WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ARCHIVE   BACK TO ARCHIVE INDEX

13 Dec 02 - holidays; salvage; paper; Capital One; Office Depot ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Link to two resources from the state of California on holiday waste reduction (first seen on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency WasteWise listserv): - California Integrated Waste Management Board: Deck the Halls with Less Waste This Year. http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/PublicEd/Holidays - California Department of Conservation Green Holiday Guide, published November, 2002. http://www.consrv.ca.gov/DOR/GreenHolidayGuide02.pdf This is primarily a shopping guide for products made from recycled materials, but it also includes waste prevention tips, mostly on pages 23 and 24 in the electronic version. -------------------- From Barbara Frierson, City of Fremont Environmental Services, Fremont, CA: I am seeking information or contacts regarding the planned demolition of a large (4 stories and basement, total 111,800 square feet) municipal building here in Fremont. The building was constructed of concrete in the late 1960's, but because of its unfortunate siting in close proximity to an earthquake fault it is already being abandoned. The last tenants will be moving out this month, and the building is scheduled for demolition in early fall of 2003. The project managers are willing to include salvage, reuse and recycling of the building's contents and furnishings prior to demolition, but are on a very limited budget and a tight timeframe. Our Environmental Services staff walked through the building yesterday, and think there are a number of items that may be reusable or salvageable. These include lots of metal railings and pipes, electrical and communication wire, fluorescent bulbs & ballasts, generators, boilers, carpet, wood doors, plate glass, window shades, kitchens, tile flooring, bathrooms, metal cabinets, theater seats, window blinds, fire hose wall boxes, outdoor brick paving and more. City departments will have first dibs on any furnishings they can reuse. Second priority for the project managers is selling items that might provide revenue to the City. We've been asked to put together a proposal for accomplishing the salvage operation for any remaining "treasures." If any of you have done a similar operation, or have resources I can contact for advice/assistance, I would very much appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible. Resources might include: - Non-profits that take building materials to Mexico (for example, for doors that are not compliant with U.S. regulations). - Consultants/contractors who might be able to manage the whole salvage operation for the City. - Artists looking for material to incorporate into recycled art projects. - Case studies from other large salvage operations. Thank you! E-mail: bfrierson [AT] ci [DOT] fremont [DOT] ca [DOT] us Phone: (510) 494-4672 -------------------- The next three postings are in response to the 12/11/02 query about acid content and bleaching of office paper. -------------------- From Susan Kinsella, Conservatree, San Francisco, CA (forwarded by Brian Foran): Acid-free has nothing to do with bleaching. They are two separate processes. "Acid-free" refers to the pulping process used in preparing the fiber. A couple of decades ago, most North American mills used an acid-based pulping process which caused even high quality paper to deteriorate in about 50 years. Now many mills have switched to an alkaline-based process, or "acid-free," which is expected to assure far longer-lasting paper life. There are still quite a few acid-based pulping mills, however. The bleaching step is a separate issue from the pulping process. Virtually all mills in the U.S. and Canada now bleach with a chlorine derivative, chlorine dioxide, a process referred to as "elemental chlorine free" (ECF). EPA rules of a few years ago required all mills to discontinue using their previous favorite, elemental chlorine gas, and almost all have now switched. Only a handful of mills in the U.S. and Canada, however, are bleaching with no chlorine or chlorine derivatives at all, and almost all of them are recycling mills (and therefore "process chlorine free," or PCF). Those bleach with oxygen, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide. E-mail: paper ( A T ) conservatree ( D O T ) com -------------------- From Larry Warnberg, oyster farmer, Nahcotta, WA: Having some experience in papermaking, I can relay a few facts. Bleaching is unrelated to acidity. Plant fibers are cooked into pulp using either a strong acid or alkaline solution. The stink from pulp mills is from sulfuric acid. The acid process is quicker/cheaper. Alkaline processed pulp is typically done small-scale, and for specialty papers such as art paper and photo mounting. Sometimes it is called archival paper, since alkaline processed paper can last 500 years or more. Acid paper tends to turn yellow and brittle with age. Newspapers are the cheapest grade of acid paper. For higher quality acid paper, an alkaline buffering additive is used to neutralize the pH. Bleaching is done at the final pulp stage before sheets are formed, and has nothing to do with pH. Hope this helps. E-mail: warnberg (AT) pacifier (DOT) com -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Dave Kunz, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Portland, OR: I did some research years ago as rules were implemented addressing water quality issues at paper mills in Oregon. It's confusing, but I think more information can be had on what process the majority of mills are using today from either the Chlorine Free Products Association or the Alliance for Environmental Technology. Pollution prevention is interested in recycled, non-secondarily chlorine bleached paper. This is process chlorine free paper, or PCF. So-called elemental chlorine free (ECF) bleached paper is what most of the Oregon pulp mills make. These mills use chloride dioxide for the bleaching, instead of chlorine. Organochlorine byproducts are still discharged to Oregon rivers from this type of paper production. However, organochloride byproducts are NOT discharged from the production of PCF paper. Hence the pollution prevention benefit from the use of PCF paper. There are two chlorine free certifications, that can be done independently or by a mill. They are PCF and TCF (total chlorine free). Both certifications do NOT include elemental chlorine gas-free. PCF is process free chlorine, guaranteeing chlorine chemistry has NOT been used for the virgin content or the re-bleached post-consumer fiber. It also assures that at least 30 percent of the paper has post-consumer recycled content, it uses no old growth, and employs sustainable forestry practices. TCF guarantees that chlorine chemistry has NOT been used, without the recycled content assurance. E-mail: KUNZ [ D O T ] David [ A T ] deq [ D O T ] state [ D O T ] or [ D O T ] us -------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition, following up on the 12/11/02 posting about the U.S. Postal Service proposal to give the Capital One company a special discount if it sends more than 1.225 billion pieces of mail a year: Here is an excerpt from a comment I submitted on 12/12/02 to the Postal Rate Commission regarding this proposal: "This agreement is a bad precedent, and has the potential to create a huge amount of additional unwanted mail. Local governments and taxpayers must pay the costs to recycle or dispose of unwanted mail. Capital One has not taken responsibility for those costs (for its current mailings of millions of credit card solicitations), and now the Postal Service proposes to give Capital One incentives to send even more unwanted mail. I hope the Postal Rate Commission will take into consideration these indirect effects of this proposed agreement, and vote against this proposal." I would encourage others to submit comments to the Postal Rate Commission about this proposal. To see official documents related to the proposal, see the commission's website at: http://www.prc.gov Click on "Search." Under "Docket No.," click on MC2002-2 (the docket number for this case). To submit a comment, go back to the commission's home page and on the left, click on "Contact Us." Scroll down and use the electronic form to submit a comment. Be sure to mention the docket number in any comments. E-mail: tom ( D O T ) watson ( A T ) metrokc ( D O T ) gov -------------------- From Betsy Rosenberg, Eco Talk, San Francisco, CA, responding to the 12/11/02 posting about the Office Depot office supplies chain forming a partnership with an environmental consulting firm to provide sustainability audits to customers: That's great about Office Depot - about time!! E-mail: betsy ( AT ) ecotalk ( DOT ) net - end -