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12 May 04 - bags; pesticides; lead; junk mail; compost; internal guide; packaging
** 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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From Stacey Long, Starbucks Coffee Co., Property and Utility Management,
waste and recycling, Seattle, WA:
Starbucks is looking for reuse markets for baled used grass and burlap
coffee bags (some cut at the top, some at the side) from our Kent, WA
roasting plant (near Seattle), as well as from our Carson City, NV plant
(near Reno). The bags from Carson City are partly shredded by machinery
used to open the bags. We have sold our used burlap bags in the past, but
we may also be willing to give them to a business at no charge, if they pay
for shipping. If you are interested in accepting large quantities of these
bags on a regular basis, please contact me. Thanks.
E-mail: StLong [ AT ] starbucks [ DOT ] com
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Link to a new City of Toronto ad, "Relax - It's Just a Weed," encouraging
residents to reduce the use of pesticides (seen in the Gallon Environment
Letter, published by the Canadian Institute for Business and the
Environment):
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/wesads/pesticides/pdf/2004-relax.pdf
The ad is in support of the City of Toronto's new Pesticide By-Law, which
restricts the outdoor use of pesticides in Toronto. The law went into
effect April 1, 2004. For more information on the law and the City's
pesticide reduction education campaign, see:
http://www.toronto.ca/pesticides
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Link to the website for Lead-Free Wheels, a new project of the Ecology
Center in Ann Arbor, MI that promotes alternatives to lead wheel weights on
vehicles (first seen in Waste News):
http://www.leadfreewheels.org This
project is attempting to work with independent tire dealers and public
fleets in Michigan and the Midwest to install non-lead wheel-balancing
weights, thus removing lead from commerce and potential release to the
environment. The project estimates that more than 13 million wheel weights
(about 300 tons of lead) fall off of vehicle wheels each year in the
Midwest. Lead deposited on streets contaminates ground surfaces, storm
water and groundwater, and poses a health risk to humans and fish.
Lead-Free Wheels gained two major partners in March, 2004, when the City of
Ann Arbor, MI, and the State of Minnesota became the nation's first city
and state, respectively, to announce programs to begin replacing lead
weights with zinc and iron ones in their vehicle fleets.
Information on the Minnesota fleet phase-out is at:
http://www.admin.state.mn.us/wheel_weights.html
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Excerpted from a 4/25/04 Canadian Press article by Colin Perkel:
SICK TO DEATH OF JUNK MAIL? CANADIAN REGISTRY AIMS TO EASE ADDED GRIEF
AFTER DEATH
The Bereavement Register, a Canadian service launched last year and based on
a British register with the same name, helps next-of-kin get deceased family
members off of mailing lists.
The Bereavement Register provides a simple and free way for next-of-kin to
let marketers know that someone is now permanently beyond their reach. "When
somebody receives a letter addressed to their dearly departed husband who's
died six months or six years ago, it upsets them," said Jon Hart, data
development director of the U.K.-based REaD Group, which operates the
Bereavement Register in both countries.
Having struggled since its Canadian launch last summer, the registry's few
thousand names are now being added to the 15,000 already on an existing
do-not-contact list maintained by the Canadian Marketing Association. The
aim, Hart said from England, is eventually to collect enough information to
have a stand-alone commercial database, with marketers paying up to 75 cents
per suppressed name to use it.
The REaD company estimates Canadians get sent about 80 pieces of ad mail in
the year after they've passed away. That's about 18.5 million pieces of
mostly wasted mail every year. Given that a single piece can cost as much as
$1.50 in postage and production, that's a lot of wasted money. The emotional
costs of a company or charity distressing a relative can be even higher.
"When my father-in-law passed away two years ago, I had to contact 97
companies and charities to stop them sending information with his name on
it," said Elizabeth Hill, a Toronto-based sales consultant. "It took about
six months. It was awful." The Funeral Service Association in Canada has
endorsed the register and aims to have its members offer it as a part of
their general services.
In Britain, the Bereavement Register database started four years ago
contains 1.7 million names and as much as 90 per cent of direct mail is
screened, REaD said.
For information on the Canadian Bereavement Register, see:
http://www.the-bereavement-register.ca
For information on the REaD Group and the British Bereavement Register, see:
http://www.readgroup.co.uk/welcome.html
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Excerpted from a 5/4/04 press release from the Direct Marketing Association
(from a tip from Jeff Gaisford):
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has launched a new environmental
initiative. It emphasizes recycling but also promotes other environmental
practices. Elements of the initiative include:
- A new DMA recycling and environmental website aimed at the public:
http://www.recycleplease.org
- A list of "20 Questions for Environmentally Responsible Marketing" that
direct mailers can use:
http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispnewsstand?article=2254
- A new DMA Environmental Advisory Committee, established last fall. With
the committee's help, the DMA is coming out with the third edition of its
Environmental Resource Book for Direct Marketers, which will be published
this summer.
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From David McDonald, Seattle Public Utilities, resource conservation,
Seattle, WA, responding to the 5/6/04 message seeking information on
"do-it-yourself" or "home-grown" compost berms for erosion control, such as
an individual or business might make from home compost or on-site compost:
In general, use of site-generated compost for berms would probably not be
practical or appropriate. A) You're unlikely to generate enough compost to
use when needed. B) In any case, compost for berms needs to be screened to
remove most of the smaller (1/4-inch minus) particles, in order to create a
berm that allows water to move through it and not plug it up easily.
A construction-site generated material that might do some of the same job in
a berm would be chipped wood waste, but you wouldn't get nearly as much
biofiltration as with mature compost. I'm not aware of anyone that's used
it.
E-mail: David [DOT] McDonald [AT] seattle [DOT] gov
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Link to the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts "Agency Sustainability
Planning and Implementation Guide" (forwarded by Eric Friedman):
http://www.state.ma.us/envir/sustainable/pdf/ss_guide_web.pdf
This
guide is designed to help Massachusetts state agencies develop internal
sustainability plans and programs.
The guide includes extensive sections on: Waste reduction and recycling;
mercury and PBTs (persistent bioaccumulative toxins) reduction; sustainable
design and construction; and environmentally preferable purchasing. For
each section, the report includes a one-page sheet of "Action Steps," a list
of 8 to 12 short-term actions that state facilities can take to reduce their
environmental impacts.
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Link to detailed information on the winning entries in the "Cradle to
Cradle" Design Challenge, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (this follows up on
past postings):
http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/iwg/cradle.pdf
The aim of this contest
was to find innovative packaging solutions for "e-commerce" shipping -
specifically, the shipping by Internet-based companies of books, CDs, DVDs
and videos. The winners were announced in fall, 2003.
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