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22 Jul 04 - bags; lottery; schools; consumption; cars; countertops; job; mail; compost ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- Note: The archive is currently out of service, but we hope it will be back online soon. --------------------- Excerpted from a message from Gordon Leppig, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA: We are working in Arcata, California, to get stores to put small signs up at their registers asking people to bring their own bag, and to offer a bag discount - does anyone know of any good graphics we can use for this? We are also getting local stores to sell rags made from old t-shirts made by our local St. Vincent de Paul store, and we want to start a "kick the paper habit" campaign by having the stores sell the rags as paper towel alternatives. We hope to get them to start selling cloth napkins too, and cloth shopping bags. Does anyone have any good statistics on how many disposable bags or paper towels or paper napkins the average person or household uses in a year, or other good statistics we can use? Thanks. If you respond, please also send your reply to: jneander (AT) arcatacityhall (DOT) org E-mail: gtl1 [AT] axe [DOT] humboldt [DOT] edu --------------------- Excerpted from an article by William Petroski in the 7/12/04 Des Moines Register (forwarded by Carl Hursh from the Product Stewardship Institute listserv): IOWA PLANS BATTERY-POWERED LOTTERY GAME Iowans this fall will become the first in the nation to try an electronic version of the traditional scratch-off lottery game. Iowa Lottery officials have confirmed plans for a market trial starting in mid-October for "Quarter Play," a battery-powered card costing $20 that will offer 80 plays of instant-type games. The test area will cover an eastern Iowa region that includes Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Davenport, Waterloo and Iowa City. Each card, about the size of a driver's license, has a button that activates one of the plays. Three small LCD screens on the front of the card display the numbers in a particular play and show whether it has won a prize. Each card will offer a guaranteed $5 prize and a possible top prize of $300. Players will accumulate points, each having a value of 25 cents, by matching three like numbers as they advance through the 80 plays. Winning cards can be redeemed at Iowa Lottery retailers. The state placed an initial order for 19,995 cards at a cost of $1.50 apiece, or a total of about $30,000. --------------------- Link to iLoveSchools.com, a non-profit school donation reuse website (forwarded by Marcia Rutan): _http://www.iloveschools.com_ This service links people and businesses who have things to donate with teachers who need items for their classrooms. Several recent media articles about this website are at: _http://www.iloveschools.com/media.php_ --------------------- A column by Claudia Newcorn in the 6/28/04 Modesto Bee daily newspaper, Modesto, CA: IS REUSE UN-AMERICAN? Our economy is at odds with being eco-conscious. And we pretend not to see it. We're sure not doing anything about it, despite protestations to the contrary. It all revolves around three words. "Planned obsolescence" and "disposable." Think about it. Our nation's economy - as the highest powers have repeatedly told us - is predicated on consumerism. If you don't shop, the economy will stop. And so people have leached their home equity and credit cards, buying the umpteenth blouse, 30th pair of shoes and third car for a two-person family because that's what a "good" American does: consumes. It's irrelevant if they don't need it or can't afford it. With glazed looks, they roam the stores, seeking something, anything to buy. Think I'm joking? Spend a couple of hours at the mall and people-watch. It's mind-numbing. Now, carry this another step. Products designed for longevity do not encourage frequent repeat buying. I mean, if your toaster lasts 10 years instead of two, it's a decade before you buy again. But if sales are to increase, then more toasters have to be sold. Given the U.S. population is only growing so fast, that means one thing - planned obsolescence. Your toaster needs to die as soon as the warranty expires. Don't laugh. I've been in marketing for decades, and I know first-hand that gone is the concept of crafting appliances and household objects to last for years. That is unprofitable thinking, and not part of the 21st century's American Way. And because these items are so cheap to replace vs. repairing, you toss them in the trash. Add to this the fact that there has also been an increasing rash of disposable products introduced in the past decade, items designed to be used once and tossed. Think diapers, paper dishes, dust mops, toilet bowl cleaners - the list is long. If you paused to do a cost/value analysis of the disposable vs. the reusable item over the respective lives of the products, you would likely be shocked at how much more you are actually spending for those disposable items. But smart marketers seduce you by a message of implied convenience or hygiene or how cool it will make you appear. And you swallow it hook, line, sinker and fisherman. The end result of planned obsolescence and disposable products is dumpsterloads of trash and burgeoning landfills, all in the name of keeping our economy going (and increasing profits). The concept of reusing more than once or - perish the thought - of adapting something for another use (think Cool Whip container for storing leftovers) is unthinkable and archaic. That's something our grandparents did, but not us. We have evolved. In fact, there seems to be almost a stigma about reusing things. People sidle away with their eyes averted if you admit to not having succumbed to the need to purchase the newest convenience. So people buy and toss, complacent in their excess of buying, and ignoring the cumulative debris of consumerism and the impact on our environment. After all, if we don't shop until we drop, the economy will stop. --------------------- Excerpted from an article by Michelle Higgins in the 7/22/04 Wall Street Journal: THE DISPOSABLE CAR: MORE CARS END UP TOTALED It's getting easier to total a car. An unintended side effect of the increasingly sophisticated design of cars is that they are often too expensive to fix after even relatively minor collisions. Most standard auto insurance policies won't pay to fix a car if the repairs cost more than its cash value. But the cost of repairs is soaring as vehicles come equipped with expensive features like Xenon headlamps, backup video cameras on their tailgates, and multiple air bags. This year, 16 percent of vehicles involved in collisions are being declared a total loss, compared with 7 percent in 1995, according to Collision Repair Industry Insight, a trade magazine. While that's partly because cars last longer today, advanced safety features (such as air bags, backup cameras and parking sensors) are a major factor as well. Those safety devices can be very expensive to replace or repair. Demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles also plays a role in rising repair costs. Lighter metals like boron steel and aluminum are increasingly showing up as structural components, but unlike regular steel, they cannot easily be bent back into shape after a crash and often must be replaced. "We're moving closer and closer to the disposable vehicle," says Dan Bailey, chief operating officer of Carstar, a collision-repair chain based in Overland Park, Kansas. --------------------- Excerpted from a message from Jetta Antonakos, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle, WA: I don't always have time to stop and read the Waste Prevention Forum, but when the last one came out (June 25), I snuck a few minutes. I have to say that it was a fantastically positive look at the future: Kaiser Permanente, the country's largest non-profit health-care system. is asking industry to give them healthier products. Sony is looking to make more environmentally sustainable products. And, a new book shows that it's more efficient to reuse computers than to recycle. All great news, all very hopeful that we can turn things around. E-mail: Jetta ( DOT ) Antonakos ( AT ) Seattle ( DOT ) Gov --------------------- From Carl Hursh, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Recycling and Waste Minimization Division, Harrisburg, PA: A Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, manufacturer is seeking recycling or reuse options for old office system work surface countertops made from particle board substrate with a plastic laminate on top, and related manufacturing scraps. The current method of disposition is a local waste-to-energy cogeneration facility. The contact is: Patrick Best, Knoll, Inc., 76 Ninth Ave., 11th Floor, New York, NY, 10011. E-mail: knoll_materials [A T] knoll [D O T] com Phone: (212) 343-4131. E-mail: chursh [ A T ] state [ D O T ] pa [ D O T ] us --------------------- Link to a job posting for an assistant director for WasteCap Wisconsin (from the WasteCap Wisconsin E-Mail Bulletin): _http://www.wastecapwi.org/assitdirjobpost.htm_ WasteCap Wisconsin is a statewide, non-profit environmental organization that provides waste reduction and recycling assistance to businesses. This full-time position is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Salary is "commensurate with experience." The application deadline is Monday, July 26, 2004. ----------------------- Link to the online version of the third edition of the Direct Marketing Association's book, "Environmental Resource for Direct Marketers" (forwarded by David Stitzhal): _http://www.the-dma.org/environment_ Scroll down to download the 110-page book. This updated edition was published in June, 2004. ----------------------- From David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Solid Waste Policy & Program Development, Portland, OR: A new report by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) demonstrates that home composting can reduce air pollution associated with the outdoor burning of yard waste. The report details the results of a survey of households who purchased reduced-cost compost bins in La Grande, a city of 12,500 in rural northeastern Oregon. Since 1991, La Grande has been declared a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency non-attainment area for PM-10 (particulate), a pollutant that contributes to asthma and other lung diseases. Particulate is caused by a variety of sources, including the burning of garbage and yard debris. Surveys in 2002 found that about 25 percent of households in La Grande burned some yard debris outdoors. In August of 2001, the city's exclusive garbage service provider opened a composting site where households can drop-off their yard debris at no additional charge. Also in 2001, the City was awarded a DEQ solid waste grant to subsidize the sale of home composting bins. 303 households purchased bins at the reduced rate of just $10 each. Bin purchasers agreed to participate in a follow-up survey, which was administered more than a year later. DEQ has just released the results of the survey of bin purchasers. One remarkable result is that 89 percent of all surveys sent out were completed and returned. The use of community-based social marketing principles (commitments, prompts, and community norms) contributed to this result. Key findings of the survey include: - 82 percent of bin recipients were using their bin more than a year after purchasing it. - Prior to bin distribution, 63 percent of households disposed at least some of their yard debris in the garbage. This fell to 34 percent following bin distribution. - 27 percent of households burned some of their yard debris outdoors before purchasing a bin, but after purchasing the bin only 14 percent were burning outdoors. The survey also found that many households both compost at home and use the area's drop-off site, demonstrating that home composting can complement traditional collection and processing systems. Perhaps most exciting is the fact that the number of requests for outdoor burning permits fell dramatically after the bin distribution and start-up of the drop-off site. As a result of the City's comprehensive program, open burning is down and the air is cleaner. The full survey report also contains information on yard debris management and home composting practices before and after bin distribution, the shift of yard debris between different diversion methods (on-site composting vs. off-site composting, for example) as well as from disposal (burning, landfilling) to composting, estimates of "new" and total diversion, level of satisfaction and problems with the bins, and household interest in additional information. The report can be downloaded from DEQ's web site at: _http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/solwaste/data/LGReport.htm_. E-mail: Allaway [D O T] David [A T] deq [D O T] state [D O T] or [D O T] us - end -