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30 Oct 00 - businesses; electronics; graffiti; General Motors; America Online; cell phones ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Sandy Grant, City of Santa Monica Task Force on the Environment, Santa Monica, CA: I would like to hear from people who have developed or are developing - or are even thinking about developing - a strategy for municipal governments to engage local businesses in waste prevention. I'd like to know what you have learned from your experience or your study of this. What works, what doesn't? I'm interested in anecdotes from your own experience, as well as references to more theoretical, academic treatments of this topic, including case studies. Thanks! Email: sgrant51 (A T) earthlink (D O T) net -------------------- From Tanya Schaefer, Recycling Advocates, Portland, OR: Recycling Advocates, a non-profit, citizen-based organization located in Portland, has issued a Request for Proposals for its Northwest Electronics Equipment Product Responsibility Project. The project will design and test stakeholder acceptability of a shared responsibility framework for electronics equipment product responsibility. Recycling Advocates wishes to hire a contractor to coordinate the project. Please call (503) 777-0909 for more information and/or to request a copy of the RFP. Proposals must be postmarked by Friday, November 10. E-mail: Tanyaschaefer (A T) aol (D O T) com -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Erv Sandlin, King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, Seattle, WA, responding to the 10/26/00 posting inquiring about non-toxic methods to remove graffiti: The TriVitro Corporation in Kent, WA, manufactures a crushed glass blasting abrasive made from recycled glass containers. I have seen it demonstrated for graffiti removal and know it to be quite effective. And as I recall, the company touts the product as environmentally sound for that application. TriVitro's website is at: http://www.trivitro.com Erv's e-mail: erv [DOT] sandlin [AT] metrokc [DOT] gov -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Barbara (Nichols) Zaccheo, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency WasteWise Program, Washington, DC: Here at the EPA's WasteWise program, we have recently been learning from Paul Ligon (e-mail: pligon [ A T ] tellus [ D O T ] org) and Tom Votta (e-mail: tvotta (AT) tellus (DOT) org) of the Tellus Institute about the implementation of the "Resource Management" concept at General Motors and numerous settings in Nebraska. Tellus and General Motors shared this at a meeting of WasteWise partners before last week's WasteWise 2000 awards presentation. EPA does not endorse GM or the Resource Management concept, but I thought others on this listserv may be interested in the information below that I found on GM's website: From the General Motors website: GM is proving that what's good for the environment can also be good for the bottom line with an innovative and ambitious program that reduces waste in manufacturing by 30 percent and will save as much as $15 million a year. For these efforts, GM has become the first automaker ever to receive the National Recycling Coalition's prestigious Fred Schmitt Award for Outstanding Corporate Leadership for a corporate-wide initiative. The innovative program, GM Resource Management, was recognized today by the National Recycling Coalition during its annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.... Resource Management, or RM, eliminates waste before it happens, and provides financial incentives to contractors to find innovative ways to eliminate the waste typically created during the manufacturing process. Rather than just paying a waste hauler to take the materials away from the loading dock, the Resource Management approach brings the RM supplier inside the plant to become a partner in searching for waste reduction and recycling opportunities wherever they might occur. The program was piloted at the GM engine plant in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1994. In partnership with the United Auto Workers union, the corporation began testing the RM contract system in five North American facilities in late 1997 and early 1998. The program's success has prompted facilities to be added each year, with 25 sites worldwide now participating. By the end of 2001, more than 75 U.S. facilities are expected to be involved, raising GM's recycling rate and saving up to $15 million a year.... Barbara's e-mail: Nichols ( DOT ) Barbaraa ( AT ) epamail ( DOT ) epa ( DOT ) gov ----------------------- Excerpted from a message from Bill Sheehan, Athens, GA, GrassRoots Recycling Network: AOL'S ESCALATING WASTE I was recently forwarded a photo of America Online's new promotional mailer: a CD in a black plastic case measuring 7.5 X 5.25 x 0.5 inches. These apparently are being mailed unsolicited by the millions. E-mail: bill_sheehan ( AT ) mindspring ( DOT ) com ---------------------- From the "Donate a Phone" program website (some of this information was first seen on the Reuse Development Organization's listserv), following up on previous postings about this program: RadioShack stores nationwide are collecting used wireless phones for the "Donate a Phone" program (also known as the "Call to Protect" program). The national Donate a Phone campaign collects wireless phones to benefit victims of domestic violence. In the hands of someone threatened by domestic violence, these phones are a lifeline, enabling them to call for assistance when faced with an emergency situation. RadioShack recently announced that it is extending this collection effort for wireless phones at its stores. The RadioShack collection will now continue through December 31, 2000. For more information on the Donate a Phone program, see the website at: http://www.donateaphone.com To find the location of the nearest RadioShack store where you can donate your used phone, see this website: http://www.radioshack.com/Locator/Locator.asp - end -