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22 Aug 02 - plastic bag tax; birthday parties; UN report; EPA; beer; wood ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- The first three postings are about a new environmental tax on plastic shopping bags in Ireland. -------------------- News item by Brian Lavery in the 8/21/02 New York Times (forwarded by Jeff Gaisford): TAX REDUCES USE OF PLASTIC BAGS IN IRELAND In Ireland, a tax on the free plastic bags given away in supermarkets has cut the number of bags in use by 90 percent since it was introduced at the beginning of March, according to the government's environment department. Shoppers must pay 15 cents per bag, and the $3.4 million paid since March is to be spent on environmental and waste-management projects. The tax is expected to result in a billion fewer bags in circulation this year. -------------------- Link to an 8/21/02 British Sky Broadcasting news article about the Ireland plastic bag tax: http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12093273,00.html -------------------- Link to an 8/20/02 news article by Julian Glover in the London newspaper The Guardian, about how the United Kingdom is considering an environmental tax on plastic shopping bags, similar to Ireland's: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,777732,00.html -------------------- The next three postings are in response to the 8/16/02 Wall Street Journal article excerpt, about how some parents are now throwing "giftless" birthday parties for their young children. -------------------- From Charlotte Becker, Association of Oregon Recyclers, Gresham, OR: I think giftless parties are a great idea. Let's have fun and forget about the loot. When I was in first grade - this was in 1955, I think - my mother gave a party for me at the school in the lunch room and invited my whole classroom. We had hats and those things that explode when you pull the ends. I didn't get gifts, and I remember being really happy that everyone came to my birthday. I think I still have some photos of it somewhere. In a small community where people didn't have a lot of money, parties with lots of gifts were the exception, rather than the rule. I also remember a party I went to for a friend, whose religion did not allow birthday celebrations. Instead, her mother sent out peanut-shaped invitations to her peanut party. We played peanut games, like rolling peanuts without using our hands and carrying them on spoons in our mouths, and I think we had ice cream. It was one of the best parties I can remember. So the idea of giving nothing is nothing new, it's just being recycled. It's important to note that television and advertising were very new then. Some people didn't own TVs where I lived. People trying to go gift-free now are bucking an entire industry that first began to emerge during the post-war baby boom following World War II. There are clues for how to successfully reduce consumption lurking in the 40s and 50s. For some of us, just remembering and using the tools from our childhoods may be an inspiration. E-mail: mail ( A T ) aorr ( D O T ) org -------------------- From Katie Atkins, Cascadia Consulting Group, Seattle, WA: One thing not mentioned in the article are the party favors that many parents provide for the children attending birthday parties. My niece and nephew bring home a coordinated-with-the-party-theme "goody" bag (plastic or paper) from each birthday party they attend, filled with cheap toys, "silly string," bubbles, candy, etc. Because other parents do it, my sister has felt pressure to provide these party favors for kids attending the birthday parties of her own children. This adds an extra $5-10 per kid (that's $40-80 for 8 guests)! I still have not figured out if this is a "thank you for coming/thank you for the present" kind of favor, or a "don't feel bad that it's not your birthday today too, here's a present" kind of favor. E-mail: katie [A T] cascadiaconsulting [D O T] com -------------------- From David Stitzhal, Full Circle Environmental, Seattle, WA: Even if you keep the gift-giving, you can dramatically minimize birthday party waste, save resources, minimize clean-up, and win karma points by not having junky gift bags for kids. Those plastic bags full of cheap toys and awful candy (am I remaining neutral here) are loved by the kids, but not much missed when they are not there. (At least compared to the absence of the gifts, which other kids beside the birthday kid like to see opened.) We substituted the dreaded goody-bag with clay flower pots, some soil, and a strawberry plant. Each kid planted their own, after decorating the pot with markers, and headed home with a plant. Yes, there was some waste involved, the ink in the markers, eventually the clay pot, etc. But it sure beat party blowers that break in the car on the kids' way home. E-mail: stitzhal [ AT ] fullcircleenvironmental [ DOT ] com -------------------- Link to an 8/14/02 Scripps Howard News Service article by Joan Lowy about a new United Nations report on environmental issues and challenges in North America: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/82539_pollute14.shtml According to the report, the U.S. and Canada have made strides in reducing pollution domestically, but their citizens' wealthy lifestyles have been achieved at the expense of the global environment. The report notes that the United States, with 5 percent of the world's population, emits 23 percent of the world's man-made carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas chiefly responsible for global warming. Per capita automobile gasoline consumption in the two countries was nine times the world average, while per capita consumption of wood, paper and other forest products was 4.4 times the global average. North America's overall "ecological footprint" - the amount that consumption exceeds the regenerative capacity of the Earth - was four times greater than the world average. The report's release comes just before a gathering of about 100 world leaders and others in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on Sustainable Development. The summit, which is focused on ways to reduce poverty and promote economic growth while protecting the environment, begins this Monday, Aug. 26. U.S. President George Bush is not planning to attend. --------------------- Link to information on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) project to assist up to ten local governments that wish to develop Environmental Management Systems (forwarded by David Flora): http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-GENERAL/2002/August/Day-21/g21291.htm While no direct financial assistance will be provided to participants, other assistance, in the form of training workshops, on-site visits, and electronic materials/consultation, would be provided. --------------------- From Renee Kimball, waste prevention advocate, Portland, OR: Portland Brewing has made a leap in waste reduction with a reusable "case carrier" AND acceptance of returned packaging (their bottles) - you even get an incentive to buy with a reduction in price on their product AND a free bottle. From Portland Brewing's E-Newsletter: "We've got a special offer for Portland Ale and Portland Lager. We are selling the "tree-free reusable beer box." Once you have purchased a beer box, for a mere $5, you are entitled to $15 cases of either the Portland Ale or Lager (regular price is $24). Just bring in your reusable beer box, empty bottles and all, and we will fill it with, not 24, but 25 bottles of the Portland Ale or Portland Lager." E-mail: rrrrenee ( A T ) aracnet ( D O T ) com --------------------- Link to the website for the Resource Conservation Alliance (RCA), Washington, DC: http://www.rca-info.org RCA's mission is to protect natural forests and other ecological systems through market- and commodity-based conservation strategies. These strategies include reduced consumption, increased recycling, redesign and resource diversification. RCA is a project of the Center for Study of Responsive Law, a non-profit Ralph Nader organization. RCA also maintains this separate website on reducing wood consumption and related issues: http://www.woodconsumption.org - end -