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24 Apr 02 - magazines; best practices; produce totes; horses; junk mail; vinyl; grants ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Dwight Mercer, waste diversion program, City of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and from several organization websites: SECOND GLANCE PROGRAM PROMOTES LITERACY, MAGAZINE REUSE Second Glance is a reuse and literacy project in Regina, Saskatchewan, that began in December, 2000. The primary intent is to make magazines available for people who can't afford to buy them, or who are not comfortable using public libraries. Regina residents are asked to put their gently-used magazines in a Second Glance bag, staple or tape it closed, and then place the bag in any City of Regina Big Blue Bin (paper recycling bins located around the city). Second Glance bags can be picked up at local malls, city offices and other locations. The Second Glance bags of magazines are pulled out of the recycling bins when the bins are emptied, and the collected magazines are redistributed throughout the city to various community organizations to promote literacy. To date, about 50,000 magazines have been collected. Many organizations have assisted with this project, including the Girl Guides of Canada (Regina Chapter), the Regina and District Food Bank, the City of Regina, SaskTel, Urban Forest Recycling and Saskatchewan's Action Plan for Children. The Girl Guides (the Canadian version of the Girl Scouts) have been very involved in a number of project events. Comments from Dwight: This innovative program promotes literacy in the inner city areas of Regina. In addition, it is an excellent avenue to introduce young women to the elements of waste minimization. The concept of Second Glance is very simple and easily exportable to any municipality with an interest in waste minimization and the promotion of literacy. Dwight's e-mail: DMERCER ( A T ) cityregina ( D O T ) com -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Michael McCabe, Enventure Ltd., Otley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom (forwarded by Lisa Heller): I am the Waste Awareness Campaign Manager for a non-profit environmental body called Enventure, based in the UK. I am currently putting together a best practice guide. Therefore, I would be very grateful if people could provide me with some information regarding, in your experience, what you consider to be best practices regarding the waste issue. I am contacting many people around the globe with the aim of making regular contact to share any information and ideas that can go some way in reducing the world's problem. Many thanks for your time. E-mail: michaelmccabe [A T] enventure [D O T] co [D O T] uk -------------------- From Jerry Powell, Resource Recycling magazine, Portland, OR: The Fibre Box Association estimates that returnable plastic containers have taken five percent of the produce market from corrugated containers, with most of the usage being from one firm - Wal-Mart - and much of the usage being for one product - sweet corn, where reusable plastic containers have 15 percent of the market. The study at 19 retailers was undertaken by the Walter Bishop consulting firm. As a result of the findings, the Corrugated Packaging Alliance has raised $2 million from box makers to launch a multi-year campaign promoting the use of corrugated shipping containers over reusable ones. E-mail: JPowell ( AT ) resource-recycling ( DOT ) com -------------------- The next two messages are in response to the 4/8/02 posting about the King County (WA) Solid Waste Division project to provide discounts on rubber mats for horse stalls, so horse owners can reduce the amount of bedding that they use and dispose of. -------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: I just want to make a correction on the item (which I wrote) about the rubber mats. It stated at one point that these mats help "reduce the amount of manure and bedding." Several people have pointed out that the mats would only reduce the amount of bedding used and disposed of, not the amount of manure. They're right, of course. Basically I just wrote it wrong. This wasn't something that was stated in the program publicity - it was just my mistake. E-mail: tom [ D O T ] watson [ A T ] metrokc [ D O T ] gov -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Susan Salterberg, Center for Energy & Environmental Education, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA: I live in a very rural area of Iowa and have a horse buddy who has trained and shown quarter horses and paint horses for more than 12 years. I thought I'd share the horse mat idea with him. Here's his response, in part: "I would say this was a MAJOR promotional coup by the manufacturers of rubber stall mats. The thing about rubber mats cutting down on the amount of bedding needed is a promotional gimmick used by all these manufacturers. In fact, the truth is that it can actually require use of MORE bedding. Here's why: In order for these mats to really work (stay in place under the horse), you need to lay cement and then put the mats on top of the cement. Well, when you lay cement, guess what? Now there is NO drainage. So, now the bedding has to absorb 100 percent of the urine. In dirt or lime stalls, some of the urine is absorbed into the ground. I have four stalls with rubber mats and six with lime bases and no mats. I absolutely use more bedding in the stalls with mats than those without. The only use for rubber mats is in a situation where you're wanting to stall horses on a cement surface. The mats are required for extra cushion on the cement. So, in summary, the mats MIGHT help reduce the amount of bedding used in a situation where a cement floor already exists. But it would NOT be significant." This is Susan again - I'd also be curious to know if anyone else has information on how well these mats work. Thanks. E-mail: ssalter (A T) netins (D O T) net -------------------- The next three messages are in response to the letter from a Chicago area resident, posted 4/19/02, expressing extreme frustration with junk mail. -------------------- From Karen Higgins, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Corporate Environmental Services, Los Angeles, CA: I commiserate with the Chicago resident. Another tip is to not have magazine subscriptions (check them out at the library) and to not join any organizations either. I rejoined the Sierra Club several months ago and asked them not to sell my name. They did not comply with this, and I have received dozens of mailings from other environmental organizations, with enough address labels to last for the rest of my life if I live to be 125. It's outrageous that the environmental organizations do this also and I am considering not rejoining because of this. I have written an e-mail about how to not receive grocery mailers/"Pennysaver"-type mailings. If anyone wants this information, they can e-mail me directly. E-mail: KHIGGI [A T] LADWP [D O T] com --------------------- From Polagaya Fine, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Everett, WA: I wanted to respond to the Chicago resident who is unable to cope with overflowing junk mail. It is possible to reduce the amount of junk mail. I've done it at home and I've done it in the office for our entire work group. All of your junk mail won't go away, but at least half will. Here are my tips (caveats at the end): 1. Contact the Direct Marketing Association. This will reduce the amount of mail you receive from their mailers. You need to send all versions of your name, preferably cut from mailing labels. If you receive advertising as "Susan Smith" and as "Susan J. Smith" and as "S. Smith" you need to send all those names in. You will not see a reduction in your mail for 3 to 6 months. 2. Call 1-888-567-8688 to opt out of the credit bureaus' lists. This one step cut my personal volume of junk mail by one-third. Results may vary but if you get a lot of credit card solicitations, this is very effective. 3. I use the self-addressed post-paid envelopes from advertisers. I just send the portion with my name and address with a note written across in Sharpie marker, "Please take my name off your list." Be sure and include the bar code section. That is often the mailer's identifier of where your name came from. If I have to pay postage, I don't mail back. 4. For catalogs, I usually send the request by fax. This seems to get the mailer's attention. I am not convinced mailed notes go anywhere but if you want to mail the request, be sure you address it correctly. I look carefully for the little note that says, "If you don't want to receive our catalog, do this" and then I do it. It does no good to send these requests to the order department if the order department doesn't talk to the mailroom. 5. I sent back every "Do Not Share Any" information request that came from banks and credit cards in the last year. Apparently, most people ignored these notices. If you missed yours, call your bank or credit card company and ask for one. 6. I bought a "REFUSED: RETURN TO SENDER" stamp. (Cost me all of $5.) You can refuse anything and the post office has to take it back. Only first class mail will be returned to the sender but I have noticed more and more ad mail is being sent "discounted" first class. (Not sure of the exact name but it is basically a bulk first class rate.) 7. It is definitely worthwhile to contact Val Pak and similar coupon mailers. It is hard to get to the right people: Val Pak took me four phone calls. But I had gotten nowhere requesting by mail that they stop sending me coupon packs. 8. Perseverance is the key. It takes a lot of energy up front but over time junk mail volumes will diminish. And now for the caveats: - None of this works overnight. You will not see results for a minimum of 3 months and the best results are at least 6 months away. - Not everything will disappear. In particular, if you buy from companies you almost cannot get off their lists. Even if you want garden catalogs only once a year, if they mail four times a year you will get four catalogs. It is all or nothing and once you purchase again, you are on their lists. Also, the ad insert stuff which is addressed by route and not particular address won't go away. - Which leads to my last caveat: If you continue to buy by mail, you will continue to get junk mail. Because of the lag time to clean up lists, you will be put onto lists faster than you can get off. We have a brochure available with suggestions and information to anyone who wants it. Good luck, Mr. or Ms. Chicago. E-mail: polagaya [ D O T ] fine [ A T ] co [ D O T ] snohomish [ D O T ] wa [ D O T ] us -------------------- From John Crisley, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), source reduction programs, Boston, MA: This year Massachusetts DEP developed a junk mail reduction kit for residents as one element of the department's source reduction strategy. The kit was developed by Ann McGovern, the DEP's coordinator for residential source reduction programs. Through our Municipal Recycling Grants Program, Massachusetts DEP will provide "Reduce Your Junk Mail" kits to cities and towns who qualify (all grants are awarded on a competitive basis). The kit contains a three-step guide for each resident/household on how to get their name removed from mailing lists, credit card offers, and catalogs. It also contains eight pre-addressed post cards (postage NOT included) to the regional marketing associations in the northeastern U.S. to have the sender's name suppressed from mass mailing lists. One of the eight postcards is a postage-paid response card that enables the resident/household to provide feedback to the DEP on the actions they took to reduce junk mail. DEP puts all responses received into a database. Overall, the responses by residents using the kit have been very positive. They really appreciate having a way to decrease junk mail sent to them. E-mail: john [ DOT ] crisley [ AT ] state [ DOT ] ma [ DOT ] us -------------------- Link to information about "Blue Vinyl," a new feature-length documentary film about polyvinyl chloride, or PVC (forwarded by Theresa Koppang): http://www.bluevinyl.org/bluevinyl_low/animation.htm This film has received positive reviews in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. The website includes this description: "Filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director Daniel Gold travel from Helfand's hometown to America's vinyl manufacturing capital and beyond in search of answers about the nature of PVC. Her parents' decision to 're-side' their house with this seemingly benign cure-all for many suburban homes turns into a toxic odyssey. The result is a humorous but sobering and uniquely personal exploration of the relationship between consumers and industry." "Blue Vinyl" will be shown on the HBO pay-cable network on Sunday, May 5th, with repeat screenings on HBO through May. It is also being shown at film festivals around the country this spring. For the schedule of these screenings, see: http://www.bluevinyl.org/bluevinyl_low/calendar.pdf ------------------- Link to information on the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Fellowship Program (forwarded from the Environmentally Preferable Products Procurement listserv by Burton Hamner): http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/fellowships.cfm This grant program offers an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to pursue their vision of an ecologically sustainable future through tangible projects to "green" their campuses and communities. The deadline is June 14, 2002, for applying for grants for 2002-2003. - end -