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01 Jul 03 - radio ads; purchasing; surplus; electronics; railroad ties; chemicals ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- From David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Solid Waste Policy and Program Development, Portland, OR: I am looking for sample waste prevention (not recycling) radio advertisements that a local government here in Oregon could use or adapt for their use. I am already aware of advertisements in Minnesota, Alameda County (CA) and Marion and Lane Counties (OR). Scripts are fine; actual ads (as .mp3, .WAV, or other formats) or links to the ads (if they're on your website) are even better. Thank you! E-mail: Allaway ( DOT ) David ( AT ) deq ( DOT ) state ( DOT ) or ( DOT ) us Phone: (503) 229-5479 --------------------- The next two messages are in response to the 6/18/03 posting about the idea of an in-house grants program for waste reduction and environmentally preferable purchasing projects: --------------------- From Karen Hamilton, King County Environmental Purchasing Program, Seattle, WA: I want to put my two cents in about providing internal grants for environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP) projects. Internal grants sound like a good idea on paper, but they carry forward the assumption that EPP products are not economic. I have mixed feelings about this, while this is surely true for some, even many, EPP products, it is not true for all. I think that the obstacle is partly money, but mostly good product & research information. I also agree with what Eric says below. E-mail: karen ( DOT ) hamilton ( AT ) metrokc ( DOT ) gov --------------------- From Eric Nelson, King County Environmental Purchasing Program, Seattle, WA: Here in King County, we have found it useful to try to identify "slam-dunk" products that we expect will meet the price and performance requirements of the users, in addition to delivering environmental benefits, and pay our first attention to these. We then assemble and transmit persuasive information to help the users see that these new products may actually help them in their work. Sometimes, we are even able to help vendors develop such products. This promotes the program in several ways: The vendors are happy, because they are making sales as they develop EPP products and find demand for them, which may lead them to pursue further refinement. The environment benefits. The users are happy, because the price and performance meet their requirements. Change is hard, and users are typically skeptical of changes, especially if they are promoted or mandated by outsiders. When the price and performance are good, and the users are given the opportunity to evaluate new products and work with the vendor and buyer to address any lingering concerns, they will be happy. Happy users, who feel their expertise and input to have been valued and recognized (especially if publicly), will be easier to approach with other odd notions in the future. Start with easy stuff that everybody can agree on, and form strong working/communication relationships. When new ideas that are not such obvious winners come along, these happy users will be most likely to volunteer their whole-hearted attention to their evaluation if the last experience they had with the EPP program was a good one. E-mail: eric (D O T) nelson (A T) metrokc (D O T) gov --------------------- Link to the Surplus Network, a new auction-style website to promote the reuse of surplus furniture and other surplus property from colleges, universities, hospitals, independent schools, and other institutions in New England (forwarded by Stephen Long): http://www.surplusnetwork.net The Surplus Network is a project of the Institution Recycling Network (IRN), based in Concord, New Hampshire. Established in 1999, the IRN has more than 100 members, including Harvard University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Yale University, Dartmouth College, West Point Military Academy, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Beth Israel Hospital. For more information on the IRN, see their website at: http://www.ir-network.com --------------------- Link to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national listing of reuse and recycling events for electronics: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/plugin/events.htm --------------------- Excerpted from a message sent out by the Alameda County Waste Management Authority, San Leandro, CA, to help the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District give away 800 railroad ties and crossing planks: BART is offering railroad ties - for FREE! There are approximately 800 usable railroad ties and crossing planks. The ties and planks have been tested and the results show there are no significant levels of creosote remaining in the ties. This is due to degradation as a result of long term exposure to the elements - sun, rain, wind, etc. BART would like to give preference to government organizations. Interested parties are responsible for picking up the ties and planks. The ties and planks are located at the BART test track storage facility in Hayward, CA. The ties and planks need to be picked up by September 1, 2003. You can view images of the ties and planks, and see the contact information, at: http://recycle.stopwaste.org/pages/bart-rr-ties.htm (Note from Tom: We're running this item as an example of a public agency using a creative method to get materials reused.) --------------------- Link to information on the "U.S. Declaration of Independence from Hazardous Chemicals," a project of the World Wildlife Fund (forwarded by Gary Liss): http://www.worldwildlife.org/toxics/whatsnew/declaration.cfm --------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: I will be out of the office next week, July 7-11, so the Forum will not be published during that time. Hope you are all having a great summer! - end -