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27 May 03 - wastrel behavior; rats; New Zealand; DVDs; lumber; CDs ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Renee Kimball, Enuf!, Portland, OR, responding to two articles posted on 5/20/03 (one was about the "Dump and Run" programs to collect items left by college students at the end of the school year, and the other was about the Friends of St. Francis in Dayton, Ohio, who operate three thrift stores and also promote voluntary simplicity): BAND AID FIXES While I applaud the founder of the Dump and Run programs for being so entrepreneurial with the "overload" of stuff left behind by students when they leave school housing, it would be logical that the "short term fix" may actually exacerbate the overall problem. No need to feel guilty about what you leave behind, the school can sell it. Why not go right to the source and make the students pay for their wastrel behavior? Send them a BIG bill (and I do mean big, say $1,000) for the amount of stuff left behind. I'm sorry, but the "two days notice" thing really falls on deaf ears - what, each school pulls a random date out of a lottery hat a week before they close down for the summer? That's about as lame an excuse I've ever heard for not taking personal responsibility. This is also a clear but sad indication that all those "environmental awareness" classes, field trips and programs the students took in elementary through high school didn't stick too well, but the consumption messages they had time to view on their now-abandoned TV sure did. Full marks and a hearty good-for-you go to the Friends of St Francis in Dayton, Ohio, for NOT accepting credit cards at their thrift stores. Now that's what I call really putting your money where your mouths (and morals) are. E-mail: rrrrenee (AT) aracnet (DOT) com --------------------- From Yen Chin, City of Seattle, Seattle, WA, responding to the 5/20/03 posting that gave the lyrics to a children's song about home composting called "Banana Peel Blues": While I found the song cute, I need to point out that the City of Seattle has long advised folks to not put food waste into their yard waste compost because of the probability of attracting rodents, specifically large rodents, RATS. I strongly support this advice, as I know of at least one Seattle Community Garden with an active composting program that got itself into big trouble, trouble that has not been resolved in nearly two years, due largely to food waste composting in yard waste composting bins. E-mail: Yen (D O T) Chin (A T) ci (D O T) seattle (D O T) wa (D O T) us --------------------- Excerpted from a 5/21/03 press release from the Auckland Regional Council, Auckland, New Zealand: WASTE REDUCTION PLEDGE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED IN NEW ZEALAND The Reduce Your Rubbish Challenge is a new program sponsored by the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment and the Auckland Regional Council. To participate, people make a pledge that their household will take certain actions during the month of June, such as buying products with less packaging, saying no to plastic bags, recycling or composting. Households will then be chosen at random from those who have pledged, and will have their garbage examined by local council waste officers to see if they're living up to their pledge. "If you are living up to your pledge, then you go in the draw to win some fantastic prizes. It's really simple. You're not competing against others, you're competing against yourself," said Auckland Regional Council chairperson Gwen Bull, who has signed up her household to the Challenge. The prizes, which are worth a total of $10,000, include environmentally-preferable washing machines and $500 supermarket gift certificates. For more information on the Reduce Your Rubbish Challenge, see the website at: http://www.reducerubbish.govt.nz "The Challenge offers people some proactive things they can do to reduce New Zealand's growing mountain of rubbish," said council chairperson Bull. "We want to encourage some long-term habits in householders." --------------------- Link to information from a consumer activist group called Against TCPA (forwarded from a household hazardous waste listserv by Paul Dunn, in response to the 5/20/03 posting about disposable DVDs): http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html TCPA stands for the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, an initiative led by Intel. TCPA would make it easier for companies to produce controlled-use electronics products (such as DVDs), among many other ramifications. These limited-use products would most likely be disposable, and could result in more waste. --------------------- Excerpted from a 5/7/03 Associated Press article by Chris Kahn: MARKET GROWS FOR SALVAGED LUMBER Willie Drake's lumber yard in Ruckersville, Virginia, could be a museum - the massive timbers come from forests that no longer exist. Stacked two stories high are giant beams from American chestnut, a tree that grew in abundance a century ago in Appalachia before a lethal fungus made it scarce. There are rows of beams from 400-year-old long-leaf pine unseen in today's forests and strips of rare English brown oak from antique barrels, scented from years of cider and beer. Drake has spent a lifetime looking for this wood, prying much of it from forgotten warehouses and abandoned buildings. His company, Mountain Lumber, founded in the hills of Virginia 100 miles southwest of Washington D.C., is one of about 20 firms that find old wood and sell it to customers looking for high-quality, hard-to-find lumber. "When I started 30 years ago, all of this was going to the landfill," Drake said. All around Drake's lumber yard, workmen hover over the old boards, rubbing them with metal detectors in search of rusted nails, buffing off grime and scraping the edges with a mechanical saw to make them straight again. Drake sells the boards for $5 to $20 per square foot - several times the price of new wood paneling. The business of reusing old wood beams has grown since the 1970s as high-end home builders started looking for wood that was denser and of higher quality, Drake said. "Some people are driven by the environmental aspect," said Jeff Horn, owner of Aged Wood in Pennsylvania, which also recycles wood beams. "Casinos and mountain lodges like us because we can give them that rustic, mountain look." Carl Frischkorn, a management consultant from Charlottesville, Virginia, who supervised an industry survey funded by Mountain Lumber in 2001, estimates more than 20 U.S. companies now specialize in reclaiming old timber, resulting in annual sales of $50 million to $75 million. Mountain Lumber now deals with salvage from large factory warehouses all over the country, such as a former Studebaker building built in 1922 in South Bend, Indiana, and Boston's Westerbeke Fishing Gear Co. building, founded in 1935. The massive warehouse beams, some of them 15 to 20 inches thick, came from old-growth pine trees that are rare today. Drake also sells English brown oak from hard cider vats in Britain and the Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The vats gave the wood a darkened tint, and milling the cider boards gives off a strong scent of apples. Although many still consider reclaimed wood a niche market, there are enough companies competing for wood salvage to make it increasingly difficult to turn a profit. "Back when we started, you could walk on a demolition site and the contractors were willing to just give it to you," said Jered Slusser, a sales representative for Pioneer Millworks, a 12-year-old wood reclaiming company in Farmington, New York. "Now you're paying top dollar." Drake currently completes about 90 to 110 sales per month for a total of $5 million to $6 million each year. His lumber decorates parts of George Washington's historic estate at Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and the American Institute of Architects building in Washington. "It's great that my company helps the environment," Drake said. "But I'm doing this because it's good business, because it makes money." -------------------- From Renee Kimball, Enuf!, Portland, OR: I would like to thank everyone who has sent me their used CD jewel and metal cases to put our band's CDs in (our band, Enuf!, plays "enviro-boogie"). You've all been very kind and generous with your time and postage! E-mail: rrrrenee [AT] aracnet [DOT] com -------------------- From Jetta Antonakos, City of Saco Department of Public Works, Saco, Maine, responding to the 5/20/03 edition of the Waste Prevention Forum: I just want to say thank you for this newsletter. When things seem a little crazy, I can go to the newsletter and be assured that there is intelligent life on earth! E-mail: jantonakos ( AT ) sacomaine ( DOT ) org - end - Although many still consider reclaimed wood a niche market, there are enough companies competing for wood salvage to make it increasingly difficult to turn a profit. "Back when we started, you could walk on a demolition site and the contractors were willing to just give it to you," said Jered Slusser, a sales representative for Pioneer Millworks, a 12-year-old wood reclaiming company in Farmington, New York. "Now you're paying top dollar." Drake currently completes about 90 to 110 sales per month for a total of $5 million to $6 million each year. His lumber decorates parts of George Washington's historic estate at Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and the American Institute of Architects building in Washington. "It's great that my company helps the environment," Drake said. "But I'm doing this because it's good business, because it makes money." -------------------- From Renee Kimball, Enuf!, Portland, OR: I would like to thank everyone who has sent me their used CD jewel and metal cases to put our band's CDs in (our band, Enuf!, plays "enviro-boogie"). You've all been very kind and generous with your time and postage! E-mail: rrrrenee [ A T ] aracnet [ D O T ] com -------------------- From Jetta Antonakos, City of Saco Department of Public Works, Saco, Maine, responding to the 5/20/03 edition of the Waste Prevention Forum: I just want to say thank you for this newsletter. When things seem a little crazy, I can go to the newsletter and be assured that there is intelligent life on earth! E-mail: jantonakos ( A T ) sacomaine ( D O T ) org - end -