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05 Jun 02 - mercury; toxics; grocery bags; green advice; school cafeterias ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Link to the text of Connecticut's new law restricting the sale and use of various products containing mercury, from the state of Connecticut website: http://www.cga.state.ct.us/2002/act/Pa/2002PA-00090-R00HB-05539-PA.htm This law was signed on June 3 by Connecticut Governor John Rowland, and takes effect July 1, 2002. According to a 6/4/02 Associated Press article, the bill "phases out products with high mercury levels and bans sales of mercury thermometers without a doctor's prescription and novelty items that contain mercury, such as sneakers that light up." ------------------- Link to a copy of a full-page ad that ran in the 6/5/02 New York Times, from the Center for Children's Health and the Environment (CCHE), warning that toxic chemicals in the environment can cause learning disabilities: http://www.childenvironment.org Scroll down, and click on the ad to enlarge it. CCHE is an academic research and policy center, established in 1998 within the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. CCHE's mission is to promote the health of children by conducting environmental health and policy research. ------------------- From Theresa Travison, Baltimore, MD: I'm interested in starting a neighborhood campaign to have a local grocery store charge a nominal fee for bags. (I'm not associated with any organization or agency.) I have heard customers say that this would help them remember to bring back old grocery bags to the store, to reuse them. I have heard of stores in Europe that charge for bags. Does anyone know of any stores that charge for bags in the U.S.? Has anyone campaigned for this before? Where can I get facts about grocery store waste in general, and information about bag production in particular? Thanks in advance for your help. E-mail: tdncng (AT) yahoo (DOT) com -------------------- Link to an environmental advice column by Umbra Fisk, in the 6/4/02 Grist Magazine: http://www.gristmagazine.com/ask/ask060402.asp This column includes her answer to the question: At the grocery store, which is better - paper or plastic bags? She also makes the point that, "Recycling and trash reduction are lulling us into a haze of soporific self-satisfaction." -------------------- The next two items are in response to the 6/3/02 posting seeking information on school cafeteria packaging alternatives and reduction. --------------------- From Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Everett, WA: One aspect of school lunchroom packaging that I've been examining is individual milk containers, particularly in elementary schools. Following discussions with representatives from TetraPak (gabletop milk "boxes") and DuPont (milk pouches), and implementing a milk pouch pilot with Edmonds School District (22,000 students), I'm polishing a report that I originally prepared for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sustainability class. This report briefly examines and compares milk box recycling and composting (which has promising diversion possibilities, when combined with food waste), and milk pouches, which are a significant waste prevention measure (reducing lunchroom waste up to 70 percent and the overall school waste stream 10 to 30 percent, plus a reduction in resources used at the front end). I'd be happy to send this report by attachment to anyone who sends me an e-mail. E-mail: marcia ( DOT ) rutan ( AT ) co ( DOT ) snohomish ( DOT ) wa ( DOT ) us -------------------- From Sharon Aller, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA: It would be interesting to see an article on how school lunches are different from when we were kids. This is what I know: All meat is cooked off-site and not by districts. Too much liability for contamination. So that would be packaged, already cooked and brought in. Many schools have "pick and choose"; you pick your food ala carte, so there's packaging logic there. Lots of districts contract with restaurants and a different vendor brings the food in each day. You have McDonald's day, you have Domino's Pizza day, etc. More packaged food. Then there are the controversial vending machines. New schools no longer have kitchens - too expensive to build and maintain individual kitchens - so all food is prepared at a central off-site location and trucked in. More packaging. And no dishwashing facilities. I lived in a large school district once that didn't have any school lunch program at all. No packaging there, but everyone brought their packaged lunch. I really don't care how they do it as long as the kids get fed. The national school lunch program in the U.S. is responsible for feeding more children breakfast and lunch than any of us can imagine, and for many kids those are the only meals they get each day. E-mail: sharon ( D O T ) aller ( A T ) metrokc ( D O T ) gov - end -