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26 Jul 00 - targeting churches; cloths for cleaning; lighting; easy opt-out ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- >From Blair Pollock, Chapel Hill Solid Waste Management Department, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, responding to the 7/19/00 posting seeking comments on the idea of targeting certain audiences with waste reduction education, such as church groups: Three years ago we did a mailing to all the churches in our county listed in the phone book and (one each) follow-up phone calls regarding the "earth stewardship"-as-religious-phenomenon approach to getting a foothold for recycling in the churches, both physically and in their religious school curricula and their church bulletins, etc. The response was underwhelming. There was little interest, but that may not be true everywhere or today or ?? E-mail: bpollock ( AT ) town ( DOT ) ci ( DOT ) chapel-hill ( DOT ) nc ( DOT ) us ------------------ The next two postings are in response to the 7/20/00 posting about the Scotch-Brite High Performance Cleaning Cloth, which is made by the 3M Corporation. ------------------ >From Brian Foran, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Sacramento, California: Yes, hats off to 3M for marketing a reusable cleaning cloth, much preferable to Procter & Gamble's "Swiffer." I hope that one of this Forum's many subscribers takes the time to write a letter or e-mail message to 3M thanking them for marketing a reusable product. I do agree, however, that the world doesn't need any specially-produced cleaning cloths, when an old T-shirt works just fine. And God knows that we all have plenty of used T-shirts. E-mail: bforan ( AT ) CIWMB ( DOT ) ca ( DOT ) gov ---------------- >From Polagaya Fine, Snohomish County Solid Waste Division, Everett, Washington: Comment on the washable cleaning cloths: Not sure if 3M is the only company making these. I bought a package. They work far better than an old shirt, which is made with sizing and fibers that resist picking up water, and a smooth fabric that won't pick up dirt (making the shirt great to wear and stay nice-looking, but the wrong product for cleaning). These cloths work by having lots and lots of little rough places to "catch" dirt. You can feel these as you run the cloth across your hand. It will catch in the ridges of your skin. Cloths can actually eliminate the need for chemicals to clean. They do a fine job cleaning windows and mirrors with just a spray of water, though they won't take off hard water deposits or scale. They also clean grease film from the stove with just a water spray. Heavy crud needs more. I find I tend to use them with a water spray first, then go to chemicals if there is still stuff left on whatever I am cleaning. Great for picking up spills, too, as they absorb a lot of liquid quickly. One additional note: Despite the ad, you cannot throw these in your washer and dryer. The little places on the cloth will fill up with fabric lint over time. Package instructions advise hand washing instead. E-mail: polagaya (DOT) fine (AT) co (DOT) snohomish (DOT) wa (DOT) us ------------------- >From Christine Byrch, Waste Management Unit, Christchurch City Council, Christchurch, New Zealand: I am looking for an example of a lighting contract for providing a lighting service to a large retailer, rather than a contract for lighting design, installation and maintenance. The contract would need to specify lighting of a certain standard, etc., etc. Thanks. E-mail: Chris [D O T] Byrch [A T] ccc [D O T] govt [D O T] nz ------------------ Submitted by Alexandra Scott, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, Washington (written up by Tom): A July, 2000, catalog from Quill Corp., a company based in Lincolnshire, IL, that sells discount office products to businesses and government offices, has a nice system for allowing people to get off their mailing list. Just above the mailing label is a little box that says "MODIFY" and has these check-off boxes: _ Change as shown _ Remove individual from list _ Remove company from list _ Individual left company The customer can check off one of those boxes, than send in this info and the mailing label to Quill, at a special address. Quill also provides a toll-free fax number, if the customer wants to send it to them that way. Kudos to Quill for making this so easy! - end -