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05 Mar 04 - surplus; materials use; Heinz Kerry; EPR; phones; Per Scholas ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive --------------------- From John Crisley, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Municipal Waste Reduction Program, Boston, MA: INFORMATION REQUEST ON MUNICIPAL SURPLUS PROPERTY PROGRAMS Do any Waste Prevention Forum readers know of regional, county, or municipal governments that have systems in place for reusing or re-selling their unwanted surplus property? I'm looking for people to contact who have experience in running such a program or people who have tried it and run into barriers with setting one up. I am working on a surplus property management project with our state's Surplus Property Office to develop ways to get state surplus property (mainly office furniture and supplies, computers and electronic equipment) redistributed to municipal offices, school departments, and non-profits. I've learned that many state governments, like corporations, have systems in place for inventorying and redistributing surplus. However, I've heard anecdotally that the surplus generated from most cities and towns is used, in some cases repaired, until its useful life is exhausted. As a result, the reuse value of most municipally-generated equipment is very low and there is no need for a redistribution program. Any experience or insights Waste Prevention Forum readers can offer would be very much appreciated. E-mail: John ( DOT ) Crisley ( AT ) state ( DOT ) ma ( DOT ) us Phone: 617-556-1021 -------------------- The next two postings are in response to the 3/2/04 query about materials use and greenhouse gas impacts. -------------------- Excerpted from a posting from David Jaber, Natural Logic, Berkeley, CA: The statistic referred to in the 3/2/04 posting - the average American meal has traveled more than 1,500 miles before it arrives on the dinner table - comes from Helena Norberg-Hodge's group, the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC). Their website is at: http://www.isec.org.uk We did significant research on sustainability of agricultural systems focused on the Northeast U.S., and found ISEC to be a rich source of material (and it is fortunate that their U.S. office is here in Berkeley - it made the research easy). E-mail: djaber (AT) natlogic (DOT) com -------------------- Excerpted from a posting from John Crisley, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Municipal Waste Reduction Program, Boston, MA: I know of an organization in Wales, UK, that assembled the best set of exhibits I have ever seen on what they call the "embedded energy" in a wide range of products and activities. The organization is the Centre For Alternative Technology (the CAT in Powys, Wales). My wife and I took the full tour of their exhibits on transportation, energy, and green buildings in 2002. For example, one of their exhibits had comparative embedded energy figures for locally grown fruits and vegetables, as compared with food shipped out-of-state or overseas. They have an excellent web site at: http://www.cat.org.uk and they have an excellent collection of books at the center. -------------------- From Ron Perkins, SCS Engineers, Lexington, VA, responding to two recent postings extolling the environmental advocacy of Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of presidential candidate John Kerry: Think about the environmental hypocrisy of Heinz-Kerry environmental and "Made in America" rhetoric. "Don't be fueled" by the Heinz-Kerry rhetoric. Stop and think where all the HEINZ-Kerry money came from to "fuel" their campaign. It takes a hell of a lot of fuel to produce (agricultural production), process, cook, transport, refrigerate, and move those 57 varieties of Heinz ketchup, pickles, etc. around the world. (And I won't even go into the exploitation of migrant farmers to pick all those tomatoes!) And contrary to the Kerry rhetoric opposing the move of U.S. manufacturing off shore, 57 out of 77 HEINZ manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. Unfortunately, few will ever come to the obvious, but unmistakable conclusion that the Heinz-Kerrys "talk the talk", but don't walk the walk! E-mail: rperk [ A T ] mac [ D O T ] com ---------------------- From Suellen Mele, Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, Seattle, WA: Clean Production Action has launched their new EPR (extended producer responsibility) toolkit. To check it out, go to http://www.cleanproduction.org and follow the links. E-mail: suellen [ AT ] wastenotwashington [ DOT ] org ---------------------- The next two postings are in response to the 3/2/04 posting asking about EcoPhones, a company that offers cell phone recycling and fundraising. ---------------------- Excerpted from a message from John Halenar, environmental writer and consultant, Ridgewood, NJ: Eric Most at INFORM in New York City just released a big cell phone recycling study and he may be familiar with the company in question. People can learn more about the cell phone study at INFORM's website at http://www.informinc.org Eric's contact information is also on that website. E-mail: johnhalenar [ AT ] yahoo [ DOT ] com ----------------------- From Marty Seaman, Oakland County Waste Resource Management, Pontiac, MI: I don't know much about EcoPhones but we have worked closely with a very reputable and giving organization, The Wireless Source, and their consumer phone collection / charity giving program - they can be reached at: http://www.charitablerecycling.com We have worked with these folks to provide statewide programs in Michigan through the Michigan Recycling Coalition and the Recycling And Pollution Prevention (REAP2- http://www.reap2.com) project. The best thing is they truly are committed to helping close the loop for all phones, not just high dollar resales, and have an easily accessed and transparent method of working with charities to assist their cause while helping the environment. They have been great in advancing the larger electronics waste management objectives of REAP2 and are responsible resellers, recyclers, and corporate citizens. E-mail: seamanm (A T) co (D O T) oakland (D O T) mi (D O T) us ----------------------- From John Halenar, environmental writer and consultant, Ridgewood, NJ, responding to the article posted 3/2/04 about Free Geek, a non-profit computer reuse organization in Portland, Oregon: There's an outfit in the South Bronx in New York City that's been doing the same thing since 1995. Per Scholas takes donated computers, teaches low-income folks how to work on them, and donates and sells low-cost PCs to non-profits and low-income families. They have a 100,000-square-foot facility in the Bronx. Their website is at: http://www.perscholas.org - end -