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08 Apr 02 - internal policies; thrift shops; horses; McDonough; paper; computers; drugs; NYC ** 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 am looking for copies of "resource efficiency" policies adopted by businesses or governments (city, county, state). By "resource efficiency" I mean activities that address any of the following areas: In-house (in-facility) waste prevention, recycling, energy conservation, water conservation, pollution prevention, or environmental procurement. This is for a county government in Oregon that wants to adopt a policy to direct/guide departments to reduce environmental impacts and use of natural resources. Any assistance or ideas would be appreciated. Thank you. E-mail: ALLAWAY ( DOT ) David ( AT ) deq ( DOT ) state ( DOT ) or ( DOT ) us -------------------- From Katherine Murray, City of Austin Solid Waste Services, Austin, TX: The City of Austin is partnering up with the local Goodwill stores to look for ways to cut their disposal costs, reduce waste, increase purchases of environmentally preferable products, etc. We have not met with them yet, but in preparation does anyone have any good contacts or great web sites that deal specifically with waste reduction for second-hand stores, and any possible recycling or reuse opportunities for items that they are unable to sell? If you have any great ideas please contact me! Thanks in advance for any info! E-mail: Katherine (D O T) Murray (A T) ci (D O T) austin (D O T) tx (D O T) us Phone: (512) 974-9043 -------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: RURAL WASTE PREVENTION - REDUCING BEDDING WASTE FROM HORSE STALLS Rural waste prevention programs are pretty rare, so I thought I would share with everyone information on a cool new program here at King County. (I got all the info below from Karen May, the project manager.) Although King County, Washington, includes a major city (Seattle) and its suburbs, it's a huge county in area, and it also includes rural, agricultural areas. Horse waste is among the many issues that the King County Solid Waste Division deals with. It is estimated that about 290,000 tons of horse manure and bedding are generated every year in King County, from about 20,000 horses. To tackle this problem, the Division decided to offer discounts on rubber mats for horse stalls. By placing these mats under their bedding, horse owners reduce the amount of manure and bedding that they use and dispose of. The Division offered $10 discounts on these mats, which usually cost around $40. To receive a coupon for the discount, people needed to attend a free 15-minute training session on rubber mat installation. These sessions were offered all day long at the Small Farm Expo, which was held at the King County Fairgrounds in rural Enumclaw on Saturday, April 6. People could receive up to six of the coupons. The response was overwhelming! More than 500 people showed up, and all of the 1,000 coupons available were distributed. People will take these coupons to participating feed stores to get the discounts on the mats (which have recycled content). The stores will send the Division the coupons they receive, with a copy of the receipt, and the Division will reimburse the stores $10 for each coupon (the Division set aside $10,000 for this discount program). For more information on this project, contact Karen May at: karen ( D O T ) may ( A T ) metrokc ( D O T ) gov -------------------- From Bill Ewing, Maryland Food Bank, Baltimore, MD, responding to the Business Week article (posted on the Forum 4/4/02) about environmental designer William McDonough's methods for making manufacturing more sustainable: I think McDonough may be the most important person of this decade. E-mail: ewing ( AT ) mdfoodbank ( DOT ) org -------------------- From Brian Foran, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Waste Prevention & Market Development Division, Sacramento, CA, responding to the 4/4/02 posting about the New Yorker article describing how office workers use paper: For me, and I hope for lots of people, the "Calendar" and "Reminder" functions of Microsoft Outlook have been invaluable - and have further reduced my use of paper. Whereas I often misplaced the small pieces of paper that I used to write appointments and reminders on, I am now conveniently reminded of those appointments and reminders by my computer after entering the information into Outlook. Of course, I have to be working at my computer in order for the reminders to be effective, but by far my greatest need for reminder notes is at work, anyway. E-mail: bforan ( A T ) CIWMB ( D O T ) ca ( D O T ) gov --------------------- Excerpted from a message from Sego Jackson, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Everett, WA, and from a press release from the Basel Action Network, Seattle, WA: "Exporting Harm," a remarkable and disturbing new video documenting the end-of-life destinations of "recycled" electronic waste in China, has just been released. This video shows why it is essential that we reduce toxicity and establish producer responsibility as a management technique in the U.S. The 22-minute video was produced by the Basel Action Network (BAN), an international network of activists seeking to put an end to economically-motivated toxic waste export and dumping - particularly hazardous waste exports from rich industrialized countries to poorer, less-industrialized countries. BAN is making this video available for $55 (including shipping). To order a copy, go to the BAN website: http://www.ban.org Scroll down and click on "Make a Donation" under "To Receive the VHS Film Version of our Report." E-mail: sego [ DOT ] jackson [ AT ] co [ DOT ] snohomish [ DOT ] wa [ DOT ] us --------------------- Link to an article by Daniel Smith in the 4/7/02 Boston Globe about recovering unused AIDS drugs that would otherwise be thrown away (forwarded by Stephen Long): http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/097/city/A_new_kind_of_recycling_unused_AIDS_drugs+.shtml --------------------- Excerpted from a 4/6/02 article by Diane Cardwell in the New York Times (forwarded by Maggie Clarke): The New York City Council, in its formal response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's preliminary budget, plans to propose the creation of an authority to administer the city's recycling program as a way to keep the program but still trim the city's budget. Bloomberg has proposed suspending the recycling of glass, metal and plastic to save about $56 million in the next fiscal year until a more cost-effective method is developed. Under the Council's proposal, the Sanitation Department would still collect garbage, but the independent recycling authority, which would require state approval, would take over managing the city's entire recycling program. The authority would give grants and offer profit-sharing to encourage the creation, throughout the city, of recycling centers where residents and businesses could redeem recyclable containers. According to the Council plan, the Sanitation Department's waste prevention bureau would be merged into the authority. ------------------ From Maggie Clarke, New York City Waste Prevention Coalition, New York, NY, commenting on the above article: Looks like the New York City Council has understood one of our major problems over the years - the disinterest of the higher-ups at the Department of Sanitation for doing proper waste prevention, recycling and composting. E-mail: mclarke [ A T ] shiva [ D O T ] hunter [ D O T ] cuny [ D O T ] edu - end -