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12 Aug 02 - NYC; junk mail; SUVs; plastic pots; design; terminology ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Steve Hammer, Hammer Environmental Consulting (HEC), New York City, NY: I'm pleased to announce the release of our newest report, entitled "Cutting New York's Trash Costs Through Pay-As-You-Throw." The report has been released in collaboration with the New York-based Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership. This report is very timely, discussing how New York City might reduce its $1 billion/year solid waste budget through the implementation of a program charging waste generators based on the amount of trash that they generate. Under this type of "pay-as-you-throw" (PAYT) program, households would actually have an incentive to reduce waste levels to save money. The current system, which funds waste collection and disposal service out of the property tax base, offers no such incentive. The report tries to present a balanced view of PAYT, and does not sugar-coat the fact that implementing PAYT in NYC would be a significant undertaking. Nonetheless, the report makes the point that now is the ideal time to begin talking about such issues, given that the Mayor's new waste disposal plan does not appear to cut the City's costs by any significant amount. During the next 1-2 years, the City also intends to revamp its curbside recycling program so plastic and glass recycling becomes more cost effective - the report discusses the role PAYT can play in achieving this goal. Copies of the press release, executive summary, and full report can be found at HEC's website at: http://www.wastesaver.com E-mail: shammer ( AT ) wastesaver ( DOT ) com -------------------- From Rob Van Orsow, City of Federal Way, Public Works Department, Federal Way, WA, responding to the 7/31/02 message suggesting that people use slightly different versions of their address when providing it for memberships, purchases, credit cards, etc., in order to track which companies are selling their name: Using different mail "handles" may backfire since, as the variations multiply, so do the junk mail offers from each variation of your name or address. We regularly get junk mail duplicates just because of the many creative variations used to spell our last name. Maybe I should just change my last name to "Resident" and start over. E-mail: RobV [A T] ci [D O T] federal-way [D O T] wa [D O T] us -------------------- Excerpted from an article by Alexandra Poolos in the 8/7/02 Wall Street Journal: LATEST ACQUIRED TASTE IN EUROPE: HULKING, FUEL-GUZZLING SUVs Never mind high gasoline prices and small parking spaces: Europeans are crazy for sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). Sales of SUVs are growing faster in Europe than sales of any other make of car. SUV sales were up 11 percent in Europe in the first six months of this year, while auto sales overall in Europe were down 5 percent. SUVs currently hold only about 4 percent of the car market in Europe, in contrast to their 24 percent in the U.S. But auto makers say they have only begun to tap the potential, and many auto makers customize SUVs for a European audience (making them a little sleeker, for example, so they will maneuver better on European roads). -------------------- Excerpted from an article by Damien Czech in the Summer 2002 edition of "Used News," the newsletter for BRING Recycling, Eugene, OR: PLASTIC PLANT POT RECOVERY BRING Recycling, a non-profit organization serving Lane County, Oregon, has been collecting plastic plant pots for reuse and recycling for more than a year and a half. Pots are collected at a county transfer station. In April 2002 alone, BRING took in 3.25 tons of plastic pots. Pots in good shape are sold at the BRING used building materials store, or donated locally. For example, BRING recently gave 5,000 pots to the City of Springfield, OR, for a restoration project. The pots will be used to start native plants, and the plants will then be transplanted along a waterway. Pots that cannot be reused are sent to a manufacturing company for recycling. BRING Recycling's e-mail: info [A T] bringrecycling [D O T] org -------------------- Link to the website for the Centre for Sustainable Design, Surrey, UK: http://www.cfsd.org.uk/ The Centre for Sustainable Design is a training, education and research center and information clearinghouse dealing with eco-product development and sustainable product design. The Centre, located at The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College, in the United Kingdom (UK), was established in 1995. ------------------- Link to an 8/9/02 Reuters News Service article by Matt Daily about some of the "eco-jargon" terminology, such as "sustainable development," which will be used at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg this month (forwarded by Kinley Deller): http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/08/08092002/reu_48096.asp - end -