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15 Mar 02 - product analysis; definitions; CDs; sawdust; thrift shops; reusable paper ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Solid Waste Policy and Program Development, Portland, OR: I know that New York City's waste prevention "Waste Le$$" web site has been featured on this list-serv in the past, but I recently found a related page of "Waste Prevention and Recycling Reports" prepared by and/or for NYC's Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling. I don't remember these being featured on this listserv. The reports are located at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dos/html/recywprpts.html One report that I was particularly impressed with is called "Life Span Costing Analysis Case Studies", prepared by SAIC. It provides very detailed cost-benefit analyses for ten "waste prevention" products. These products were selected because they represent alternatives to commonly used items in municipal government. These analyses are noteworthy for the level of detail (and the 300-plus footnotes). Actual results might vary in different locations, but the methodologies are worth looking at. Products analyzed are: reusable air filters (vs. disposables); rechargeable alkaline batteries; "long life" antifreeze; two-way billing envelopes; electric hand dryers and roll paper towels (vs. C-fold); synthetic motor oil; photocopiers; durable replacement slats for park benches; sorbents; toilet tissue. For those readers who work on waste prevention with businesses or other non-residential facilities (schools, government) you might find this report to be a valuable resource. E-mail: ALLAWAY ( DOT ) David ( AT ) deq ( DOT ) state ( DOT ) or ( DOT ) us -------------------- From Dan Knapp, Urban Ore, Inc., Berkeley, CA, responding to the 3/12/02 posting that gave definitions of different types of waste (quoting federal regulations), in response to a previous posting: Those definitions were written for waste maximization, not waste prevention. Discards are not wastes unless they are wasted. Wasting is a manufacturing process that takes unlike things and mixes them together, creating a dangerous and unwholesome mess that has to be buried. Waste companies do this very efficiently every day, and they expect to have all their costs paid plus a hefty profit. Discards that are collected in separate streams, like with like, may be reused, recycled, or composted. If they are fed back into the economic mainstream then they are resources, not wastes. They are never wastes, only discards. They are a discard supply, not a waste stream. So if you want to maximize wastes, define all discards as wastes and don't allow recyclers to compete for the discard supply. If you want to prevent waste, don't allow resources to be mixed, compacted, and made into a liability by waste manufacturing companies. E-mail: UrbanOr [ A T ] aol [ D O T ] com -------------------- The next two messages are in response to recent postings about reusing old CDs (compact disks) by hanging the CDs on farms or in gardens to keep birds away. -------------------- From Bill Reed, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA: I've found that some CDs work well for this, and others don't. CDs that work: The Stray Cats; soundtrack to "What's New Pussycat"; Everly Brothers, "Hey, Birddog." CDs that don't work: The Byrds; The Yardbirds; The Black Crowes; anything on the Bluebird label. E-mail: bill (DOT) reed (AT) metrokc (DOT) gov -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Leanne Meyer, The Creation Station, Lansing, MI: Another use for old CDs (such as America Online promotional CDs): If there is a teachers' reuse resource center close by, they would love them. The Creation Station in Michigan can't keep them in the store. We have a great fish mobile made out of them hanging in the store. E-mail: lmeyer2 [ AT ] voyager [ DOT ] net -------------------- From Leanne Meyer, The Creation Station, Lansing, MI, responding to recent postings about uses for sanding dust from a furniture manufacturer: Sawdust use: If there is no plywood or walnut in the dust, horse stables can use it for bedding. Walnut causes horses to founder if ingested, and the glue in plywood could cause the same problems, or just plain make them sick. They can ingest it very easily by eating off the stall floor. For big animals, they have very delicate, simple stomachs. E-mail: lmeyer2 [AT] voyager [DOT] net -------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: I recently learned about an online resource for finding local thrift shops. It's called Digital City, which is run by America Online. Mostly these are listings of stores that sell new stuff, but it does include comprehensive listings of thrift stores for most U.S. cities (even small cities). It also has a feature where anyone can post reviews of the thrift stores (so far, only a few reviews have been posted). There are also a few picks and reviews by the website staff, and some links to store websites. This website isn't perfect (there are technical glitches, and some out-of-date listings). But, it could be a very useful resource for people who want to buy used clothes and other items, rather than new. Here's how you can use this website to find the listings for thrift stores. Go to: http://www.digitalcity.com/shopping Click on your city. If it's not listed, click on "See a complete listing of cities by state." Then you can pick your state and find the smaller cities. After you've clicked on a city, click on "Select a Category" under "Find a Local Store." Then scroll down and click on "Outlets, Discount & Thrift" and click on "Go." Then, under "Store Directory," click on "Thrift Shops." E-mail: tom [D O T] watson [A T] metrokc [D O T] gov --------------------- Link to a description of a potential new product, electronic reusable paper, from the Xerox Corp. website (first seen in the Waste Reduction Tips newsletter): http://www.parc.xerox.com/dhl/projects/gyricon A sheet of electronic reusable paper could be reused thousands of times. It could potentially be used for retail signs, various other displays, and digital books. - end -