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14 Nov 01 - paper; junk mail; Texas; medical devices; product stewardship ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Ecological guide to paper from Celery Design Collaborative in Berkeley, CA (first seen in the WasteCap Wisconsin E-mail Bulletin): http://www.celerydesign.com/paper/matrix.html This guide, aimed at graphics professionals, includes papers that are not bleached with chlorine (toxics reduction), have post-consumer recycled content, or are made from tree-free fiber. -------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: A Forum subscriber who heard that King County won an award for our junk mail reduction projects asked me to run an item in the Forum about these projects. So, here goes: The award was from the Solid Waste Association of North America - a Bronze Award for public education for our junk mail reduction campaign. This educational campaign has two main components: 1) Residential junk mail reduction. We publish a small kit, with detachable postcards, telling people how to get off mailing lists. We have revised it several times, and have distributed more than 30,000 copies. This information is also on-line, in a slightly different format, at: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/resrecy/wasteprevention/junkmail.shtml 2) Business junk mail reduction. These resources, which are on-line only, are provided through the National Waste Prevention Coalition. The Coalition (which also sponsors this listserv) is funded and coordinated through King County. However, Coalition participants from around the nation have contributed to the Reduce Business Junk Mail website. This is the most extensive - if not the only - package of resources to help businesses and agencies reduce the amount of unwanted mail they receive. The website is at: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/nwpc/bizjunkmail.htm Please let me know if you have any questions about these projects (note that I will be out of the office on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 15-16). Thanks! E-mail: tom (DOT) watson (AT) metrokc (DOT) gov -------------------- Excerpted from an article in the October/November, 2001, "Market News" newsletter from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission's Recycling Market Development Program (newsletter forwarded by Woody Raine): TEXAS WASTE GENERATION STATISTICS RELEASED In 2000, Texas landfills disposed of a record 28.6 million tons, equal to 7.52 pounds per person per day, also a record. While the total amount of waste disposed in Texas landfills was stable through the mid-90s despite growing economy and population, total quantities disposed continued to climb for the third straight year in 2000. Accounting for increases in the state's population, per capita disposal declined from 1992 to 1997 but then reversed this trend starting in 1998. In 2000, for the third straight year, the average amount of waste disposed per Texan grew. Per capita disposal had been as low as 6.23 pounds per person per day in 1997. While the disposal of several types of waste declined on a per capita basis from 1999 to 2000, commercial waste grew more than ever. The per capita quantities disposed of residential waste, construction and demolition debris, sludge, and brush decreased from 1999 to 2000, reversing a three-year trend. The amount of commercial waste disposed per capita grew for the third year straight, this time with its greatest one-year increase. Remaining capacity of Texas landfills is 31.6 years, a slight decline from the record capacity in 1999 of 33.5 years. ---------------------- Link to recent articles about concerns in Great Britain and Canada over the reuse of medical devices intended for single-use: - 11/13/01 Reuters news service article by Linda Davidson - "UK Hospitals Re-Use Single-Use Surgical Tools": http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011113/hl/tools_1.html - 8/22/01 CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) news service article - "Hospitals Reuse Disposable Devices: Survey": http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/08/22/hosp_recycle010822 ---------------------- Link to the new website for the Northwest Product Stewardship Council (forwarded by Lisa Sepanski): http://www.productstewardship.net/ - end -