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10 Sep 03 - shaving; dunnage bags; disposables; replacement; computers ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- The first three messages are in response to the recent postings about shaving and waste prevention. --------------------- From Steve Long, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Boston, MA: With regard to shaving waste prevention, I agree with Don Van Dyke that using a brush and soap is a better waste prevention practice than using shaving cream. I buy a bar of shaving soap about once every three years. It's always fun too, because I get to purchase it from a very old fashioned apothecary in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. However, my baby-face won't allow me to sprout enough facial hair to do justice to Don's ode to beards. And my attempt at a mustache always elicited from observers an, "Oh, I thought that was dirt." Some of us are just meant to be beardless Nordic types. And, for the record, I use a Gillette Atra (MA-based company!) handle I got for free during the 1994 World Cup. E-mail: stephen ( D O T ) long ( A T ) state ( D O T ) ma ( D O T ) us --------------------- From Patrick Domres, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA: It seems like the problem with razor blades is the companies reconfigure the design every year to force the consumer to buy a new setup. That is my two cents on razors. E-mail: patrick ( DOT ) domres ( AT ) metrokc ( DOT ) gov --------------------- From Sondra Flite, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ: I appreciate the analysis of razors. I'm having trouble getting blades for my Gillette safety razor. You know - the one with the two-sided blade in the little metal cartridge. My upscale town doesn't offer them, but downtown Trenton still does, thanks to Rite Aid. I thought that each of us, at around age 14, bought a razor, and then, later, we were buried with it. I'm likely to outlive this wonderful 1902 technology. In the interests of source reduction, I know I should just be hairy, but failing that, is it better to buy a good electric razor? Do any of them work? And, as with electric hand dryers, does the use of electricity outweigh the production of waste? There's a study for a grad student somewhere. E-mail: Sondra [DOT] Flite [AT] dep [DOT] state [DOT] nj [DOT] us --------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: PRODUCT ALERTS THUMBS UP - REUSABLE DUNNAGE BAGS Reusable "dunnage bags" - which are used in the transportation industry to keep loads from shifting - are apparently gaining in popularity among shippers (as opposed to the traditional single-use dunnage bags). Reusable dunnage bags are large inflatable "pillows" made from plastic, rubber or paper. They are designed to slip flat between the voids in a load in trailers or shipping containers. Once inserted, dunnage bags are inflated by compressed air. Upon arrival, they are easily deflated and removed. (Info on reusable dunnage bags forwarded by Lisa Friend.) THUMBS DOWN - PALMOLIVE DISPOSABLE DISH WIPES These are disposable cloths pre-treated with Palmolive dish soap. An 8/25/03 press release for the product stated, "We're asking consumers to throw away their kitchen sponges and begin a cleaner, easier era of dishwashing today," said Peter Ryan, vice president and general manager of U.S. home care for the Colgate-Palmolive Company. "The disposable dishwashing solution offered by Palmolive DishWipes gives consumers a clean and convenient alternative to the reusable sponge." The package proclaims, "One wipe lasts a full load of dishes!" A package of 20 of these sells for $3.99. For more information on this product, see the Colgate-Palmolive Company website at: http://www.palmolive.com/dishwipes.shtml --------------------- Excerpted from a business column by Ted Pincus in the 8/26/03 Chicago Sun-Times: DISPOSABLE HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS - A HUGE, GROWING INDUSTRY What's the key to consistent sales and earnings growth right on through economic fluctuations? Consider built-in product obsolescence. How about a product that consumers must throw away every day? There's one lesser-known multibillion-dollar Chicago company whose products are continually destined for the trash bin - disposables that are generating repeat demand without let-up, regardless of business conditions. The name of the company is Pactiv Corp., a quiet 1999 spin-off from Tenneco Inc. of Lake Forest. With 73 facilities in 14 countries worldwide, Pactiv has carved out a position in protective and flexible packaging that's No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 1 in Europe. Pactiv markets more than 3,500 products used for fresh and frozen foods in supermarkets, for meals in food retailing and by food processors to package their wares. Well over two-thirds of its $2.9 billion in sales are in a related field where it is clearly number one: disposable home tableware and disposable food service products. And in that sector, the majority of Pactiv sales come from one remarkable, immensely successful brand line - Hefty consumer products, best known for its large plastic waste bags and tableware. Pactiv Chairman and CEO Richard Wambold built an engineering staff of 300 at a Canandaigua, NY, research-and-development (R&D) think tank devoted to product development and cost reductions. From that center has come an outpouring of ideas that have turned a commodity business into one in which prosaic items like garbage bags have highly visible brand personalities. Some ideas are as simple as Zoo-Pals, a kids' line of rugged disposable, illustrated plates in the shape of pigs and other animals, which won a fast 3 percent market share. Another was Hefty the Gripper, a cinch-sack that grips the top of the garbage can - and also promptly added to Hefty's market share. In fact, six new Hefty products have been rolled out in the past six months. Encouraged by the results, Wambold has boosted his R&D budget this year by 60 percent, to 1.6 percent of sales, significantly outspending the industry. In his five year plan to push sales past the $5 billion mark, with $700 million to $1 billion coming from organic growth, Wambold, 51, sees a business model that lends itself to broad diversification within his chosen niche. "Our real strategic proposition is value-added disposables, deliverable on a single truck," he said. "This could include cleaning supplies, household utensils and even something as mundane as drinking cups. Disposables are 50 percent of that market (drinking cups) today - and we haven't even entered it yet." --------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: The e-mail exchange below was forwarded to me from an Olympia, WA, resident. I thought people on the Forum might be interested. 1) Her original 9/4/03 message to Black & Decker (a brand of Applica Inc.): "Parts Inquiry - I need new batteries for a Model 9210 cordless beater. Thanks much." 2) The 9/5/03 response from Black & Decker's "fulfillment center": "Dear Customer, Thank you for your recent inquiry for replacement batteries for your 9210 mixer. Unfortunately, this part is no longer available or supplied. If you would be interested in price and availability on a new electric mixer, please call 1-800-738-0245 for more information. Sincerely, Susan Porter, Fox International, Black & Decker Parts Fulfillment Center, 1-800-738-0245" 3) The Olympia resident's 9/5/03 message in response: "Thanks for the advice, but I only buy products from companies or corporations that do not encourage flagrant waste by discontinuing little things like batteries. Once that is accomplished by Black & Decker, I will start to buy its products. Until then, I will go elsewhere." --------------------- Excerpted from 9/4/03 and 9/8/03 columns by Bob Herbert in the New York Times (9/4/03 column forwarded by Ted Smith): SICK AND SUSPICIOUS While I.B.M. officials deny it, evidence is being offered by stricken employees that unusually large numbers of men and women who worked for the giant computer corporation over the past few decades have been dying prematurely. I.B.M. employees, and relatives of employees who have died, are claiming in a series of very bitter lawsuits that I.B.M. workers have contracted cancer and other serious illnesses from chemicals they were exposed to in semiconductor and disk-drive manufacturing, laboratory work and other very basic industrial operations. More than 200 plaintiffs in California, New York and Minnesota have sued I.B.M. The lawsuits claim that officials at I.B.M. knew that workers were being put at risk of contracting cancer and other serious illnesses by their regular exposure to a variety of poisonous chemicals, many known to be carcinogens. Companies that provided chemicals to I.B.M. are also defendants in the suits. I.B.M. has vehemently denied all of the plaintiffs' claims, and is being represented by Jones Day, one of the firms that represented R. J. Reynolds in the tobacco industry's fight against a long line of lawsuits. I.B.M. officials have said all along that they do not believe there is any scientific basis for any of the plaintiffs' claims. There is no evidence, they said, that any employee contracted cancer as a result of exposure to chemicals at I.B.M. Four of the 40 lawsuits in San Jose are due to go to trial next month. All the suits are being watched extremely closely by the semiconductor industry, which had been warned for years that chip-making and other processes requiring the use of tremendous amounts of toxic chemicals might be associated with cancers, miscarriages, birth defects and other very serious health problems. The processes at most U.S. plants, including I.B.M.'s, have improved. They are much cleaner and are believed to be much safer now. But an extraordinary number of workers were employed in the older facilities as the computer industry grew with breathtaking speed to become one of the dominant forces in American life in the last half of the 20th century. The heartbreaking cases - of alleged chemical exposure to workers at I.B.M. and other semiconductor industry companies - are piling up. A disinterested, third-party study - rigorous and comprehensive - is needed, to provide answers to the crucial question of whether some of that heartbreak is linked to the workplace, or whether it is not, as I.B.M. and other companies claim. ----------------- Note from Tom - I'll be out of the office Sept. 15-17. - end -