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24 Feb 03 - clothing; paper; lids; simplicity; climate change; hangers ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Link to the web page for Threadcycle, a King County (WA) Solid Waste Division project to collect clothing for reuse: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/resrecy/events/threadcycle.shtml Partners in this innovative project, which is being held during the month of February, 2003, are: King County; a coalition of four charities (Seattle Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army and the Union Gospel Mission); the Regal Cinemas chain of movie theaters; and two local radio stations that are promoting the project. Throughout the month, residents are being asked to bring their "gently used textiles" to eight Regal Cinemas multiplex locations. The donated items are divided up among the four charities, to be sold in their thrift stores. When someone brings in a bag of clothing, they are entered into weekly drawings for a year's worth of movie passes from Regal Cinemas. Earlier in the month, passes to an advance showing of the new movie "Daredevil" were offered as another incentive for people to bring in clothing. According to project manager Sharon Aller, a total of about 3,800 pounds of clothing has been collected in the first three weeks of the program (as of last Friday), including more than 700 pounds of clothing at the "Daredevil" advance showing alone. For more information on Threadcycle, contact Sharon at: sharon [DOT] aller [AT] metrokc [DOT] gov Also, a 2/5/03 King County press release about this project can be found at: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/dnradmin/press/2003/0205thrd.htm -------------------- Link to the Business Guide to Paper Reduction, written by Heather Sarantis and published in September, 2002, by ForestEthics, an activist group based in San Francisco: http://www.forestethics.org/pdf/reduce.pdf This guide includes case studies of organizations and companies reducing paper consumption, and guidelines for launching a paper reduction effort. An executive summary of this guide, and other documents on paper and forest issues, are at: http://www.forestethics.org/purchasing/help.html Scroll down. -------------------- Link to a Stonyfield Farm web page, with information on how that company has reduced waste by recently switching from plastic to foil lids for their yogurt containers: http://www.stonyfield.com/AboutUs/WeveBlownOurCover.shtml Stonyfield Farm says that by replacing the plastic lid and plastic seal with a single foil lid on its containers, 270 fewer tons of plastic will be generated annually. After adding back the waste from the foil lids, a net reduction of 6 percent, or 106 tons of solid waste, is expected to be achieved in the first year alone. For customers who do not usually finish their yogurt all at once, the company will send them a couple of free reusable plastic lids, on request. The company made the change based on research that was done for them by the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems (the web page includes a link to the Center's 128-page report about the lids). Based in Londonderry, NH, Stonyfield Farm is the nation's largest organic yogurt producer. -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Everett, WA: SIMPLICITY CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN SEATTLE AUGUST 24 "Simplicity: Integrating Sustainability, Social Justice & Spirit - A Participatory Conference" will be held Sunday, August 24, 2003, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Seattle. This national conference will be co-hosted by Seeds of Simplicity and the Simplicity Forum. Speakers will include Duane Elgin, Vicki Robin, Cecile Andrews, Wanda Urbanska, John de Graaf, and Jerome Segal. Take Back Your Time Day, coming on October 24, will also be highlighted. Registration cost is $25. For more information, write to: seeds (A T) seedsofsimplicity (D O T) org -------------------- Link to information on a marketing industry conference on simplicity (forwarded by Marcia Rutan): Note from Tom: The organizers of the August simplicity movement conference scheduled for Seattle (see above) just learned about this other national conference about simplicity scheduled for March. This one is a marketing industry conference, aimed at teaching marketers how to sell people more things, and ironically it will also be held in Seattle: http://www.consumerexpert.org/trendsbody.htm This conference, the "2003 Consumer Trends Forum - The New Simplicity," will be held March 5-8, 2003, in Seattle. Speakers "will address the new simplicity, discussing how today's marketers can develop products, programs and messages to reach consumers and meet their needs." The conference is being held by Consumer Trends Forum International, a consumer products industry group. Conference sponsors include Nestle USA, General Mills and Maytag. According to the website, "The Consumer Trends Forum will help you understand and anticipate the ever-changing demands of today's consumer. This is THE conference you should attend if the modern consumer is your target audience." -------------------- Link to an article, "Curbing the Effect of Waste on Climate," from the Nov./Dec. 2002 edition of The Science and the Environment Bulletin, published by Environment Canada (forwarded by Dwight Mercer): http://www.ec.gc.ca/science/sandenov02/article1_e.html This article includes a table showing greenhouse gas emission reductions from source reduction of various materials. Environment Canada is the Canadian federal environmental agency. -------------------- Excerpted from a 2/20/03 article by Tosin Sulaiman for the Knight Ridder Newspapers news service: About 4 billion wire clothes hangers were sold in the U.S. in 2002, mostly to dry cleaners and laundries. Wire hangers currently cost laundries about 2.5 cents apiece. - end -