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09 Jan 01 - kids' gifts; polystyrene; business case studies; hotels; greeting cards; tax filing ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- From Susan Salterberg, Center for Energy & Environmental Education, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA: HELP - KIDS AND COMMERCIALISM Some time ago I read a statistic that kids ask for (and the numbers here are estimates) around 4.3 gifts, on average, for Christmas, and get 12.3 gifts, on average. Have you seen any statistic like that? I'd like to find it again. Thanks for any help you can provide. E-mail: ssalter [ AT ] netins [ DOT ] net Phone: (319) 498-4516 --------------------- From Nancy Bond, resource conservation, Portland Public Schools, Portland, OR: The Polystyrene Recycling Company of America is no longer accepting polystyrene for recycling at its Corona, California, plant because they are "changing their marketing approach." This was a major processor on the West Coast and will affect many organizations that were collecting this material for recycling. One immediate impact of this is that Waste Management, which continues to collect source-separated polystyrene from the Portland Public Schools (PPS), is now landfilling the material. PPS generates approximately 60 tons of dirty polystyrene annually (lunch trays, bowls, cups). I am urgently looking for information on alternatives. I'm certain that other school districts have addressed this problem and am interested in their solutions. Thanks in advance for your help. E-mail: nbond (A T) pps (D O T) k12 (D O T) or (D O T) us Phone: (503) 916-2000, extension 4279 Note from Tom: Although this query deals primarily with recycling, I think there are some waste prevention implications, which is why we ran it on the Forum. (For example, cafeterias that are thinking of choosing polystyrene over durables partly because the polystyrene is recyclable will be interested in knowing that the recycling options are dwindling.) If you have a response that deals just with recycling, reply to Nancy directly, but if it covers waste prevention, sent it to me and we can also run it on the Forum. Thanks. -------------------- From Jeff Laufle, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle, WA: I've just learned of a report by the Center for Watershed and Community Health, at Portland (OR) State University, addressing how business waste reduction saves money and benefits the environment. At a glance, it looks fairly juicy. Go to http://www.upa.pdx.edu/CWCH Scroll down and click on "Just Plain Good Business: The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Sustainability as Exemplified by One Hundred Sixty Case Examples." There are other reports pertaining to waste reduction also on their list. E-mail: jeffrey [DOT] c [DOT] laufle [AT] usace [DOT] army [DOT] mil -------------------- Link to the website for the new Green Hotel Initiative, a project of CERES, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (first seen in the Green Business Letter): http://www.ceres.org/about/Programs/ghoverview.html Organizations participating in the Green Hotel Initiative include Swissotel, Eco-Logical Solutions, Green Seal, Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, Nike, Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Co-op America. -------------------- Excerpted from the website of the St. Jude's Ranch for Children, Boulder City, NV (forwarded from the GreenYes listserv by Bill Reed): In the St. Jude's Card Recycling Program, people from all over the world send us the fronts of their used greeting cards (Christmas cards or cards for any other occasion). Children at the ranch precision-cut the card fronts and glue them to pre-printed card stock. The children receive fifteen cents for each acceptable card they make, which is divided between their savings and college fund, their cottage fund for special group outings, and to provide the kids with extra pocket money. The children can make special orders for any occasion. Our most popular requests are for angel and teddy bear cards. Custom orders with special printing, etc., are also available. For prices, or for other information on purchasing greeting cards, call toll-free: (800) 492-3562 Please send your all-occasion used greeting cards to: St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude's Street, Boulder City, NV 89005-1618. For more information, see this web page: http://www.stjudesranch.org/cardprogram.htm ------------------- Excerpted from a 1/4/01 Associated Press article by Curt Anderson: The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is finally making electronic federal income tax filing truly paperless and projects that 42 million taxpayers will choose the "e-file" option this year, 20 percent more than last year's record high number. People who want to zap their returns to the IRS will select unique five-digit personal identification numbers instead of mailing in a separate paper signature form, which has been required in the past. Taxes owed can be paid electronically using many major credit cards or via direct debit from a bank account. In addition, the IRS is adding 23 forms than can now be filed electronically, meaning that almost every individual taxpayer can now use the e-file system. - end -