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21 May 04 - mercury; mail; measurement; job; As You Sow; Goodwill; wood
** 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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Excerpted from a message from Michelle Gaither, Pacific Northwest Pollution
Prevention Resource Center, Seattle, WA, responding to the 5/12/04 posting
about a project to phase out lead wheel-balancing weights on vehicles:
That's interesting about the Lead-Free Wheels project. Mercury-filled
bladders are still used as wheel balance/ flywheels. I wonder if anyone is
working on this issue too? I'm not sure if they're ending up on the roads
like the lead.
Balance Masters is a company that makes these balancers that use mercury.
Here is more information on that product, on the Balance Masters Canada
website: http://www.balancemasters.ca/principle.htm
E-mail: mgaither [AT] pprc [DOT] org
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From Donald Van Dyke, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Business
Resource Efficiency and Waste Reduction Section, Sacramento, CA, responding
to the 5/12/04 item about the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) new
environmental initiatives:
According to the footnote at the end of the web page that was linked to, "20
Questions for Environmentally Responsible Marketing" that direct mailers can
use (http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispnewsstand?article=2254
), the web page that
appears on your browser is made of 100 percent post-consumer fiber. How do
you suppose they did that?
It would be nice if they actually recommended using 100 percent
post-consumer fiber instead of suggesting that companies only think about
some recycled content. They could also suggest using water-based or
ultraviolet-cured inks for further waste prevention. I'd give DMA a gentle
pat on the back, but not a gold star.
E-mail: dvandyke (A T) ciwmb (D O T) ca (D O T) gov
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Link to waste prevention measurement tools for businesses and individuals on
the New York City Department of Sanitation's NYCWasteLe$$ website (seen in
the May 2004 Waste Age magazine, forwarded by Jim Neely):
- For businesses: http://www.nycwasteless.org/bus/tools.html
Calculators allow businesses
to figure out how much money they could save from seven different waste
prevention practices.
- For individuals: http://www.nycwasteless.org/indiv/impact.html
Simple calculators allow
individuals to quickly determine the impact of waste, in the borough in New
York City where they live, for nine different items that have reduction or
reuse options. Scroll down.
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Link to a job listing from Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division,
Everett, WA (forwarded by Sego Jackson):
http://www.co.snohomish.wa.us/humanres/jobs/Planner%20Sr%20-%20Solid%20Waste.pdf
Snohomish County, located just north of Seattle, is seeking a
qualified, experienced professional having a strong background in solid
waste, recycling, waste prevention and moderate risk waste. This Senior
Planner position has a salary of $4,358 - $5,294 per month, plus benefits.
Applications are due by 5/28/04.
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Link to the website for As You Sow, a San Francisco-based non-profit
organization that promotes corporate social and environmental responsibility
(first seen in the WasteCap of Lincoln, Nebraska, e-newsletter):
http://www.asyousow.org As You Sow promotes
progressive social and environmental policies at companies through its
Corporate Social Responsibility Program. This program represents the
interests of socially concerned investors in dialogue with some of the
largest and most prominent U.S. corporations. One area where As You Sow has
been active is the recycling and environmental design of computers. For
information on this, click on "Current Initiatives" on their website, and
then click on "Computer Take Back and Recycling."
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Link to ShopGoodwill.com, the auction website for Goodwill Industries (first
seen in the WasteCap of Lincoln, Nebraska, e-newsletter):
http://www.shopgoodwill.com This website,
started in August 1999 by Goodwill Industries of Orange County (Santa Ana,
CA), offers online auction shopping modeled after many of the larger,
well-known online commercial auction sites. Ninety-five Goodwills around
the country sell a variety of collectibles, art, antiques, and odds and ends
on the site. Registration is free, and shopping is open to the public.
Revenues from auction sales supplement the revenues from Goodwill stores to
fund Goodwill's education, job training and job placement programs for
people with disabilities and other disadvantages. According to Goodwill,
their auction website receives more than 347,000 hits a day, from all over
the world.
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Excerpted from a column by Kara Swisher in the 4/20/04 Wall Street Journal:
RECLAIMED WOOD HITS THE MAINSTREAM
From wormholed planks to nail-divoted beams, homeowners are seeking out
beaten-up wood for their home renovations. The fascination with antique
wood - referred to in the business as "reclaimed" - has to do with
everything from environmental concerns to the coolness factor.
Reclaimed wood is remilled wood from dismantled barns, factories and other
old buildings, as well as railroad trestles. Architects, designers and
floor specialists report that customers - and not just high-end ones - are
requesting these vintage planks instead of new hardwood for their floors,
cabinets and walls. Costs of using reclaimed wood for floors average about
$14 to $23 a square foot installed (depending on the type of wood), compared
to $9 to $14 for high-quality new woods.
The reclaiming process begins with the many salvage companies that search
for wood anywhere, pulling huge beams from barns and factories, and railroad
trestles from lake bottoms. Wood suppliers in the 19th and early-20th
centuries harvested indiscriminately across the country, often in old-growth
forests. Thus, reclaimed wood can include elm, chestnut, hemlock, walnut,
hickory-pecan, redwood, white pine, Douglas fir and the ever-popular white
oak.
Reformatting aged wood for modern uses can be messy and expensive. It
involves pulling out old nails and navigating the inevitable decay. As a
result, a lot of the wood ends up having to be discarded.
Homeowners who opt for reclaimed wood may be in for some surprises.
Typically, these woods don't have a protective coating of polyurethane,
which makes them susceptible to dings and stains. In addition, beetles can
continue to live in some, like hickory-pecan, even after they've been
treated.
But as demand has picked up, the reclaimed wood industry has expanded.
There are now dozens of established companies, including: Pioneer Millworks
in Farmington, NY; TerraMai in McCloud, in northern California; and
Trestlewood of Blackfoot, Idaho (which offers railroad trestlewood taken
from the Great Salt Lake, among other varieties).
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