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18 Feb 05 - Freecycle; faxes; Earth Day; dishes; Stickies; DVDs; Seattle
** 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 Gretchen Brewer, Earth Circle, San Diego, CA, responding to the 2/9/05
news item about the Freecycle website and the planned sponsorship of
Freecycle by Waste Management Inc.:
Here's my firsthand account of using this service. I just joined San Diego
Freecycle and it's been a great way to not trash things as I orchestrate a
whirlwind move out of state.
Whenever I move, I try to do garage sales, donate to AmVets & other
charities, and otherwise trim down my possessions in such a way that good
things go to reuse and there's as little waste as possible. But this time,
with only three weeks to arrange everything, there isn't time for a garage
sale, and most of the charities here don't pick up, or can't get my stuff
fast enough.
I did a trial posting of three items on our local Freecycle and the results
were wonderful. By a happy coincidence, the man who came to pick up my
couch mentioned that he repairs computers for the schools. I asked if he'd
like an old PowerMac system - everything but the monitor - all in good
working order, and he was delighted to take 4 boxes of older computer
equipment and peripherals off my hands. I was thrilled to know the
equipment would get used by students, and I didn't have to send working
equipment for recycling, which would have been a "lower" use.
My collection of decorative glass tiles made from recycled glass bottles by
Oceanside Glasstile (Carlsbad, CA) was claimed by a single mom - the first
of 25 people who eagerly replied to this posting. It was evident her family
was needy. When she looked around my garage and asked if I had other things
I was getting rid of, I was happy to give her some bags of clothes and other
odds & ends. And I kept her phone number for when I have the next batch of
give-aways ready.
What's terrific about this fast-paced sharing set-up is the goodwill spirit
of it. I've met some wonderful folks, and there's a great deal of
spontaneous give and take. The man I gave the computer equipment to sent an
e-mail thank-you and volunteered to help me out, if needed. Now he and his
sons are going to help with some heavy stuff that I didn't know how I'd get
moved.
Freecycle is a terrific resource. Things move within a few days, and the
whole process is pure, I think, because no money is involved. I'm grateful
to get good items into the hands of people who genuinely need them, and
everyone I've met so far has been polite and generous in return.
When I read that Waste Management Inc. may sponsor Freecycle, I did feel
some trepidations about a corporate take-over. The beauty of Freecycle is
its informality and non-commercialism. I truly hope, if Waste Management
does get in the picture, that this grassroots, free-flowing resource can
stay as pure as I found it.
E-mail: EarthGB [AT] aol [DOT] com
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From Chuck Moxley, EcoLogical Mail Coalition, San Ramon, CA:
I'm passing along a message from one of our member organizations, a zoo in
the Western U.S. It includes a suggestion for reducing waste. Here is the
message:
"We are receiving a lot of unsolicited unwanted faxes advertising vacations,
special investment deals, furniture, medical and other. Most have an 800
number for removal at the bottom, which seems to work most of the time. I
was wondering how these companies are getting our fax number? Would it be
part of a mailing list company's records?"
"Along the lines of faxes, here's something that we are doing that could
maybe be passed along to others. Faxes and faxing might be an overlooked
area for reducing paper waste. We are about five weeks into our 'reduce junk
mail and other paper waste' project. We were getting anywhere from 10 - 20
copies of a 'Transmission Report' per day which went directly into the
recycling container. We have now coded our fax machine so that for outgoing
faxes, it now only gives a 'Transmission' printout if there was an error or
if someone needs a copy and codes it to print a hard copy. So far it's
working well, with only a few nervous employees. The fax does respond with
'completed' but they must wait about 3 seconds and that seems a long time
when they are waiting. Another idea we want to work on is using the backs of
paper in the recycling container to load the fax machine for incoming
transmission."
Chuck's e-mail: mox (AT) ecologicalmail (DOT) org
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Excerpted from the Earth Day Network and EnviroLink Network websites:
Earth Day will be held on Friday, April 22, 2005. It will be the 35th
anniversary of Earth Day. The Earth Day Network website is at:
http://www.earthday.net
Listings of local Earth Day events around the nation are at
http://earthday.envirolink.org/calendar.html
and
http://www.earthday.net/howto/searchEvent.aspx
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Excerpted from a column by Kristen Millares Bolt in the 2/12/05 Seattle
Post-Intelligencer:
BRINGING RESTAURANT-GRADE DURABLE DISHWARE TO THE PUBLIC
Gayle Tonkin, co-owner of the Plates & More store in Bellevue, Washington,
tossed one of her plates to the floor, sending it skidding into a stack of
bowls with a harsh clatter. "Look at this," Tonkin said. "Not a chip." All
of Tonkin's wares are high-quality industrial grade usually found only in
restaurants, where plates must survive harsh treatment from hurried busboys,
harried cooks and dishwashing machines.
Plates & More (http://www.platesandmore.com )
is a rarity in the chinaware business - a retail store where the general
public can buy restaurant-grade china in any size, number or patterns within
the lines of the Homer Laughlin China Co. and the Hall China Co. There are
only a few similar stores in the U.S.
Co-owner Matt Tonkin, Gayle's husband (who also runs a chain of
restaurants), said, "We used to spend a lot of money (at home) on a nice set
of china, and they would chip within the first month. We had gone through
three sets of dishes in our 20 years of marriage. I got sick of it, and
started thinking - and that's how this all started."
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Excerpted from a message from Chris Myers, "This Republic CAN," Telluride,
CO:
People may be interested in this free software called "Stickies," which
reduces the use of Post-It notes: http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies
(The Stickies software was
created by Tom Revell of the United Kingdom, and this is his website.)
I use it on my desktop, and it is great! Apparently Mac users had this
years ago, but now Windows folks can use it.
E-mail: c (A T) thisrepublicCAN (D O T) us
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Excerpted from a 2/7/05 article by Katie Dean on the Wired magazine website:
DISNEY DROPS DISPOSABLE DVDS
Disney has stopped selling its movies on 48-hour DVDs, but that doesn't mean
the technology is disappearing.
Flexplay developed the technology that renders a DVD unreadable after a set
period of time. The company has been sold to Atlanta-based Convex Group,
which plans to release content in this format. The "EZ-D" was marketed to
consumers as a way to avoid late fees from movie rental shops. Once opened,
the EZ-D can be played unlimited times in 48 hours. Then a chemical compound
on the disc combines with oxygen, rendering the DVD opaque and unreadable
after two days. Movie fans can throw away the expired disk or pack it off to
a special recycling facility to be recycled. During the holidays, the Convex
Group released an independent film, Noel, in the Flexplay format. A company
official said they plan to roll out additional titles later in 2005.
Environmentalists criticized Disney for releasing its films on EZ-D,
charging that the product would lead to unnecessary waste in landfills. They
didn't buy the argument that movie fans looking for convenience would take
the time to send their expired DVDs to a recycling center.
"It looks like the technology has been set back, at least for now," said
Robin Schneider, executive director of Texas Campaign for the Environment.
"This is just a bad idea. I'm glad to see that both the customers and the
studio have not responded very favorably to it." Schneider said the argument
to buy an EZ-D to avoid late fees doesn't really apply anymore, now that one
of the largest DVD rental shops, Blockbuster, has nixed its late fees.
Netflix, another popular rental service, never charged late fees.
The EZ-Ds didn't sell particularly well, either. Officials in a number of
the stores that carried the EZ-D said the price was too high - about $7 -
for a product that self-destructs. "They just kind of quietly disappeared,"
said Tom Mullen, store director for Cub Foods in Peoria, Illinois, one of
Disney's eight test markets around the country. "One day they were gone, and
I haven't heard anything about them since."
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Link to the City of Seattle's Environmental Action Agenda for 2005:
http://www.seattle.gov/environment/Documents/eaa/2005_FinalReport.pdf
This environmental action plan for Seattle for 2005 was announced Feb. 16 by
Mayor Greg Nickels. Waste prevention-related goals include:
- Reduce the City's copier and printer paper use by 15 percent by the end of
2005 and 30 percent by the end of 2006.
- Help restaurants and bakeries improve environmental quality and save money
through targeted outreach and services to business owners and operators with
limited English.
- Add four new parks to the Pesticide Free Parks program.
- Partner with community members to conduct Natural Yard Care Neighbors
projects in four neighborhoods to promote natural yard care practices to
reduce pesticide and fertilizer use and enhance soil health.
- end -
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