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18 Feb 03 - replacing paper; printing; Lexmark; plates; precycling; body care ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Polagaya Fine, Snohomish County Solid Waste Division, Everett, WA, in response to the 2/11/03 posting seeking examples of companies with exceptional paper waste prevention programs: A great source of case studies on paper waste reduction is here: http://www.edocmagazine.com/casest_all.asp?header=e_cs_header.gif Among the companies listed with case studies are Ford, Hallmark, and Prudential Corp. Note also programs in Fremont, CA, and Croatia. These are from the AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) website. AIIM is an organization working with electronic content management for businesses. In many cases this means replacing systems that use lots of paper with electronics systems that don't. Please note that none of these companies or municipalities put these programs in place as waste reduction programs. They put them in place for the work efficiencies they provide. A side product is a tremendous reduction in paper. Another company that has done this is Boeing, which a few years ago advertised they had designed the world's first paperless airplane. E-mail: polagaya ( DOT ) fine ( AT ) co ( DOT ) snohomish ( DOT ) wa ( DOT ) us -------------------- The next three postings are in response to the 2/11/03 posting that mentioned that perceived negatives to double-sided (or duplex) printing include printer jamming and an increased need for cleaning. ------------------- From Barbara Frierson, City of Fremont Environmental Services, Fremont, CA: Regarding the "jamming" concern on double-sided printers, I have to say that our department has NOT encountered that problem with our HP (Hewlett-Packard) 8550 color/duplexing printer. This piece of equipment gets heavy and continuous use, most of it in duplex mode (which is our default setting) and all of it on 30 percent recycled-content paper. It isn't perfect, and it requires regular maintenance, but paper jams are rare. Maybe the expense of purchase and maintenance is a valid issue with these machines, but from our experience with the HP 8550 I wouldn't "dis" it in the paper jamming arena. E-mail: BFrierson ( A T ) ci ( D O T ) fremont ( D O T ) ca ( D O T ) us -------------------- From Brian Foran, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Waste Prevention & Market Development Division, Sacramento, CA: Several years ago, our Board began purchasing only those printers with duplex printing capability. At the same time, our information management (IM) staff set the default print function on each of our computers (which are linked through a network) to duplex. Hardly ever do we experience jams with duplex printing, and I've never heard anything from our IM staff about increased cleaning of the printers required due to the duplex function. Granted, we have excellent equipment (nearly all our printers are HP), but I can't imagine that modern printers that are designed to print duplex jam routinely. E-mail: bforan ( A T ) ciwmb ( D O T ) ca ( D O T ) gov -------------------- From Blair Pollock, Orange County Solid Waste Management Department, Chapel Hill, NC: I've been printing double-sided for at least two years on our HP Laser Jet, the work horse of our office, serving at least six users who each print at least several documents daily. It's never caused a problem that I know of. E-mail: bpollock [ A T ] co [ D O T ] orange [ D O T ] nc [ D O T ] us -------------------- From Bill Sheehan, GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN), Athens, GA: GRRN has a new web action targeting Lexmark, the $4 billion printer maker that spun off from IBM a decade ago. Back in 1998, GRRN awarded Lexmark International our first Wastemaker Award for its Prebate program, which (still) uses a price discount to get customers to agree not to refill their cartridges. Now Lexmark is attempting to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to restrict remanufacturing of their cartridges. Lexmark has designed into their laser printer cartridges a chip that prevents refilling of the cartridge by third parties. Static Control sells a device to allow refilling. GRRN promotes producer responsibility as a way to promote product redesign to eliminate waste. With Prebate and "killer chips" Lexmark intentionally designs its products to become waste. While we support Lexmark's attempts to "recycle" cartridges returned to them, we note that many cartridges are not recycled and currently end up in Eastern Asia, where primitive methods of extracting materials of value create appalling impacts on human health and local environments. Over 1.8 million Lexmark cartridges a year in the U.S. are refilled by the cartridge remanufacturing aftermarket. If Lexmark were truly committed to resource conservation they would design every cartridge to be refilled and ensure that they are remanufactured responsibly - either by themselves or by others - with none exported to Asia for "recycling." Write Lexmark CEO Paul J. Curlander and tell him that in addition to a "Passion for printing ideas" (the company's motto), Lexmark needs to develop a Passion for eliminating waste. Write Lexmark from: http://action.grrn.org/action E-mail: zerowaste [ AT ] GRRN [ DOT ] org -------------------- Excerpted from an article by Andrew Black in the 2/11/03 Oregon Daily Emerald, the student newspaper at the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR: "PLATE CLUB" ENCOURAGES WASTE REDUCTION AT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON CAFE The food at the Holy Cow Café at Erb Memorial Union (EMU), the student union building at the University of Oregon in Eugene, is fresh and organic. But for restaurant co-owner Kathee Lavine, there had always been something about the business that left a bitter taste in her mouth. Ever since she first began peddling pad Thai and chow mein back in 1997, Lavine has been stewing about the trash. "Waste has always been a little grain of sand in our oyster," Lavine said. So following on the heels of an EMU waste audit that revealed paper plates and plastic utensils make up 13 percent of EMU Food Services waste, Lavine has cooked up a plan to take a bite out of trash. Lavine said Holy Cow patrons now have the option of using reusable plates and silverware with a $5 deposit. "We've been trying to do this for a year, but it has taken us a while to get our ducks lined up," Lavine said. The plates, which were purchased for last year's Willamette Valley Folk Festival from an ASUO (Associated Students of the University of Oregon) grant, are being rented to the cafe. By providing reusable plates, Holy Cow will incur extra labor expenses and a $155 per month charge to lease a dishwasher. Despite the increased cost, Lavine said she thinks waste reduction is worth it. "We believe one's food choices are a powerful political statement," Lavine said. "We want to decrease our footprint on the planet and reuse things rather than throw them away." If the reusable plate program is successful, Holy Cow may try reusable bowls, she added. Doctoral student Jackie Schwandt said recycling is an important part of her lifestyle and added that she was drawn to the café because of the new reusable plates. "I want to contribute toward stopping the amount of garbage that is thrown away," Schwandt said. "I had never eaten at Holy Cow before this week, but then I saw the Plate Club." The recent EMU Food Services waste audit also found that compostable materials make up roughly 40 percent of the volume of trash. In addition to reusable plates, Lavine said Holy Cow also composts nearly all of its food waste. "Right now, the compostable materials are going to the night manager's garden," Lavine said. "We're trying to undo people's thoughts that things like plates are free, and that there is no cost to the planet." Holy Cow employee and singer/songwriter Luna Lacey said most of her customers don't want to use paper plates. "People are really excited about it," Lacey said. "It's so much more cozy and comfortable than the fast food disposable world we live in." -------------------- Link to an Indiana Recycling Coalition website on "Precycling": http://www.crittur.com/precycle Precycling is defined as preventing waste in the first place through reduction and reuse, instead of using recycling alone to keep things from being landfilled or incinerated. "Precycling - Think Beyond The Bin" is an outreach campaign targeted at consumers and coordinated by the Indiana Recycling Coalition. It is funded in part by a grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. -------------------- Excerpted from a column by Jane Tanner, and an accompanying list, in the 2/16/03 New York Times: SALES INCREASING FOR BODY-CARE PRODUCTS WITH NATURAL INGREDIENTS As alternatives to products with synthetic ingredients, natural body-care products are starting to make an impact in the marketplace. Sales of body-care products made exclusively or nearly exclusively from natural ingredients rose 10 percent last year, to $4.5 billion, said Patrick Rea, who follows the category for the Nutrition Business Journal. The niche, which includes creams, soaps and shampoos made with ingredients like rosemary leaf, willow bark extract and comfrey root, captures about 10 percent of overall personal care sales, Rea said. Leading companies specializing in natural ingredients, their estimated 2002 sales, and some of their top-selling products, are: - Nature's Gate (Levlad Inc.), Chatsworth, CA. Products include: Organics brand shampoos and conditioners and lip balm. 2002 sales: $54 million. - Aubrey Organics, Tampa, FL. Products include: Blue Camomile Shampoo, GPB hair conditioner, Rosa Mosqueta moisturizer. 2002 sales: $40 to $50 million. - Burt's Bees, Durham, NC. Products include: Burt's Beeswax Lip Balm, Burt's Bees hand cream and cuticle cream. 2002 sales: $43.5 million. - Tom's of Maine, Kennebunk, ME. Products include: Alcohol-free mouthwash, Tom's of Maine toothpastes. 2002 sales: $40 million. - Jason Natural Cosmetics, Culver City, CA. Products include: Skin-amins line of topical vitamins, PowerSmile toothpaste. 2002 sales: $30 to $35 million. - Kiss My Face, Gardiner, NY. Products include: Pure olive oil soap, honey and calendula moisturizers, anti-stress shower and bath gel, Liquid Rock deodorants. 2002 sales: $30 million. - end -