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26 Jul 01 - house burning; pest control; peanut butter; lawns story; consumption; fiber scrap ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Brian McVay, Portland, OR, area: I am looking for any quantifiable information, studies, or research about the true environmental costs to burning unwanted homes for fire department training - especially air pollution facts. I have lost too many homes/reusable materials in the Portland, OR, area to this type of disposal (seven in the past month). I would like the facts when speaking with potential deconstruction customers of the pros and cons of all of their options. Let me state for the record, I do agree with the fire departments' need to practice, but when they burn an entire household with the roofing, the insulation, the lead paint, the asbestos duct tape, the mercury-containing thermostats and the 2,000-square-feet of old-growth fir flooring, their practice becomes problematic. Thanks for your help. E-mail: bmcvay ( A T ) worldnet ( D O T ) att ( D O T ) net --------------------- Excerpted from an item in the ArcaMax e-mail health newsletter (forwarded by Carl Woestwin): A new method of chemical-free pest control uses heated air. In one of these heat treatment systems, ThermaPure, the infested area is wrapped and the air is heated to as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit. This eliminates termites, roaches, ants and other pests, and kills toxic mold, fungi and bacteria, according to Peter Varga, a manager of Precision Environmental, which manufactures the system. "There's no odor; in fact, it oxidizes the odor. It takes from six to eight hours instead of days, and it can be targeted and compartmentalized, which is wonderful for apartment buildings and condos," he said. The ThermaPure technology propels superheated air from propane heaters ducted to the home or building's interior, where temperature-monitoring probes relay data to a computer outside. Thermal blankets are used to cover and protect heat-sensitive items such as electronics components, medical equipment, computers, artwork, CDs and video cassettes. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say most bacteria will die when exposed to temperatures of 140 degrees F for one hour. For more information on this method, see the ThermaPure website at: http://www.thermapure.com/whatis.htm --------------------- From Julie Rhodes, Reuse Development Organization (ReDO), Indianapolis, IN, in response to the 7/18/01 posting of the news item, "Sliced peanut butter to hit U.S. stores": Lauren here in my office says that the Meijer and Marsh grocery chains here in Indy are already selling PJSquares (she thinks that's what they are called), which is sliced peanut butter AND jelly. The jelly side looks like a fruit roll-up -- Mmmmmmm. She says that it looks disgusting! E-mail: jlrhodes ( AT ) in ( DOT ) net -------------------- From Kerstin Krippner, Snohomish County Planning & Development Services, Everett, WA (forwarded by Marcia Rutan): Here's an office tip for reusing old binders. I just discovered that creamy peanut butter (Skippy) is really effective at removing the sticky residue from old binders. Often it's annoying to reuse binders because of stickers on the spine or front. I remembered that peanut butter is recommended to remove labels from jars and dishes. It works like a charm on binders too - making them look like new! Besides that, your office smells really good! The really sticky stuff may take some rubbing with your finger to get it off - the ground-up nuts act like "Comet." I got off some real old sticky stuff that way. I don't know if this is useful but I am so thrilled, I had to tell someone! Marcia's e-mail: Marcia ( D O T ) Rutan ( A T ) co ( D O T ) snohomish ( D O T ) wa ( D O T ) us ------------------- The next two postings are in response to the 7/18/01 posting of the "conversation between God and St. Francis" about suburban lawns (we had asked people to let us know who the author is, if anyone knew). ------------------- Excerpted from a message from Scarlet Tang, Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Seattle area: When I saw this (hilarious) story in May, it had been attributed to Sue Sullivan, of Urbandale, Iowa. E-mail: scarlet [ AT ] coopext [ DOT ] cahe [ DOT ] wsu [ DOT ] edu ------------------- Excerpted from a message from Luanne Coachman, King County Department of Natural Resources employee garden club, Seattle, WA: This piece is truly an urban legend! I started getting it almost 2 years ago, and it seems to go through cycles of alternate quiescence and resurgence. In the last 2 months, it's probably been sent to me 20 times! E-mail: Luanne ( D O T ) Coachman ( A T ) metrokc ( D O T ) gov --------------------- Link to a website with information on two resource consumption reduction projects offered by the Center for a New American Dream, Takoma Park, MD (forwarded by Marcia Rutan): http://www.newdream.org/turnthetide/ One program, "Turn the Tide," is designed to impact the decisions and actions that individuals take in their own daily lives. The other program, "Step by Step," is designed to impact the decisions and actions of a larger community, institution, government, or business. --------------------- Excerpted from a message from Jan Hygnstrom, Extension Project, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE (forwarded from a pollution prevention listserv by Polagaya Fine): We were contacted by a company, where rolls of vulcanized fiber are stamped into rectangular pieces for use as a guide in electrical circuits. The scrap from these rolls is currently thrown into the landfill. The fiber (paper) is made from a wood pulp or cotton base (old Levi's jeans for example) that is ground up. The layers are then run through a zinc chloride bath (serves as a bonding agent) where the different layers are bound together and it solidifies. The single layer is then washed in a series of water solutions with zinc chloride. It is then dried and sold as rolls. A sample of scraps was taken to a local recycling company to see if they could do anything with it. Unfortunately, they have no use for the paper. The supplier currently landfills 50,000 pounds annually because an alternative use hasn't been discovered. They have been working on possibilities for months, to no avail. They were thinking of using the scraps as decorative mulch. However a machine wasn't found that could chop the pieces into proper sizes. Fuel value was another idea that was brought to the table. Any other ideas where this paper may be used? If anyone has any ideas for reuse or recycling of this material, please contact Cybil at: clinke ( A T ) hotmail ( D O T ) com - end -