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19 Feb 04 - cost; paint; mail; design; refilling; CO2; deconstruction ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- From Yen Chin, City of Seattle, Seattle, WA, responding to the 2/13/04 item giving the comparisons of the annual costs of a number of disposable and convenience products, as calculated by Vicky Weiland, a teacher of Family and Consumer Sciences in Maryland: While I found Vicky Weiland's cost analysis for convenient (and wasteful) products academically interesting, I wonder what possible value such information has. A busy mother or father might use it to ask whether or not it's worth $100 a year to simply grab a packaged lunch off the shelf for their child rather than make a similar lunch from scratch. If they did, I suspect the answer would be, "Yes, definitely!" Besides, there is more than convenience embodied in these products. One may argue that valuing these other elements amounts to folly, but such arguments contain very little persuasion. Using a similar argument, one might argue against ever eating a meal in a restaurant because eating at home costs a small fraction of an equivalent meal out. Actually, the economic argument against restaurant meals is quite a bit stronger than the numbers against dish wipes or disposable cutting boards. E-mail: Yen (D O T) Chin (A T) seattle (D O T) gov --------------------- Excerpted from a message from Heidi Sanborn, contractor to the Product Stewardship Institute (from the Reuse Development Organization listserv): The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) Paint Product Stewardship Initiative, a national effort, has brought together paint manufacturers, retailers, government officials, recyclers, painting contractors, and other interested parties to discuss ways to reduce the environmental and fiscal impacts of leftover paint. Following our first meeting in Boston in December, dialogue participants created several workgroups, each with different goals and tasks. They are seeking data that would help in developing solutions to the multi-faceted problem of leftover paint. These workgroups are being facilitated by Heidi Sanborn, contractor to PSI on this project. Paint Reuse Programs dialogue participants want to promote paint reuse whenever possible. We are looking for information on paint reuse programs for compilation into a national database to strengthen these efforts nationwide. Examples of paint reuse programs include: Reuse areas at household hazardous waste collection sites where leftover paint is displayed so that customers can take it; reuse for graffiti abatement by government agencies and/or companies; and reuse at Habitat for Humanity ReStores. But there may be many others. This request is strictly about reusing paint as paint, and not for using paint as a feedstock for recycled paint or for non-paint products (such as cement), which will be the topics for other workgroups. The reuse workgroup would like to have answers to the following questions by February 24th: 1) Who facilitates the paint reuse? 2) Who funds the program? 3) Who benefits from the program? 4) The quantity of paint reused (overall, and as a percentage of what is collected). 5) Is the paint being reused consolidated or reblended in any way? 6) What sizes of containers are collected? 7) Does the operator/facilitator think the program is successful? What criteria is used to determine success? Please send responses to Heidi Sanborn, PSI contractor, at bhsan ( AT ) comcast ( DOT ) net, or call her at (916) 482-5110. ---------------------- Link to information about "Cut Junk Mail Month," on the website of Private Citizen, Inc.: http://www.privatecitizen.com/mail National "Cut Junk Mail Month" is planned for April, 2004. It is a project of Private Citizen, Inc., a Naperville, Illinois-based business (which provides junk mail reduction services, for a fee) headed by Bob Bulmash. ---------------------- Link to information about the eDesign Competition, an electronics design contest sponsored by GreenBlue, a non-profit environmental organization: http://www.greenblue.org/edesign Entrants are asked to submit their ideas for transforming the design of electronic products, and the design of the system for recovering and recycling materials following product use. Desktop computers, laptop computers and displays are the focus of the eDesign Competition. Entrants are asked to suggest changes that are possible within a 5 to 20 year timeframe. An entry should primarily include a 7 to 15 page written description, submitted electronically. The entry deadline is Feb. 28, 2004. ---------------------- Excerpted from a 2/10/04 press release from Friends of the Earth, London, United Kingdom (UK): "KILLER CHIP" THREATENS REFILLING OF PRINTER CARTRIDGES Friends of the Earth, a British environmental group, is warning that the refilling of printer cartridges could be wiped out in the UK unless the UK Government includes them in a new European Union (EU) waste law that is scheduled to go into effect this summer. Printer cartridges contain computer chips that record the amount of ink left in them. But manufacturers are inserting a new type of "killer chip" into the cartridges that means they cannot be reset when they are refilled with ink. This will make refilling impossible, and will be bad news for the environment, as reuse is far better than the landfilling or recycling of empty cartridges. It will also be bad news for businesses and consumers because refilled cartridges are much cheaper than buying new ones. The problem could be resolved if the UK Government includes cartridges when it implements the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, which must take place by Aug. 13, 2004. Under Article 4 of the directive, equipment must not include any design features that prevent it from being reused, unless there is a safety or environmental reason for doing so. But, the UK Department of Trade and Industry currently defines printer cartridges as "consumables," not "equipment." Unless the Government changes its proposals, the reuse of printer cartridges could be wiped out in the UK. ---------------------- Link to the Personal CO2 Calculator, on the website of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (seen in the WasteCap of Lincoln (NE) e-newsletter): http://www3.iclei.org/co2/co2calc.htm By filling in this online form, you can calculate your yearly direct personal carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Carbon dioxide is considered the most important cause of the human-made greenhouse effect. One of the major effects of these greenhouse gas emissions is global warming. ---------------------- Excerpted from a message from Timonie Hood, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, San Francisco, CA (forwarded by Kinley Deller from the Environmentally Preferable Products Procurement listserv): The Deconstruction and Building Materials Reuse Conference will be held Sept. 1-3, 2004, in Oakland, CA. See: http://www.decon04.com Proposals to speak will be accepted until March 22, 2004. For information, contact Timonie Hood at: hood [ D O T ] timonie [ A T ] epa [ D O T ] gov - end -