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24 May 01 - reusable/disposable products query; college castoffs; business food waste ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Michelle Cole, a reporter who covers the environment and natural resources for The Oregonian, the daily newspaper in Portland, OR: I'm wondering if I've stumbled onto a new product category: "Reusable-Disposable." I visited a local grocery store yesterday and found not only Dixie's new "Stoneware" picnic plates (mentioned in the 5/21/01 Forum), but also "PotLux" oven-ready, "disposable-reusable" cookware by Reynolds and Ziploc plastic containers that are also marked "Reusable and Disposable!" on the package. I'm interested in knowing if others have made this observation, whether this apparent new category is a good thing (I suspect not, but don't know for sure) and why "disposable" continues to appeal to American consumers. If anyone has comments or observations on this trend, please e-mail me (include your phone number) today, or no later than 10 a.m. West Coast time on Friday. I'm planning to do a story on this subject for this weekend. Thanks, in advance, for any help you might be able to provide. E-mail: michellecole (A T) news (D O T) oregonian (D O T) com -------------------- From Lisa Heller, Dump & Run, Brookfield, MA, in response to recent postings about projects to collect reusable items from college students (especially when they leave at the end of the school year): Dump & Run, Inc. is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to servicing the university and college communities in waste prevention at the end of the school academic year. We help students and interested faculty and staff run reuse collection drives and subsequent "recycle sales." All sale proceeds go to charitable causes. Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada was our most recent sale. We grossed $5,200, and netted $4,800 after expenses. ALL of that went directly to benefit the Acadia Environmental Society, Wolfville Lions Club, Wolfville Children's Center, and the Canadian Diabetes Society. We collected 50 pounds of food for the local food bank (7 boxes) and donated leftover goods to the Canadian diabetes association. The best news of all: We had 99.9 percent diversion from the garbage. In other words, we filled a hockey rink with collected stuff and all that was left after the sale was 2 boxes of books and a box of electronics goods! Please visit our website at http://www.dumpandrun.org for more information and for a list of upcoming sales. E-mail: Lisakheller [ AT ] aol [ DOT ] com -------------------- Link to a briefing paper by WasteCap Wisconsin on how grocers, restaurants and food processors can deal with food waste: http://www.wastecapwi.org/foodwaste.pdf This paper is in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). It includes information on donating food to food banks, and reducing food waste. WasteCap Wisconsin is a nonprofit organization based in Milwaukee that provides waste reduction and recycling assistance to Wisconsin businesses. - end -