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08 Dec 03 - measurement; packaging; scavenger hunt; Wal-Mart; UK; telecommuting ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- From James Gill, Portland, OR: I'm working with The ReBuilding Center (http://www.rebuildingcenter.org) in Portland, OR, on waste reduction. The ReBuilding Center collects building materials (wood, stonework, fixtures, etc.) from both donations and deconstruction services, and sells them to the public for reuse. We are attempting to quantify these materials, and develop metrics for ongoing measurement of the waste diverted from the landfill for reuse. We'd like to hear from anyone who has specific suggestions or experiences measuring waste reduction, in terms of weight, material types, truckloads, sales, social benefit, etc. Any information would be appreciated. E-mail: jamesgillpdx [ AT ] yahoo [ DOT ] com --------------------- Excerpted from an article by Justine Brown in the November 2003 issue of Government Technology magazine: CITY OF SEATTLE WORKS TO REDUCE AMOUNT OF PACKAGING IT RECEIVES WITH NEW COMPUTERS City of Seattle employees were frustrated with a common problem: Each time they ordered new PCs, they were inundated with packaging materials - cardboard boxes, Styrofoam and plastic bubble wrap. Though the cardboard boxes and plastic wrap could be recycled, it often meant arranging a special pickup, and there was no recycling option for the Styrofoam, which ended up in the trash. Seattle City Light, the electricity provider for the majority of Seattle and one of the city's largest departments, orders an average of 450 new PCs each year. Dealing with packaging materials was particularly difficult for the agency. To make matters worse, 13 of Seattle's city departments, including Seattle City Light, recently moved into leased space in a single, high-rise building. Because space is expensive, most of it was designated for cubicles and offices, leaving little room for storage. When all that PC packaging arrived, there was nowhere to put it. Shirli Axelrod of Seattle Public Utilities works with city departments to promote waste reduction and environmentally responsible purchasing programs. Initially Axelrod and Alan Leong, supervisor of Desktop Administration and Procurement at Seattle City Light, looked at ways to simply recycle or reuse PC packaging. But the Styrofoam was always the hitch. "There's no viable recycling available for that kind of Styrofoam, so it would wind up going in the garbage," said Axelrod. Frustrated, Axelrod and Leong went to Gateway, the city's contracted PC provider, and suggested everybody work together to reduce packaging. Initially Gateway proposed they shrink-wrap the Styrofoam, put it on pallets, and send it back for reuse. But that proved impractical. "It was going to be a lot of work for the computer folks to receive this stuff, unwrap it and then rehandle all the wrapping, and most of our buildings aren't set up for putting things on pallets and shrink-wrapping them," said Axelrod. "Plus, the fuel to ship the stuff back and forth is another significant environmental impact - you're really diminishing any benefit you might have gained." What made more sense was to not produce the material in the first place. So after additional brainstorming, the city and Gateway came up with the idea of a reusable rolling metal crate, similar to those used in the airline industry. "They were open to the idea," said Leong. "So we then went back and forth on what it would take in terms of dimensions: How many PCs could fit in a crate? Would it fit down our hallways and into our freight elevators?" Gateway developed initial dimensions and sketches and sent them back to Seattle City Light. Once a design was agreed upon, Gateway created a fully working mock-up. The crate they designed accommodates 24 PCs, including all accompanying keyboards, mice, power cords and documentation. Its compartments are lined with permanently attached Styrofoam to protect the equipment. Seattle City Light has used the crate for several months. "It's worked out great," said Leong. "There is a huge difference between 24 PC boxes stacked on top of each other versus one crate that's about six feet long and five feet tall." The new crates save labor, which translates into lower expenses, Leong said. "Because we don't have to unpack the PC boxes or stack them, we're saving about two hours per shipment," he said. "If the average analyst makes $30 an hour, that adds up." The crate also solved a delivery problem. Because the computers were originally shipped on pallets that were too wide to fit down their hallways, Seattle City Light employees unloaded PCs from the pallets onto flatbed carts for delivery to users. The new crate is designed to easily move from truck to loading dock, into elevators and through doorways. New computers can now be delivered to users' desks directly from the crate. The crate also provides a cost-effective way to remove old equipment and eliminates the storage problem. "We take the crate directly to the user's desk, load up the old PC, lock the crate back up, call the shipping company, and ship it back to Gateway for recycling," said Leong. Seattle City Light currently plans to use this reusable crate system for all their new PCs in 2004, although they are continuing to test the system. Once they've tested it thoroughly, they plan to spread the word to other city departments, and Leong believes it won't be long until most of them will be using crates as well. Seattle is not the only government reducing PC packaging. The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) has also made significant efforts to cut waste. It recently ordered more than 500 new DFI 233 MHz computer systems, requesting that the vendor wrap each system in plastic and pack as many computers to a box as possible. Since they were sturdy systems with sheet metal cases, the vendor did so without using any Styrofoam. The computers were delivered in 25 large cardboard boxes on pallets, significantly reducing the amount of packaging materials. After the systems were unpacked, the shipping company hauled away the pallets and the cardboard boxes were recycled. When CIWMB decided to upgrade the processors in its Dell desktop PCs, it again managed to reduce the associated packaging waste. The new processors would normally have resulted in delivery of 500 separate boxes and miscellaneous packaging. Instead, CIWMB's Information Management Branch procurement staff convinced the vendor to bulk-package the processor chips in five boxes, each of which included five chip trays with 20 chips per tray. The total amount of packaging materials and storage space requirements was reduced by approximately 95 percent. --------------------- Link to a press release about the "I Buy Different Scavenger Hunt" held in Seattle 11/15/03, part of a project to encourage young people to make their purchases more environmentally-friendly: http://www.ibuydifferent.org/final_post_hunt_advisory.pdf This project was sponsored by the Center for a New American Dream, World Wildlife Fund and Sustainable Seattle. --------------------- Excerpted from an article by Steve Lohr in the opinion/editorial section of the 12/7/03 New York Times: WAL-MART'S RETAIL DOMINANCE Wal-Mart is the largest American corporation in terms of sales, with $245 billion in sales last year. It is now the nation's largest grocer, toy seller and furniture retailer. More than 30 percent of the disposable diapers purchased in the United States are sold in Wal-Mart stores, as are 30 percent of hair-care products, 26 percent of toothpaste and 20 percent of pet food. Wal-Mart has nearly 3,000 stores in the United States, and plans to add an additional 1,000 over the next five years. Increasingly, the company is taking its formula abroad; Wal-Mart is now the largest private employer in Mexico. (Note from Tom: We're running this item because some of us work on waste prevention related to consumer products, and it's useful to know just how dominant one chain of stores is becoming in retail sales.) --------------------- Link to the website for Rethink Rubbish, a national waste reduction and recycling effort in the United Kingdom that is sponsored by government, non-profit and private sector organizations: http://www.rethinkrubbish.com Rethink Rubbish includes the "Rethink Rubbish at Christmas" campaign. Resources for partners in this campaign are at: http://www.rethinkrubbishpartners.com/christmas_resources.php This campaign emphasizes recycling and buying-recycled, but does include some waste prevention messages. --------------------- Link to the website for "ecommute," a national telecommuting pilot program (seen in the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center monthly bulletin): http://www.ecommute.net This is a project of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Resources for the Future and other organizations. This telecommuting pilot is being conducted in Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. - end -