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12 Apr 04 - car insurance; NYC; stats; consumption; purchasing; pallets
** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM **
-- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition
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Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive
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The first six messages are in response to the 4/6/04 message from Gretchen
Brewer, asking for ideas on how to avoid losing her 1991 Toyota (which was
rear-ended by an SUV and has $1,500 worth of body damage, but otherwise is
still in good condition) because of her insurance company's claims policy.
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From Barbara Frierson, City of Fremont Environmental Services, Fremont, CA:
I'm dismayed by Gretchen Brewer's situation with her Camry. I have nothing
terribly useful to suggest, except that she not give up! Perhaps she could
appeal her case to higher-ups in the Traveler's Insurance organization and
see if she can get someone to pay attention and reverse their policy. If the
car is operable as is, I suppose she could consider driving on and
forgetting the repairs. Or maybe just pay out of pocket to have the trunk
fixed? As the happy owner of a 1991 Honda Civic (which I hope will last at
least another 5 years) I feel Gretchen's pain, and her vulnerability to such
perverse insurance policies. Good luck to her!
E-mail: bfrierson [ A T ] ci [ D O T ] fremont [ D O T ] ca [ D O T ] us
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From Don Van Dyke, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Business
Resource Efficiency and Waste Reduction Section, Sacramento, CA:
I own a 1986 pickup truck with about 85,000 miles on it, and I used to
insure with Travelers many moons ago, so I am sensitive to Gretchen's
situation. Last time I checked, a long time ago, not all insurance
companies used the formula Travelers uses, and that is one reason I left
Travelers. The means to determine claims is one of the questions you can
ask when you shop for insurance. Even so, if you baby your vehicle and try
to make it last, I think that you will always have this problem to some
degree if it is severely damaged. It doesn't seem fair to me either, but
you just can't get insurance companies to fully compensate for the potential
of a specific vehicle. They work only with averages.
E-mail: DVanDyke [ A T ] CIWMB [ D O T ] ca [ D O T ] gov
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From Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Waste
Prevention and Recycling, Everett, WA:
When my daughter "totaled" her car, she was given the money for it but she
also had the option to buy the car back. Her dad ended up purchasing it
through her, getting it repaired, and selling it again for a profit.
Gretchen might check with the insurance firm to see if she has the option to
buy it back. I wish her luck, and appreciate her intention!
E-mail: marcia (DOT) rutan (AT) co (DOT) snohomish (DOT) wa (DOT) us
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From Jeffrey Smedberg, County of Santa Cruz Public Works Department,
Recycling Programs, Santa Cruz, CA:
My comments for Gretchen: In my limited experience, the insurance companies
want to settle claims as quickly and cheaply as possible. If they can bully
you into taking a pittance, they will do it. However, they have a lot of
leeway, and they are willing to negotiate, wanting to settle a claim without
drawing it out or going to court. Have you made them a counter offer? Can
you document your claim as to the car's value? I think the Blue Book is a
sound reference they can't dismiss lightly. Do you have a mechanic who can
attest to the car's shape? If Travelers is the other car's insurer, can you
get your insurance company to weigh in on your side? Good luck. You are on
a good cause.
E-mail: recycle ( AT ) co ( DOT ) santa-cruz ( DOT ) ca ( DOT ) us
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From Charlotte Becker, Association of Oregon Recyclers, Gresham, OR:
My response to Gretchen: I could be wrong, but if they total it, they give
you the value of the car. Then you may do whatever you want with the car. At
least that's what happened to me with my first car - a 1959 Studebaker Lark
Station Wagon. I took the money, didn't fix the car and drove it till the
doors fell off, which was about three more years.
Take your car to more than one body shop for estimates, but be careful. All
shops are definitely not created equal.
I currently have a 1988 Honda with more than 201,000 miles on it - knock
wood. I have changed the oil regularly, and despite a few other repairs that
were slightly expensive, it still has its original engine and most other
parts. I bought it new, and it still runs great. I know if I wrecked it, I
could get a few hundred at best. I don't carry collision insurance on it
anymore, because it cost more than it would pay if I wrecked it.
If your Camry still runs, fix the trunk and decorate the rest with a
colorful recycling theme. Invite over some friends and make it a party. Then
the next time, the silly SUV driver may see you in time to stop! Good luck!
E-mail: mail (A T) aorr (D O T) org
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From Jeff Laufle, Seattle, WA:
I definitely agree and sympathize with the posting about the car accident -
these days it seems to take very little for insurance companies to total a
vehicle. After it happened to our pickup truck (and it was wrecked for
sure), the other party's insurance company made us a very unsatisfactory
offer for what had been a pretty decent vehicle. What we did was to go out
on the web to search for comparables - used trucks for sale that were
similar to ours in terms of age, mileage, condition and features. We
compiled the most useful ones and submitted them to the insurance company.
After quite a bit of dickering, we got closer to what we felt was
replacement value, but I have to admit we were not totally satisfied with
the settlement. In the end, we bought a new truck instead of a used one, so
we had quite a bit of expense out of pocket, but I suppose we could look at
it as having that many more years of life on the vehicle. We also kept
things like the bed canopy, which fit the new truck.
Anyway, my suggestions to Gretchen are: Try a Google search for used cars.
I think Autotrader.com is one specific site to search. Look for cars in
your area to start. And don't take the insurance company's first offer -
press them, bring in the info on comparables, and tell them you want full
replacement value. Hopefully you will get some leverage from the results to
get them to just do the repairs, but even if not, your settlement may be a
little better. Good luck.
E-mail: jclocean ( A T ) foxinternet ( D O T ) com
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Excerpted from a message from Maggie Clarke, Hunter College, New York, NY:
CALLING ALL ZERO WASTE ADVOCATES
In New York City, the City is planning for the next 20 years and so are the
people. Two resolutions will be heard together by the Sanitation and Solid
Waste Committee of the New York City Council on April 20th:
- Our Zero Waste Resolution (number 174):
http://www.council.nyc.ny.us/textfiles/Res%200174-2004.htm
- And the Bigger Better Bottle Bill Resolution (number 144):
http://www.council.nyc.ny.us/textfiles/Res%200144-2004.htm
Everyone is encouraged to testify in person and/or submit written testimony.
I will submit all written testimony e-mailed to me by 9 a.m. Eastern
Daylight Time on April 20th. Send it to me at this address - own [A T] nyceja [D O T] org
- as a Microsoft Word or PDF attachment (preferably on your organization's
letterhead). Testimony may be as simple as one or two paragraphs, or
include a previous article or report that your organization has written.
The Zero Waste Resolution is part of a concerted effort to move forward a
major change in the thinking of how waste is dealt with in NYC. In early
May, a plan, an educational & outreach piece and a campaign are expected to
be launched. The report will present a comprehensive plan for Zero Waste by
2024 entitled "Why Waste NYC? The People's Plan for Zero Waste." The Plan's
proposals are prescriptive in the short-term and more flexible in the medium
to long-term years. To date, participation has come from a broad spectrum
of groups including the environmental community, academia, community-based
organizations and other waste advocates - including close to 50
organizations in all (some of which are in turn coalitions in their own
right). At this point both the central staff of the NY City Council and the
NYC Economic Development Corporation have been interested and responsive to
early discussions.
E-mail: mclarke [A T] hunter [D O T] cuny [D O T] edu
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The next two messages are in response to the 4/6/04 posting seeking ways to
demonstrate common statistics.
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Excerpted from a message from Jim Lynch, CompuMentor, San Francisco, CA:
Here's a nice roster of mostly university websites that have good pithy
stats on recycling, reuse and reduction:
- http://www.recycle.pdx.edu/pr_recycling101_fun_facts.php
- http://www.colorado.edu/recycling/recycling_facts
- http://www.jhunewsletter.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/02/406cd2572ec71
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http://www.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/General_Info/Conservation/docs/trivia/recycle%20trivia.htm
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http://www.deq.state.ms.us/MDEQ.nsf/page/Recycling_RecyclingTrivia?OpenDocument
E-mail: jimlynch [A T] compumentor [D O T] org
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From Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Waste
Prevention and Recycling, Everett, WA:
Years ago a colleague of mine, Polagaya Fine, collected used (rinsed out)
disposable coffee cups. She put them in a clear plastic garbage bag and used
them on many occasions to show the impact of using disposables rather than
durables. She had the figures worked out - how long it would take a
"typical" coffee drinker to accumulate that amount of garbage. It was a
striking visual aid that people really related to.
Email: marcia ( D O T ) rutan ( A T ) co ( D O T ) snohomish ( D O T ) wa ( D O T ) us
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Excerpted from a 4/11/04 article by Andrea Holecek in The Times (serving
Northwest Indiana), Munster, IN:
STUFF: WHO NEEDS IT?
The amount of stuff typically owned by U.S. consumers keeps outgrowing their
closets, homes and wallets, even as it fuels construction, manufacturing,
retail and other industries.
The abundance of stuff - which the dictionary informally defines as
unspecified material, household or personal articles considered as a group,
and worthless objects - is one reason home sizes keep expanding. The average
size of a new single-family home in 1973 was 1,660 square feet. By 2002, it
had climbed to 2,320 square feet, according to the U.S. Bureau of the
Census. During the 10-year span between 1992 and 2002, the average number of
homes above 3,000 square feet had jumped to 19 percent in 2002 from 8
percent 10 years earlier, while those under 1,200 square feet fell to 3
percent from 7 percent.
In 2003, consumers could chose from 33,678 new products in food, beverage,
health and beauty, household and pet supply categories - in addition to the
already millions of products available in the United States. It was a 33.7
percent increase from 1998 when 25,181 new products were introduced, said
Tom Vierhile, general manager of Marketing Intelligence Service Ltd.
In 2003, household net worth climbed to $44.4 trillion, a rise of $4.6
trillion, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. But consumer credit
also increased. During the fourth quarter of 2003, consumer debt was at 3.75
percent. In January, it climbed to an annual rate of 8.5 percent due to
gains in both revolving and nonrevolving credit, according to the Federal
Reserve.
The average household spent $525 on housewares in 2002, down from $689 a
year earlier. It was one of the lowest amounts charted since 1995, and the
decrease was caused by the fall in appliances expenditures, according to the
Housewares Association's "State of the Industry" report. Yet U.S. housewares
sales still totaled $57.9 billion in 2002 and grew by an average of 3.6
percent during the past five years.
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Link to an updated web page on consumption and environmental purchasing, on
the website of the Worldwatch Institute (forwarded by Mike Rosen):
http://www.worldwatch.org/topics/consumption
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Excerpted from a 3/17/04 press release from North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, NC (first seen in the WasteCap Wisconsin bulletin):
FROM LANDFILL TO LIVING ROOM: REUSE PROJECT TURNS PALLETS INTO FLOORING
Researchers with North Carolina State's Department of Wood and Paper Science
are working to turn used wooden pallets into polished wooden floors.
According to Urs Buehlmann, assistant professor of wood products at NC
State, this project's ultimate goal is to create a new industry for North
Carolina. "The pallet-to-flooring project expands on existing research and
represents a multidisciplinary effort to build a commercially viable,
sustainable and successful pallet-flooring enterprise," he says.
Throwing away wooden pallets is an expensive waste of resources. Phil Araman
of the U.S. Forest Service estimates that 38 percent of America's hardwood
lumber production, or 4.5 billion board feet, is used in pallet
manufacturing, making it the single largest use of hardwood lumber. An
estimated 170 million wooden pallets become two percent of all municipal
solid waste, and more than three percent of construction and demolition
waste in landfills. The problem is worst in the South, which buries 75
percent of the nation's wood waste.
Recycling pallets is already a big business, Araman says, generating about
$3.5 billion annually across the nation. But much of the pallets' valuable
hardwood ends up buried or as mulch, animal bedding and boiler fuel, not as
quality, value-added products. "We want to capture the most value from these
used pallets, and convert them into building components and building
materials such as flooring, paneling, furniture, cabinets and similar
products," Buehlmann says.
In pursuit of that goal, Buehlmann and his colleagues have formed a public
partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the N.C. Division of Pollution Prevention, the Land-of-Sky
Regional Council's Waste Reduction Partners in Asheville, NC State's
Department of Wood and Paper Science, and several North Carolina
manufacturers and recyclers. Funding from the EPA and the Community and
Rural Development program helped support pilot projects and led to
installation of pilot flooring in commercial properties.
Although the team's goals are "green," their approach fully acknowledges the
economic realities of the pallet industry and its recyclers. To reassure
skeptical investors, the NC State specialists developed a business plan that
described the likely markets, identified design and cost constraints, and
demonstrated the most efficient ways to select and process their materials.
Wood flooring proved to be firm ground for the project. "Wood flooring is
simple to manufacture," Buehlmann says. "It's a $1.7 billion-per-year
business. It's often made from the same wood used in pallets, and the region
already has the infrastructure to produce and market flooring. Finally,
trends in high-end flooring are favorable."
Even the occasional flaws, such as nail holes, in the recycled wood turn out
to be selling points, said David Lowles of Waste Reduction Partners. "Our
market study showed that the nail holes are a mark of recycled authenticity,
and that recycled wood is of great interest to a number of custom builders
and end customers alike," he said. "The marketing of this flooring is
therefore directed at designers, architects and owners who are concerned
about using natural resources." Lowles said flooring from pallets is
installed using the same guidelines and procedures as traditional wood
flooring.
Oaks Unlimited in Waynesville, an industrial operation for turning discarded
pallets into wood flooring, has already opened in western North Carolina,
creating jobs in a region hard-hit by recent plant closings.
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