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10 May 01 - college reuse; polystyrene; paperless billing; getting rid of lawns ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Jesse White, Resource Management Group, Tallevast, FL: We're working with the University of South Florida and the Recycling Task Force of Hillsborough County, FL, to develop an electronic exchange for students to buy, sell or trade their stuff instead of disposing of reusable materials. We've just completed a Beta version of the web site. I'd like to invite members of the Waste Prevention Forum to visit the site, and send us your comments so we can make it as effective as possible. The website is called DormOutfitter and the address is: http://www.dormoutfitter.com/ The start-up funding for the project comes from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. E-mail: jwhite [ A T ] recyclesmart [ D O T ] com ------------------- From Nicole Schellenberg Stewart, Washington County Public Health & Environment, Stillwater, MN: Washington County has implemented a waste reduction program in its offices, and I have received some interesting feedback from our Parks Department regarding the Styrofoam cups they use in their concession stand. I am working with them on alternatives. Below is the e-mail I received from our Parks Department, who had received information from their supply rep. Has anyone heard this "argument" in favor of polystyrene? I would rather encourage other alternatives such as biodegradable products. If anyone has any information on alternatives, that would be very helpful. From our Parks Department: "....I heard back from our cup rep and he had some interesting comments. His feeling is that Styrofoam cups are the cheapest and most environmentally safe cups to use. To biodegrade, paper or biodegradable cups need oxygen, sunlight and moisture and they don't get that in a landfill. If they are burned, Styrofoam burns cleaner (if it is black and smoky, it is not burning hot enough, but the chemicals released are less than paper or plastic). He also said it takes 16 times more energy to produce paper or plastic than Styrofoam. He is checking to see if the Styrofoam cup manufacturer (Dart) still runs a recycling program for their cups. Also, he was going to send some info over on how Styrofoam compares to plastic and paper in regards to cost to produce, cost to use and cost to dispose/recycle. His feeling is that we need to educate the public on why Styrofoam is a good choice." Any information people can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. E-mail: nicole [DOT] stewart [AT] co [DOT] washington [DOT] mn [DOT] us -------------------- The next two postings are in response to the 5/4/01 posting describing a magazine ad for AT&T's new "paperless billing" service, which points out that this online billing service "saves time, checks, and the occasional deciduous tree." -------------------- From Blair Pollock, Chapel Hill Solid Waste Management Department, Chapel Hill, NC: Wouldn't it be more likely to save a pine tree? E-mail: bpollock [AT] co [DOT] orange [DOT] nc [DOT] us ------------------- From Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Everett, WA: Below is a testimonial for paperless bills and payments from a colleague here at Snohomish County: Marcia - In the past two weeks, I've gone to paperless bills for our Texaco, Chevron, Verizon, and two Puget Sound Energy accounts - that's five fewer paper bills each month. I've done online banking for about two years, but now we get electronic statements and pay with a click of the mouse. I love it!!!!! I can't wait for more companies to send electronic statements. If anyone is ever looking for a real person to give testimony about the ease of online banking and electronic statements, you can refer them to me. - Suzi Wong Swint Marcia's e-mail: marcia [ DOT ] rutan [ AT ] co [ DOT ] snohomish [ DOT ] wa [ DOT ] us ------------------- Excerpted from a 5/5/01 article by Timothy Egan on the front page of the New York Times: ANTI-LAWN MOVEMENT PICKS UP STEAM Prompted by water restrictions and fed up with the demands of keeping a rectangle in crew-cut, perpetual green, some homeowners around the country are giving up on the traditional lawn. Though landscape architects have sneered at lawns for years, and many people in arid areas long ago threw in the sprinkler, the movement is clearly taking on momentum - no easy feat in a country that still has enough domestic sod to cover the state of Pennsylvania. Many cities and towns are now encouraging people to lose the Kentucky bluegrass, offering cash rebates to people who replace their lawns with rock gardens, perennial beds, a tangle of ivy, cactuses or other kinds of less water-gluttonous plantings. Researchers at the National Gardening Association, a nonprofit group, say as much as 10 percent of all yards may be dominated by something other than grass. People are returning long-banished native plants to their yards - not only cactuses and yuccas in the arid West, but also buffalo grass on the high plains and live oak and buttonwood in Florida, where a drought is in its fourth year. In Atlanta, where home lawn demands have drained water resources in a city struggling with drought, more than 900 people in the last few years have ripped up their lawns and replaced them with backyard wildlife patches certified by the National Wildlife Federation. And in Sharon, Mass., a city of 17,000 that is dependent on water from six wells for its dwindling water supply, officials are trying to encourage people to reduce their dependence on turf. In the garden-crazed city of Seattle, a drought may force water restrictions this summer. Seattle Tilth, an organic gardening society, offers a class on how to rip up the yard. Former green-grass enthusiasts gather like addicts in a 12-step program to share advice on how to be lawn-free. American lawn lineage goes back to England, where the wet climate and temperate weather are ideal for growing grasses. In the United States, home lawn obsession has generally been traced to envy over the carpets of green laid in parks and planned communities designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the premier American landscape architect of the 19th century. But much of the turf grass grown in the United States is not native, and requires a lot of water, chemical herbicide and fertilizer to keep up its appearance. The average lawn will use up to 10,000 gallons of water over a summer, according to city water departments. And the National Wildlife Federation says the average suburban lawn takes in 10 times the pesticides as an acre of farmland. Companies dedicated to growing, fertilizing and mowing grass are not taking this nascent antilawn movement lying down. "The lawn is starting to get a bad rap," said Kerry Bierman, a spokesman for Scotts Company, the world's largest seller of lawn and garden products. "But I don't think you have to apologize for a good-looking yard. The lawn is a friend." Grass takes heat out of cities, releases oxygen, and provides a holding buffer for water that otherwise might run into sewers, Mr. Bierman said. "It may be a feel-good thing to get rid of your lawn, but it doesn't always save water," he said. Mr. Bierman could be in for a prolonged battle. High-end gardening magazines have been running detailed features on how to grow an environmentally correct patch of the original American prairie, or return moss to a shaded area. Moss and prairie grass, of course, have long been the nemesis of the perfect lawn movement. Many cities, reluctant to build new irrigation systems or mine deep aquifers for new water, are simply trying to get people to change their gardening aesthetics. In Glendale, Ariz., for example, homeowners can receive a $100 rebate for converting 50 percent or more of their grass to lower-water-use shrubs or plants. In Southern California, where the lawn has been under assault for some time, the Metropolitan Water District, which serves 17 million households and uses up to half its water on home irrigation, is studying similar cash-for-grass programs. In Denver, the term "xeriscape" was coined to promote a seven-step program to get people to use plants that conserve water. The word, based on the Greek word for "dry," has now been evoked in numerous ordinances around the country. City officials say about 25 percent of all homeowners served by the Denver water department have converted some or all of their lawns into yards more adaptive to the arid, high-elevation climate near the Rocky Mountain Front Range. Federal officials are looking to see how much water can be saved by replacing grass with other species. Preliminary results, from Las Vegas, showed that a city could save 40 percent of its water by taking the new landscaping approach. In some communities, the desire to save water runs into strict covenants that require homeowners to keep green, perfectly mowed grass of a certain species. Sara Romeo, a state legislator from Tampa, lives in a private community in a part of Florida that is under tight water restrictions, making it impossible to water her lawn more than one day a week. But Ms. Romeo has been cited by the homeowners association for not keeping her grass - the water-consuming St. Augustine species - in the green. As a result, she has introduced a bill in the Florida Legislature - which is given a good chance of passing - to allow people in deed-restricted communities to grow something other than St. Augustine grass. "It's crazy," Ms. Romeo said. "We live in a state with a terrible drought, and half the water is going to landscaping." Others share her frustration. "We created the lawn industrial complex, giving half our drinking water over to keeping the grass green at all times," said Jim Knopf, a Colorado landscape designer and author of two books on new-style yards. "But a lot of people are now looking for alternatives, and once you convince them they can have something that looks good, doesn't cost as much and requires less work, they will abandon the old-style lawn." - end -