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14 Dec 04 - appliances; bags; PVC; Prius; mercury lamps; holidays; food
** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM **
-- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition
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Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org
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From Yen Chin, City of Seattle:
Of late, programs to encourage early retirement of home appliances have been
springing up like mushrooms in a cow pasture after a good rain. A favorite
ploy seems to be the program through which utilities buy old but working
refrigerators (generally ones made before 1993) from consumers and then pay
to have them decommissioned and the component materials recycled, so as to
prevent them from being resold and reused.
Southern California utilities pioneered this approach because the market
place in their territories encouraged the growth of a very active trade in
used refrigerators. Since any working box could get resold, the only way to
insure that the inefficient units got taken off the grid was to structure
their programs so as to include decommissioning. We could certainly explore
the issue of sector equity in such a program design, but this forum deals
with waste prevention, so let's look at other aspects.
The average life span of a refrigerator is 15-17 years, depending on which
information source you use. The actual usable life span of a refrigerator
is probably closer to 25 years. Thus programs like these waste 3-13 years
of refrigerator life per unit. A material analysis must set off energy
savings (about 500 kilowatt-hours per year) against embodied energy, and
recycling credits against reuse debits. Can anyone out there shed some
light on this analysis?
Here in the Northwest, evaluation has an additional degree of difficulty
because we do not have a lively used refrigerator market. Companies that
pick up old refrigerators (for a fee) recondition the better units and
resell them in Mexico (and maybe Southern California) and decommission the
rest.
A cultural analysis probably should consider the merits of yet another
program that encourages consumption (replacing a working refrigerator) in
the name of conservation. As we all should know, the drive to consume
contributes mightily to waste generation.
E-mail: Yen (D O T) Chin (A T) seattle (D O T) gov
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Excerpted from an 11/24/04 article by Charlie Goodyear in the San Francisco
Chronicle:
SAN FRANCISCO PONDERS GROCERY BAG TAX
San Francisco's Commission on the Environment voted on Nov. 23 to delay a
decision on a groundbreaking proposal to levy a 17-cent fee on plastic and
paper grocery bags provided to shoppers in the city, saying the plan needed
more time to be strengthened and improved. On a 4-3 vote, the commission
continued the issue to its Jan. 25 meeting.
The commission is weighing whether to urge Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board
of Supervisors to pass the bag tax into law, which would be the first of its
kind in the United States. The fee, which would be charged against grocery
stores and ultimately passed on to consumers, is aimed at reducing the
number of discarded plastic bags, which environmentalists blame for clogging
recycling machines and polluting waterways, among other problems. "This way,
if you take a bag, you pay for it directly,'' said Robert Haley of the
city's Department of the Environment.
Dozens of people spoke in favor of the proposal at the Nov. 23 meeting,
describing how plastic bags pollute the city and how people can learn to use
more environmentally friendly containers. The comments prompted Commissioner
Arlene Rodriguez to remark: "Can I just say that tonight, it is a great
pleasure to be a San Franciscan." The proposal is similar to several
measures in other countries where governments either ban plastic bags or
charge a fee for their use.
Trade groups and the plastics industry have criticized the plan. Paul Smith
of the California Grocers Association called it "a highly aggressive tax
upon our customers'' in his comments before the commission. But at least one
newly-elected supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, has indicated he will support it
when he takes office in January. Last week, he called the 17-cent tax "a
sensible user fee."
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Excerpted from a 12/7/04 Associated Press item:
REPORT WARNS OF PVC RISKS
A report released Dec. 7 warns that polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic used
in building materials, toys and other items, is poised to create a major
waste crisis. The report by the Environmental Health Strategy Center and
Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) estimates that 70 billion
pounds of polyvinyl chloride would require disposal in the next decade and
that the numbers would grow as billions of pounds of the plastic used in the
last 40 years wore out.
The CHEJ's Be Safe network is lobbying major manufacturers, including
Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft, to switch to non-PVC materials for products
and packaging, saying the chlorine- and lead-containing plastic causes
health and environmental risks during production and when incinerated.
Burning PVC produces dioxin, a known carcinogen, according to the report.
Samsung and Firestone have announced plans to phase out the use of PVC in
2005.
The report is at:
http://www.besafenet.com/PVC04/PVCDisposalReport_2-Column_R6.pdf
A summary of the report and other supporting materials for the CHEJ's
lobbying campaign are at: http://www.besafenet.com/PVC04/pvcinfo.htm
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Link to information on a fuel-efficiency slogan contest, sponsored by the
Center for a New American Dream, with the grand prize of a 2005 Toyota Prius
(first seen in the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center
newsletter):
http://www.newdream.org/Prius The
Center's website states, "We need a short, powerful slogan directed at car
manufacturers to tell them that the time for fuel-efficient vehicles is now.
We're kicking off a campaign to bring many more hybrids to market, and want
your voice to help form the core message for our major banner, bumper
stickers, and more. We're looking for a slogan that will capture the
automakers' attention and inspire action. If your slogan is selected, we'll
send you gliding past gas pumps in a 2005 Toyota Prius hybrid that gets 55
mpg."
Deadline for entries is Jan. 24, 2005.
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From Rob Arner, consultant, Virginia:
I'm seeking information regarding model urban mercury lamp outreach programs
to educate commercial operations regarding the safe recovery of mercury
lamps by cleaning crews, lighting companies and any other folks who deal
with the handling of mercury bulbs. Also, are there any types of brochures,
mailers or other educational tools that instruct these types of employees in
mercury lamp best management practices? Thanks much.
E-mail: rarner (AT) shentel (DOT) net
(Note from Tom: Although we generally don't run postings that deal with
recycling, we're running this one because it does have a waste prevention
element.)
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From Michelle Portman, Department of Environmental Protection, Waterways
Program - Bureau of Resource Protection, Boston, MA, responding to the
11/29/04 question about where to find customized gift certificates for
waste-free gifts:
For nice gift certificates, I recommend using Microsoft Publisher, which is
part of Microsoft Office. This software includes quite a few boiler-plate
award and gift certificates with various designs. You fill in your
information on them and print them out. I use this to make my own gift
certificates that I give as presents, such as an afternoon out at the movies
(popcorn included), or a trip to the zoo. My 13-year-old has used them too
- free dog walks, and such. These are great waste-free gifts that allow me
to spend some fun time with the recipients, rather than shopping for them.
E-mail: Michelle (DOT) Portman (AT) state (DOT) ma (DOT) us
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Excerpted lyrics from "My Christmas List," a song by the popular group
Simple Plan currently being played on some pop music radio stations:
Santa is coming tonight
And I want a car, and I want a life
And I want a first class trip to Hawaii
I want a lifetime supply
Of Skittles & Slurpees and Eskimo Pies
I want a DVD,
A big screen TV
Just bring me things that I don't need
'Cuz now it's Christmas
And I want everything
I just can't wait
Christmas
So don't stop spending
I want a million gifts, that's right
Don't forget my Christmas list tonight
I want a... PlayStation 2
I want a shopping spree
In New York City
Just bring me things that I don't need
I wish I could take this day
And make it last forever
And no matter what I get tonight
I want more
It's Christmas and I want everything
I just can't wait
It's Christmas and I want everything now
(Note from Tom: The first time I heard this song was last week in my
neighborhood grocery store, as background music, right in there with "Silver
Bells" and other Christmas songs.)
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From Katie Jensen, Green Building Program, Austin Energy, Austin, Texas:
I thought the listserv might be interested in this article in Keep Austin
Beautiful's December 2004 newsletter about how to have a green holiday:
http://www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/news.php?p_query=news&p_id=40
Happy
holidays!
E-mail: katie [ DOT ] jensen [ AT ] austinenergy [ DOT ] com
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Excerpted from an opinion piece by editor Colin Isaacs in the 12/9/04 Gallon
Environment Letter, published by the Canadian Institute for Business and the
Environment, Fisherville, Ontario, Canada:
FOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT
It is odd that food and the environment are relatively rarely mentioned in
the same sentence. The fact is that food is as closely connected to the
environment as any other human activity: food production depends on
farmland, soil, nutrients, water, seeds and breeding stock, skills and
technologies. The climate must be compatible with the plants and animals
raised. Food processing, transportation, and consumption involve energy,
water, and chemicals, some of them hazardous to the environment. Waste is
produced at almost every step of the food production and processing system.
Food safety issues such as pesticide residues, additives and mad cow and
other food-borne diseases are of concern to the public, agri-food industry
and regulators.
In Bermuda, where rainwater from rooftops is the principal drinking water
source, spraying of pesticides is not allowed because the water supply could
become contaminated. More than anything else, food focuses attention on and
bioconcentrates the environmentally harmful results of almost every other
human activity. For example, mercury from power and industrial plants is
deposited in lakes and oceans and eventually ends up in fish such as tuna.
In the future perhaps we will all adopt a mindset similar to that which the
Bermudians have regarding their drinking water, and limit general pollution
to protect our food.
In general, North Americans tolerate a big disconnect between the various
elements of the food supply chain. Big food processors can achieve economies
of scale that may conserve resources by saving energy and water, and
reducing waste. But a national agriculture and food policy should also
promote the diversity of the food chain by giving smaller producers,
processors and suppliers the tools to compete. North Americans generally
have not yet taken seriously the many threats to food supply.
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