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09 Feb 01 - junk mail; Toronto; water; job; body shops; bags; mercury; C & D; second-hand ban; IRS; pallets ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- Excerpted from e-mails from Gabi Horn, Columbia News Service, New York, NY: I am a reporter for Columbia News Service, a wire service affiliated with Columbia University in New York City (where I am a journalism grad student). Our articles have national angles, and go out on the New York Times wire for publication by any of 500 national clients interested in picking them up. I'm writing an article about consumer junk mail. To illustrate this story, I would like to talk to some "regular people" - not environmentalists, but people who just got fed up with junk mail and are trying to do something about it. Does anyone know people like that who might be interested in talking to me? If so, please send me their contact information. I need it as soon as possible, since my deadline is this Wednesday, Feb. 14. Thank you. E-mail: glh74 [A T] yahoo [D O T] com Phone: (917) 270-5684 -------------------- From Pete Pasterz, Office of Recycling and Waste Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, responding to the 2/2/01 posting of the press release from the City of Toronto, describing the city's goal of zero waste by 2010: Sorry to burst this bubble of excitement, but many of you may not know of the real plans Toronto has for Zero Waste - that is, Zero Waste deposited in Canada. It's ALL being exported to my home state of Michigan. E-mail: ppasterz [A T] pplant [D O T] msu [D O T] edu ------------------- From Mark Clayton, Right Choice Refreshments, Seattle, WA, responding to a 2/2/01 posting seeking ideas for promoting the use of water coolers or filtration systems as alternatives to companies giving bottles of water to their employees: All of the reasons cited for employees liking the smaller bottles are valid. So, my company installed a Reverse Osmosis drinking water system at a cost of around $1,800. Employees are given reusable bottles (with caps) from which to drink. This is the most economical approach, and provides all the benefits of bottled water. The message here is to emphasize to people to look for ways to reuse and not dispose. There is usually a solution. E-mail: MrSodaWon [ AT ] aol [ DOT ] com --------------------- Excerpted from job announcement from Blair Pollock, Orange Community Recycling, Orange County Solid Waste Management Department, Chapel Hill, NC: The Orange County (NC) Solid Waste Management Department is seeking an education/outreach coordinator and liaison to schools and the community for recycling and waste reduction. The salary range for this position is $31,478 - $38,262. Duties include: Perform school presentations: prepare news releases; develop and manage advertising campaigns; staff special events such as the Fiesta Del Pueblo, Apple Chill, and Hog Day; design brochures and newsletters; write columns; pursue grant funding sources. Requirements include: Any combination of education and experience equivalent to graduation from an accredited college or university with major course work in education, public relations, marketing, communications, environmental science, or a related field and at least two years administrative/management experience in solid waste management, hazardous waste, recycling, or a related area. Thorough knowledge of recycling and waste reduction issues. Closing date is Monday, February 26, 2001. The number for this job posting is # 2047-846. Apply To: Orange County Personnel Department, 208 South Cameron Street, Post Office Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC, 27278. Phone: (919) 732-8181, extension 2550. Fax: (919) 644-3009. Blair's e-mail: bpollock [AT] co [DOT] orange [DOT] nc [DOT] us --------------------- From Chris Wiley, Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Seattle, WA: I am trying to help a couple of technical assistance providers down in Oregon who are helping autobody repair shops with ways to implement sustainable work practices in their businesses. One of their dilemmas is "what to do with windshield glass and plastic bumpers." Currently, they are being sent to landfills. Does anyone have innovative ways to keep these wastes out of the landfill? Anyone know of recyclers willing to take these waste streams? Thanks for any help you can provide. E-mail: cwiley [ A T ] pprc [ D O T ] org Phone: (206) 352-2050 Note from Tom: If you have information on recycling options, reply directly to Chris. If you have reuse or reduction ideas, we can run them on the Forum. I have heard of one company in British Columbia that supposedly collects repairable plastic bumpers from body shops, and repairs and resells them. Maybe there are other options like that out there. --------------------- Excerpted from message from Bill Sheehan, GrassRoots Recycling Network, Athens, GA: The GrassRoots Recycling Network now has a page on grocery bag reuse, at: http://www.grrn.org/resources/bag_reuse.html The Sierra Club also now has a page on this subject, at: http://www.sierraclub.org/bags Bill's e-mail: zerowaste [A T] grrn [D O T] org --------------------- Excerpted from an article by James C. McKinley Jr. in the 2/7/01 New York Times (forwarded by Jeff Gaisford): NEW YORK STATE CONSIDERS MERCURY PRODUCT BAN Lawmakers from both major parties have introduced legislation in the New York State Assembly and State Senate that would ban thermometers, fluorescent lights and other products that contain mercury, in order to cut the amount of it entering sewers, landfills and incinerators. If it is passed and signed by the governor, the bill would give New York State one of the most stringent laws in the country regulating mercury, which is toxic, in products including dental fillings, light bulbs and industrial gauges, the bill's sponsors said. Mercury, a metallic chemical that is liquid at ordinary temperatures, has been linked to several cognitive and developmental ailments in the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, liver and lungs. It is especially damaging to young children and to fetuses. After mercury is vaporized in incinerators or dumped in sewage-treatment plants, it often gathers in bodies of water, where fish ingest it. People can be poisoned when they eat fish contaminated with mercury. The bill would require manufacturers of products that contain mercury to label them and to eliminate the use of mercury in such products beginning in 2004. It would also require manufacturers to build systems for collecting and recycling their products. Mercury is used in thermostats, gauges, some light bulbs, light switches, batteries for hearing aids and watches, and even some toys. The measure would also make it illegal for anyone to dispose of these products in landfills unless the mercury was removed. Perhaps the most pervasive use of mercury is in the amalgam of metals used in most dental fillings. The proposed legislation would require dentists to stop flushing old fillings down the drain, to keep track of the amalgam they use and to inform patients in writing when they put in fillings containing mercury. In the Senate, the bill is being sponsored by Senator Michael Balboni of Nassau County, a member of the Republican majority. The Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, has yet to take a position on the bill, but is considering supporting it, his aides said. The bill is given a fair chance of passage in the Assembly, where Democrats hold a 99-to-51 majority. The legislation is modeled on a law Vermont passed in 1998. Similar measures are being considered in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Oregon, Maryland, New Jersey, Nebraska and Connecticut. A host of environmental groups support the bills, which have met opposition from dentists and manufacturers of devices that contain mercury. Manufacturers of batteries, light bulbs and thermostats argue that some of the measures would be counterproductive. Banning fluorescent lights, for instance, which manufacturers say cannot be made without mercury, would mean using incandescent bulbs, which consume more electricity. Sponsors of the legislation acknowledge that it does not address the biggest source of mercury pollution. About 30 percent of the mercury that ends up in bodies of water comes from emissions from coal-burning power plants, according to a 1995 study. --------------------- Link to an article by Beth Daley in the 2/4/01 Boston Globe about a proposed Massachusetts state landfill ban on most construction and demolition (C&D) materials in 2003, and other state efforts to deal with C & D waste (forwarded by Steve Long): http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/035/metro/Waste_not+.shtml --------------------- Link to a 2/5/01 Associated Press article by Mark Pratt about the non-profit Building Materials Resource Center in Boston (first seen on the Reuse Development Organization's listserv): http://www.townonline.com/tol/news/05228336.htm --------------------- Link to an article by Russ Olivo in the 1/25/01 Woonsocket (RI) Call, about how the major of Woonsocket has proposed a moratorium on new second-hand shops in the city, saying that the city already has enough of those types of stores (forwarded by Steve Long): http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1321520&BRD=1712&PAG=461&dept_id=24361&rfi=8 Note: If a long address like this does not work as a link, it may be because it got bumped into two lines. In that case, try copying the whole address (both lines) and paste it into the address box on your Web browser. --------------------- Link to a request for comments related to possible changes in federal Internal Revenue Service regulations, which might affect how non-profit organizations can use the Internet (forwarded by Gary Liss): http://www.afj.org/news/irscommentreq_text.htm --------------------- Link to an article by Edward Engel in the 6/1/00 Warehousing Management (first seen in Jim DiPeso's Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center news bulletin): THE BENEFITS OF PLASTIC PALLETS http://www.manufacturing.net/articles/wm/2000/0601/article17.html Although this article is eight months old, it does have some very useful technical information on plastic pallets. - end -