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04 Mar 02 - internal state programs; evaluation; Oregon grants; computers; purchasing ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Eric Friedman, Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, state sustainability program, Boston, MA: I am wondering if there are any concrete examples of successful internal waste prevention programs at state agencies, particularly those that can be implemented on a statewide scale. I am looking for the specific material and/or strategy, how it was implemented, the amount of waste reduction achieved and any cost reductions documented with the effort. With budgets the way they are right now, we're looking for any significant approaches to promote environmental protection while reducing costs. Thanks. E-mail: eric ( DOT ) friedman ( AT ) state ( DOT ) ma ( DOT ) us -------------------- From David Shackleton, Cullbridge Marketing and Communications, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: On behalf of Environment Canada, Cullbridge Marketing and Communications is reviewing best practices used by other national and regional agencies in evaluating the impacts of their environmental public outreach and education programs. We are particularly interested in reviewing programs that have successfully monitored over time, changes in public awareness, understanding, attitude, intention to act and/or action - both at the city level and at the regional or national level. To assist us in this work, we are asking a number of government and non-government representatives world-wide to help us identify and understand these best practices. If you have been associated with a program which was innovative or especially effective in measuring or monitoring its effectiveness, please contact us to set up a date and time that is convenient for us to telephone and interview you. The conversation should take no more than 40 minutes. As our way of appreciating your participation, we will send you a copy of the research findings. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (613) 832-2284, or e-mail me at shackleton (A T) cullbridge (D O T) com Alternatively, you can also contact our Project Manager, Wilma Bodnar, at Environment Canada, at (819) 953-1595 or wilma [ D O T ] bodnar [ A T ] ec [ D O T ] gc [ D O T ] ca I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for your time. --------------------- From David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Portland, OR: Oregon DEQ recently announced annual solid waste grant awards. This year, the focus areas of the grants were commercial waste prevention/reuse and natural gardening. Applications in the focus areas received additional points in the scoring process. Of the 17 grants awarded, 12 have a significant prevention/reuse element and demonstrate a lot of creativity and variety of approaches. Many of the grants also involve partnerships between local governments and local non-profit organizations. Grants include: - Benton County: $3,515 to increase collection of reusable furniture from Oregon State University students at the end of the school year. - Deschutes County: $32,243 for the purchase of a cold storage facility and staff time to expand a non-profit food rescue program. - Deschutes County: $7,790 for the development of a home composting demonstration site and related educational activities. - Douglas County: $30,000 for a local facility for reused building materials to support a new deconstruction enterprise. - Douglas County: $19,970 for a household hazardous waste prevention education project focusing on protecting water quality. - City of Eugene: $28,360 for materials handling equipment and education of contractors related to building deconstruction. - City of Gresham: $41,100 to support the "GREAT" Business program, which provides technical assistance to businesses in the areas of materials, energy, water, and stormwater. - Metro (Portland-area regional government): $18,000 for an education project and survey of fluorescent light purchasing (low mercury) and disposal (recycling) practices in commercial buildings. - City of Ontario: $15,190 to continue an edible onion recovery program in partnership with Oregon Food Bank and the Snake River Correctional Institution. The program calls for the collection and packaging of onions from packers in Ontario for distribution to the hungry. - City of Springfield: $5,000 for the installation of an on-site, in-vessel composting unit at a hospital. - City of Tillamook: $23,000 for expansion of a food rescue project as well as home composting bin distribution and education. - City of Wilsonville: $23,087 for the installation of two on-site, in-vessel composting units at a high school, and community education about natural gardening. For more information about any of these grant projects, please feel free to contact Judy Henderson, DEQ's Solid Waste Grants Manager, at: Henderson [D O T] judith [D O T] a [A T] deq [D O T] state [D O T] or [D O T] us --------------------- The next two postings are in response to the 2/27/02 posting seeking examples of non-profits or businesses that accept computer hardware donations, refurbish the equipment, reconfigure it into a working system, and make it available to the public. --------------------- From Jesse White, Resource Management Group, Sarasota, FL: Charlotte County (FL) has contracted with Resource Management Group, Inc. to develop a county-wide computer reuse and recycling program. We are working with Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida to reuse, refurbish, and recycle donated electronics. Some features of the program include commercial, fee-based collection, dedicated retail space for refurbished computers and TVs, and on-site staffing with technical expertise. We're working to develop a replicable model. E-mail: jwhite [A T] recyclesmart [D O T] com --------------------- From Woody Raine, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, recycling markets program, Austin, TX: The CNET.com website that is linked to below helps electronics consumers decide what to do with their electronic discards. Under "Donate It," the site provides links to several nonprofit organizations that provide another life to someone's discards. http://computers.cnet.com/techtrends/0-6014-8-8104840-1.html?tag=st.co.1016.anc.6014-8-8104840-1 E-mail: wraine [ AT ] tnrcc [ DOT ] state [ DOT ] tx [ DOT ] us --------------------- Link to the website for the new Sustainable Products Purchasers Coalition (forwarded by Burton Hamner): http://www.sppcoalition.org This coalition seeks to use aggregate purchasing power to accelerate the adoption by industry of LCA (life cycle assessment) tools. These tools address the current need for clear and concise product environmental performance data. The coalition is a consortium of businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations. Participants include the City of Portland, OR, and Austin Energy, the community-owned electric utility in Austin, TX. - end -