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28 Jul 04 - homes; compost; bikes; jobs; Demos; conferences; P2; packaging; bats; appliances ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition ----------------------- From Lisa Friend, RE Sources, Bellingham, WA: Does anyone have statistics about the environmental (and social?) benefits of "downsizing" a residential home footprint? I've given some rough information to a local reporter, but would appreciate any more suggestions. I suggested he check with Worldwatch Institute, and the report on greenhouse gases that David Allaway in Oregon is working on. Anything else? Thanks. E-mail: recycle (AT) re-sources (DOT) org ----------------------- From Rob Arner, Edinburg, VA, Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project: I was wondering if anyone has info on the life cycle/use of commercial home composting bins, from the perspective that after x years these bins are discarded or if they are even used for home composting. Thanks much! E-mail: rarner (A T) shentel (D O T) net ----------------------- From Donald Van Dyke, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Reduction Section, Sacramento, CA, responding to the 7/22/04 article about the increasing economic infeasibility of auto body repair and the trend toward "disposable cars": The same thing is happening with motorcycles as a result of a slow trend toward aluminum motorcycle frames. Minor crashes often bend motorcycle frames, and motorcycle manufactures publish specifications of frame geometry so that frames can be bent back to factory specification. Steel motorcycle frames resist bending much better than aluminum frames, and steel frames lend themselves readily to minor adjustment if bent. However. motorcycles with aluminum frames are much less likely to be repairable after comparable minor crashes. Additionally, steel motorcycle frames can usually sustain several such adjustments if need be, whereas aluminum frames can normally be adjusted only one time. Aluminum frames were once found only in sport bikes. Now they are found in some touring bikes and in at least one cruiser that I know of. According to a repair shop in Sacramento that specializes in frame straightening, they have seen cases where aluminum frames of motorcycles have been bent outside of factory spec by the motorcycle simply falling over. E-mail: DVanDyke [ A T ] CIWMB [ D O T ] ca [ D O T ] gov ----------------------- Excerpted from a press release from ReCellular, Inc., Dexter, MI: NEW REUSE-RELATED JOBS IN TEXAS ReCellular, a company that collects, refurbishes and markets old cell phones and other electronic equipment, mostly for reuse, has announced the opening of a new cell phone refurbishing and service facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The new 50,000-square-foot facility, able to process as many as 50,000 cell phones per month, will include refurbishing operations such as painting and programming. The new plant will complement the operations at the company's 56,000-square-foot headquarters in Dexter, Michigan. The Fort Worth operation is expected to employ nearly 150 people within four months. Of those jobs, at least 40 are expected to be technical positions. Andy Powell, plant manager, and Jim Partee, factory automation engineer, are currently accepting employment applications at jobs (A T) recellular (D O T) com For information on ReCellular job openings at its Michigan headquarters, see: _http://www.recellular.net/brochure/employment.asp_ ----------------------- Excerpted from a 7/13/04 article from GreenBiz.com: DEMOCRATS AIM FOR GREENER CONVENTION The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) and Boston 2004 Inc., the host committee for the 2004 Democratic National Convention, said before the convention started that they planned to make it the greenest political convention in American history. To help reach this goal, the two groups worked extensively with the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions. Planned waste prevention and recycling measures included: - Food Operations. The DNCC and Boston 2004 have partnered with The Greater Boston Food Bank's Second Helping program to "rescue" unused food from the convention and convention-related venues and provide it to hunger-relief agencies in the community. As one example, Lundy's of Boston, which is providing catering for some of the media, has agreed to donate all of its unused food at the end of the convention week to The Greater Boston Food Bank. Two events have agreed to use food grown on Massachusetts farms: the 15,000-person media party and the Massachusetts delegation party. In addition to supporting state farmers and local economies, choosing locally grown food contributes to environmental sustainability by avoiding the pollution associated with shipping and transporting food over long distances. Food waste from the media reception will be transported to a licensed composting facility. - Construction. The DNCC and Boston 2004 worked with Shawmut Design and Construction to ensure that convention-related construction was as environmentally friendly as possible. Shawmut, in conjunction with CERC and greenGoat, a provider of resource conservation strategies for construction companies, plans to divert all reusable construction materials from the convention to two Boston reuse organizations, ReStore and Boston Materials Resource Center. These reuse organizations will make the construction materials available to local nonprofits and low-income homeowners in the Boston area. Shawmut has estimated that 500 sheets of masonite, 250 sheets of plywood, and 700 sheets of homosote board will be donated to the reuse organizations. Also, thousands of feet of telephone/data cabling will be recycled. In addition, Shawmut has undertaken efforts to separate materials at the job site and recycle 1,500 sheets of unpainted sheetrock. - Wastepaper Reduction. To prevent the waste of paper, the DNCC and Boston 2004 have adopted extensive online operations. Passkey, an online hotel reservation system, allowed convention-goers to make and change reservations on the Internet, involving some 109,000 hotel rooms at 63 hotels and 3 universities. This system previously required the use of more than 100,000 individual sheets of paper. The DNCC also saves paper by using a sophisticated intranet that allows staff to communicate electronically rather than through paper-based systems. - Green Offices. The DNCC and Boston 2004 have adopted environmentally friendly procedures for their offices. Both offices recycle white paper and use only recycled paper for their operations. The two groups have committed to donating their computers and unused office supplies to the Boston Public Schools after the convention. - Recycling. The DNCC and Boston 2004 have adopted a comprehensive recycling plan for the FleetCenter and the media work stations. Bins for the recycling of mixed paper, cans, and bottles will be conveniently located. In addition, convention organizers have adopted a policy of using recycled white paper in all media work stations. The DNCC, partnering with Scanlon Associates, will also launch the Recycled Paper Poster Project, which will take wastepaper generated by the first day of the convention and, within 24 hours, transform it into posters that are given to convention attendees. - Balloons and Confetti. Recognizing that even the smallest decisions related to the convention can affect the environment, the DNCC and Boston 2004 will use confetti made from recycled paper and biodegradable balloons in their celebrations during the convention. ----------------------- Link to information on four waste prevention-related conferences to be held in the San Francisco Bay area in late August and early September (forwarded by David Assmann and Gary Liss): - National Recycling Congress, Aug. 29 - Sept. 1, 2004, San Francisco. _http://www.nrc-recycle.org/congress_ Sponsored by the National Recycling Coalition. This conference will include a number of sessions and activities related to waste prevention and sustainability. Several tours will focus on reuse, food diversion and deconstruction. - International Dialog on Proper Discard Management in the New Millennium, Aug. 26-27, 2004, San Francisco. _http://www.crra.com/grc/international/agenda.html_ Organized by the Global Recycling Council, a technical council of the California Resource Recovery Association. More than 30 experts from Australia, Belgium, Canada, India, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States will: Critique the concept of integrated waste management; review the social and environmental impacts of disposal, recovery and reduction; and discuss recommended best practices for discards management. - Zero Waste Network Action Conference, Aug. 28, 2004, Oakland. _http://www.grrn.org/conference2004/index.html_ Organized by the GrassRoots Recycling Network. This gathering of zero waste experts and advocates from around the world will advance zero waste policies, planning and practices. - Deconstruction and Building Materials Reuse Conference, Sept. 1-3, 2004, Oakland. _http://www.decon04.com_ Organized by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 and the Used Building Materials Association. This event highlights green building and deconstruction connections, used building materials markets, deconstruction costs and benefits, research, standards development and certification programs. ----------------------- Link to information on National Pollution Prevention Week (first seen in the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center bulletin): _http://www.p2.org/p2week/index.cfm_ Pollution Prevention (P2) Week, an annual event, is sponsored by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable. This year it will be held Sept. 20 - 26, 2004. ----------------------- From Renee Kimball, Enuf!, Portland, OR: Barbara's Bakery produces a line of breakfast cereals with waste-less packaging. They are using wax coated paper instead of plastic to wrap their shredded wheat. I don't know about the other cereals they produce but this one has a completely recyclable or compostable packaging - the only one that I know of. E-mail: rrrrenee [ A T ] aracnet [ D O T ] com ----------------------- Excerpted from a 7/16/04 Associated Press article (forwarded by Marcia Rutan): "BAT CONDOS" MAY HELP SOLVE MOSQUITO AND TIRE DISPOSAL PROBLEMS Louisiana State University at Shreveport has found a way to battle mosquitoes and recycle tires at the same time - a bat cave. Construction of the man-made cave - the second of its kind in the country - began in mid-July. "We're building luxury condos for bats," LSU's Red River Watershed Management Institute Director Gary Hanson said. The cave's core will be a tire that Hanson called "Big Bertha", a tire with a 42-inch tread, 100 inches in overall diameter and 45 inches in its interior opening. The tires came from earthmoving gear used by Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO). A 30-inch diameter galvanized steel culvert with a custom-made "bat gate" will provide the opening to the cave. The bat gate will be the only visible part of the cave. There are no significant natural caves in North Louisiana, so the cave will provide a new habitat for the flying mammals and help preserve the species, Hanson said. It could take a few years for the bats to move in, but once they do, they could provide significant help with mosquito control, he said, by eating up the insects, which can carry the potentially deadly West Nile virus. The cave also gives SWEPCO an environmentally friendly way of disposing of its giant tires. "If this cave works as well as we believe it will, SWEPCO plans to construct more of them with our used tires. It would be the perfect solution to a 'really big' recycling problem," said Brian Bond, SWEPCO vice president for external affairs. ----------------------- Excerpted from an article by Susan Phinney in the 7/10/04 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: KEEPING APPLIANCES ALIVE When a dishwasher leaks, a refrigerator conks or a stove goes cold, more and more appliance owners are looking to shop for new and dump the old. "We've come into the throwaway age. I used to be a service tech. We used to be able to fix or replace a motor. Things aren't built like they used to be," says Fernie Del Valle, operations manager for Albert Lee Appliances. "Thirty years ago you could replace an electric motor in a dishwasher for $75, parts and labor. Now people don't want to pay $150 because you can buy a new one for about $250," he says. Tom Genshock, owner of All Tech Appliance Service, has been doing appliance repairs for 29 years. Recently he's been watching service calls decline. "We think it's a combination of the economy, people fixing things themselves with help from the Internet, and they're dumping them. Appliances are less friendly to repair than they once were. Some we can't even fix." Genshock cites the use of plastic components (knobs or shafts that snap, and then an entire piece must be replaced), computerization, and state regulations that make it more expensive to train and license technicians as factors that drive up the cost of repairs. Although Genshock says his company's goal is to keep an average repair bill under $100 - a sum that can replace a switch, make a dryer tumble again, or a stove burner glow, for example - business is still off. "Look at the Yellow Pages. There used to be about 10 pages of appliance repair places. Those numbers are shrinking every year," he says. Seattle homeowner Jim Replogle is one consumer who's found a way to avoid repair costs he calls ridiculous. "Have you ever heard of RepairClinic.com?" he asks. He's consulted this online service several times and fixed things himself. Chris Hall, president and co-founder of RepairClinic.com, says consumers can save 75 percent of the repair cost by using his service, buying and installing parts yourself. And you don't have to take a vacation day to sit at home, waiting for a service person to arrive. Hall, who once owned an appliance-repair business, started his Michigan-based online service five years ago. He said they currently are helping about 25,000 customers per month, with about 90 employees. He says about one-third of those seeking help don't need a part at all. They just need help trouble-shooting. But if they do need to replace something, RepairClinic stocks parts and they'll send them right out. That's how they make money. But the diagnosis and instructions are free. It's sort of like having a technician within reach, but not onsite, as you do the work yourself. APPLIANCE TIPS Here are tips on appliances from repair techs, environmentalists, consumers and dealers: - It pays to troubleshoot. When her 30-year-old, olive-green dryer stopped running, Linda Scott was ready to shop for a new one when her husband decided to open it up and take a look. He discovered about $8 in change in the bottom. He removed it and the dryer is back in business. - Don't keep an old refrigerator running in the garage or basement to cool a few cans or bottles of beverages. They're a huge waste of energy. In some parts of the country, power companies are offering buy-backs for them. - Expect stoves to last longer than other appliances, especially when they're used for only an hour or two per day. - Don't dump appliances that look good and work, especially if they're less than 10 years old. Sell them, or donate them to charities that accept them. But be sure to call the charities first, to confirm they want them. REPAIR OR REPLACE? Here are questions to ask to decide whether to repair or replace an appliance, from Chris Hall, president and co-founder of RepairClinic.com: - How old is the appliance? If it's more than 6 or 7 years old and a repair will cost more than half the cost of a new one, consider replacing. - How long should an appliance last? Generally 12 to 14 years, Hall says, but many last for more than 30 years. - Consider the energy savings you will get with the new appliance. - How difficult is it to replace? If you have to remove doors, railings or worse in your home to get the old appliance out and a new one in, you might consider repairs. - What about other hidden costs? Removal? Installation? Disposal? Tax? Check with your local waste-disposal organization, and do the numbers. --------------------- Note from Tom: The Waste Prevention Forum archive is still out of service, but we are working to get it back online. - end -