deq [ DOT ] state [ DOT ] or [ DOT ] us or 503/229-5766 if you have any questions. Note from Tom: For more information on Oregon's Executive Order on sustainability, see these two articles that ran in the Portland Oregonian last week (first seen in Jim Schrock's "Delete This Newsletter"): - http://www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/05/lc_21green15.frame - http://www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/05/lc_51order18.frame ------------------ Excerpted from an article in the Spring 2000 newsletter for the Seattle chapter of EarthSave, a non-profit organization that promotes a plant-based diet (forwarded by Tom Watson): The reasons for choosing a vegetarian or vegan diet vary from one person to the next. The majority make the choice for health reasons. Others are compelled by their compassion for animals or for religious beliefs. Still others make the choice because of their desire to preserve the environment. When one learns of the environmental pollution and draining of natural resources that result from raising livestock, it is hard to reconcile a meat-based diet with environmental values. The statistics of waste and pollution associated with meat production are alarming, especially when compared to the far lesser impact of growing vegetables, grains, and legumes. These statistics include: - Production of excrement by the total U.S. human population: 12,000 pounds/second - Production of excrement by U.S. livestock: 250,000 pounds/second - Non-recycled waste produced annually by U.S. livestock in confinement operations: one billion tons - Water needed to produce one pound of wheat: 25 gallons - Water needed to produce one pound of meat: 2,500 gallons As Howard Lyman, president of EarthSave International, puts it, "To be an environmentalist who happens to eat meat is like being a philanthropist who doesn't happen to give money." (Note from Tom: I am not a vegetarian, but I came across this newsletter and I thought this was interesting. It did make me think.) - end -