WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ARCHIVE   BACK TO ARCHIVE INDEX

05 Dec 00 - grinches; new products; average Americans; webcast ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Paul Devine, Olympic Environmental Resources, Seattle, WA: Grinches unite? I have had this conversation with a number of family members and friends over the years about buying presents for Christmas. I like Christmas as well as the next guy; the parties, seeing family and friends, etc., but every year I wonder aloud why we should continue to buy presents for each other? I have two small children and they love presents and five siblings who like to give my children presents on top of my wife's family who also give my kids (and me) presents. Each of my children gets probably 10-15 presents at Christmas. If my kids needed presents (which they don't) or I needed things, then some gifts would be fine, but we don't. When friends and family ask, "What can I get for your kids?" and I reply "Nothing" they are a bit taken aback. The material side of Christmas is so gluttonous. The gift of giving is alive and well... too well for me. I get called scrooge and grinch all the time, but don't mind. If you are a scrooge/grinch as well, you're not alone. E-mail: pauldevine (AT) msn (DOT) com -------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division and National Waste Prevention Coalition, Seattle, WA: PRODUCT ALERT Three interesting new products were advertised in the glossy "coupon section" in many Sunday newspapers on 12/3/00: SCHICK XTREME III RAZOR This is a new triple-blade razor, for both men and women, made by Warner-Lambert, a division of Pfizer. It's apparently designed to compete with the Gillette Mach 3 razor, which was introduced a year or two ago. But, unlike the Mach 3, the Schick Xtreme III is disposable. It comes in packs of four or eight razors. I'd say it's definitely the most high-end disposable razor ever introduced. I really find this product offensive, because they don't even have the guts to call it a disposable razor. Instead, they say, "No Hassles, No Blade Changes - Ever," and "No Assembly Required." That's a good one, since assembly isn't required for any razor that I've ever seen. Unless, or course, you consider putting in the blade (which is extremely easy with Gillette's Mach 3) to be "assembly." WET SWIFFER This is a new addition to the product line for the Swiffer, the Procter & Gamble dust mop with electrostatic disposable dust cloths, which has been discussed in the Forum before. Since the big revolutionary thing about the Swiffer was supposed to be the electrostatic cloths, it seems like a "Wet Swiffer" - which also uses disposable cloths (presumably not electrostatic, since they're wet) - might be just an unnecessary, wasteful alternative to traditional mops or sponge mops. ENVIRO-WARE These new plates and bowls, made by a company called Pulp Mold Packaging Global, Inc., are being touted as "Super-environmental." Claims for this product include: "Made from cultivated grasses, not trees," and "Biodegradable within 100 days." They are being sold as an alternative to paper or plastic disposable plates and bowls. I suppose that if they really worked, and if they could be put in a home compost bin, there might be a waste prevention advantage over paper or plastic disposable plates. But I still think durable plates and bowls are the way to go, in most if not all situations. E-mail: tom ( DOT ) watson ( AT ) metrokc ( DOT ) gov ------------------- Excerpted from an article in the January, 2001, Consumer Reports: A statistical snapshot of the American consumer, compiled from recent government and industry data, includes these tidbits of information: Advertising and TV - The average American is exposed to 247 commercial messages each day. - The TV is on for 7 hours and 29 minutes a day in the average household. - There are an average of 2.4 TVs in each household. - 60 percent of teenagers, 48 percent of schoolchildren and 24 percent of toddlers have a TV in their bedroom. Cars - 92 percent of households own autos or motorcycles; 60 percent have more than one. - The typical car is 9.4 years old and uses 548 gallons of gas a year. Shopping and spending - The typical American spends about three hours a week shopping in stores. - Americans' favorite activity on vacations is shopping. - Americans spend $23 billion yearly on their pets. People in need - 10 million U.S. households (10 percent) do not always have enough food to meet basic needs. - 2.3 million people, or 1 percent of the U.S. population, are likely to experience a spell of homelessness at least once during a year. Waste - Each American generates 4.46 pounds of municipal waste per day, 66 percent more than in 1960. -------------------- Excerpted from message from Carl Hursh, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Harrisburg, PA: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and GreenWorks.tv are sponsoring a live webcast of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's global climate change videoconference, "Why 'Waste' a Cool Planet," this Thursday, Dec. 7, from 1-3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This is a link to our newsletter article about it: http://www.dep.state.pa.us/update/default.asp?ID=643 Here is a link to GreenWorks.tv, where one can access the webcast: http://www.greenworks.tv Scroll down. You can also link to GreenWorks.tv from the EPA website for the videoconference: http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/actions/waste/sf-intro.html Thanks. E-mail: Hursh [ D O T ] Carl [ A T ] dep [ D O T ] state [ D O T ] pa [ D O T ] us - end -